Democratic Congressman and Senate candidate Ruben Gallego was characterized as having “walked out” on his wife and unborn child in a new attack ad from GOP forces.
The ad, created by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), said Gallego left his former wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, for a “D.C. lobbyist”: his current wife, Sydney Barron, a lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors.
“If deadbeat dad Ruben Gallego would abandon his own family, he won’t be there for Arizonans when it matters most,” stated the ad.
A press release accompanying the attack ad pointed out that Gallego continues to champion women’s rights and prioritizing women on issues like abortion and higher pay, yet walked away from the closest woman in his life.
I grew up in a house with four strong, independent Latinas. They made me the man I am today.
To the women who made their impact and the ones paving the way for generations, this #WomensHistoryMonth, we celebrate you!
NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell emphasized the timing of the Gallegos’ divorce as a disqualifier for Gallego serving in the Senate.
“Arizona women can’t trust a man who divorced his wife when she was weeks away from having their child,” said Mitchell.
Gallego once believed that divorce wasn’t an option, writing in a 2012 Twitter post that his Catholicism prevented him from ever seeking it. It’s unclear what changed for Gallego in the span of a few short years.
“I am Catholic [and] don’t believe in divorce,” said Gallego.
I am Catholic don't believe in divorce. Sorry Pakistan you are stuck with me #debate
Gallego and Barron didn’t begin dating until several years after the divorce. The pair wed in 2021.
Ruben and Kate were married from 2010, the year Gallego joined Congress, to 2017, when Kate was still part of the city council. The pair divorced shortly before the birth of their son, Michael.
Kate became mayor of Phoenix in 2018, after then-Mayor Greg Stanton announced his run for Congress.
According to Gallego, he met Barron in 2018. Gallego and his second wife welcomed their first child, a daughter named Isla, into the world last July.
Five years ago, I met Sydney at the Congressional baseball game, and now we’re getting ready to welcome our daughter into the world any day.
The Phoenix mayor doesn’t publicly appear to hold hard feelings against her ex-husband. She endorsed him last December.
“I’m proud to endorse Ruben because I know first-hand his commitment to building a brighter future for Arizona,” said the mayor. “We have real challenges facing our state that require a leader who is dedicated to fighting for working families and the most vulnerable. He’ll do an excellent job working for all of us as our next senator.”
However, Gallego has excluded the mayor’s endorsement from his official endorsement page. The only Phoenix official he’s featured under his lengthy list of Arizona official endorsements is former vice mayor Yassamin Ansari, who is now running for Congress.
The GOP attack line on Gallego’s love life and fatherhood record wasn’t a new concept rolled out recently. The NRSC released a similar ad last November with the characterization of Gallego as a “deadbeat dad.”
.@RubenGallego abandoned his wife when she was nearly 9 months pregnant, then married a DC lobbyist. @kyrstensinema is a liberal Democrat.
Gallego has posted about his son from his personal, now campaign account nearly every single month last year, with a sporadic array of posts in the years prior.
Becoming a dad was the best thing that ever happened to me. Michael brought me strength, humility, and so much love. Just a few weeks until i’m a dad of two.
Arizona law enforcement officials are warning against a federal consent decree for the City of Phoenix Police Department.
Earlier this month, the Arizona Sheriffs’ Association sent a letter to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, highlighting their members’ “complete opposition to any additional federal oversight of local law enforcement in the state of Arizona.”
The letter, sent by Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes and Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse, wrote that “the unintended but far-reaching consequences of federal oversight in Phoenix are of great concern to all law enforcement agencies in Arizona.” They noted the exorbitant costs of such decrees – most recently in Arizona’s backyard with Maricopa County, which has shelled out “$250 million of taxpayer funds in the last 16 years including on court monitors who have a disconnect between their mandate and experience, and their investment in the community.”
Sheriffs Rhodes and Clouse pointed out “the failure of the DOJ to help Arizona secure its borders” as another strike against the federal government’s ability to effectively commandeer a local police department, let alone to maintain its constitutionally tasks. They stated, “The DOJ has the authority and powers to also initiate a civil rights investigation into the Department of Homeland Security and as of yet has not. One does not need to look far to see the extraordinary constitutional violations occurring at our southwest border at the hands of the DHS. We find this inequity hypocritical considering the serious public safety implications manifesting from this failure.”
The association promised its complete support to Phoenix “in rejecting an offer of negotiation or consent decree by the DOJ,” adding the sheriffs would “stand behind you in forcing litigation to shine the light for all your citizens onto the allegations.” They asserted that “the necessary oversight of your police force can be done internally, with confidence from your constituents and other law enforcement agencies.”
Just days after the sheriffs transmitted this letter, the City of Phoenix sent one of its own to the DOJ, requesting “that the Department of Justice commit to negotiating in good faith a technical assistance letter with the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department, with assurances sufficient to reassure the DOJ that the City and PPD will continue with the reforms they are in the process of implementing.” The City’s letter accused the DOJ of operating its investigation with “a lack of transparency,” alleging the federal team “has declined to meaningfully share its observations, impressions, concerns, or tentative conclusions with the City of Phoenix, PPD, or their counsel despite numerous requests, and has rejected a specific request for a mid-investigation briefing.”
According to the City of Phoenix, “a technical assistance letter would allow the DOJ to provide Phoenix remedial recommendations and mechanisms to ensure proper implementation without the presence of a court enforced consent decree and monitor.”
The city argued that its Interim Chief, Michael G. Sullivan, has helped to enact meaningful reforms over “virtually every aspect of the operations implicated by the DOJ investigation.” City officials made the case that Sullivan’s changes “demonstrate a powerful commitment to reform, a commitment that warrants a different approach from the DOJ than has been the case over the past dozen years.”
Late last year, Arizona State Representative David Marshall and 20 of his colleagues in the chamber sent a letter to City of Phoenix officials, asking them to “swiftly reject any consent decree proposed by the DOJ and challenge the findings in the forthcoming DOJ report.”
🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE🚨 Arizona House Republicans Urge Phoenix Mayor to Reject Federal Control of Police Department
“To preserve Arizona’s sovereignty consistent with our state constitution, you must reject the DOJ’s coercive consent decree.”
The request from these representatives followed other petitions from Arizona officials who oppose the imposition of a consent decree upon the city’s police department. Earlier last fall, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell posted her displeasure with the principle of federal monitoring of law enforcement departments, writing, “Look no further than MCSO to see what ‘federal monitoring’ does to agencies. Monitors (people paid to determine whether an agency is in compliance) have ZERO incentive to find compliance. It will cost the taxpayers MILLIONS and crime will increase.”
Look no further than MCSO to see what "federal monitoring" does to agencies. Monitors (people paid to determine whether an agency is in compliance) have ZERO incentive to find compliance. It will cost the taxpayers MILLIONS and crime will increase.@MCSOAZ@andybiggs4az… https://t.co/InGA5Vs3lc
— Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (@Rachel1Mitchell) November 4, 2023
City of Phoenix Councilmember Ann O’Brien also wrote an op-ed for the Arizona Republic, voicing her sentiments regarding any arrangement handed down from the DOJ. In her piece, O’Brien wrote, “I have no intention of signing anything given to us by the Department of Justice without getting to read their findings first. That’s the thing: the DOJ gets agencies to sign an agreement in principle before ever releasing their findings, which essentially means that agency will negotiate a consent decree in good faith. Not Phoenix.”
Per the City of Phoenix’s information, the DOJ’s Civil Pattern or Practice investigation into the Phoenix Police Department “is the 71st investigation of its kind since the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.” If DOJ finds “patterns or practices of misconduct,” then Phoenix will likely find itself with a federal monitor.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The Arizona desert’s classic dry heat should now qualify as an “extreme heat,” according to Democratic lawmakers and leadership.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) is lobbying for more federal funding to counter the desert heat. Democrats at all levels have recharacterized summer temperatures as “extreme heat” in an attempt to pull more funding for a variety of progressive initiatives ranging from climate change to social justice. Trending usage of the word “extreme heat” has increased dramatically over the past 20 years, spiking with increased regularity every summer.
In a press release, Gallego commended President Joe Biden for increasing heat-related worker protections on Thursday. As part of the changes, Biden met with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, the congressman’s ex-wife, and San Antonio, Texas Mayor Ron Nirenberg. Yet, those changes fell short of Rep. Gallego’s ultimate goal: he urged the Biden administration to go one step further by classifying heat as an emergency.
“Far too many people are dying or falling ill from these extreme temperatures,” said Rep. Gallego. “[M]ore must be done. We need a swift, immediate deployment of resources, and that requires FEMA declaring extreme heat as an emergency. I will continue pushing the administration and Congress to get that done.”
I'm thankful the admin is heeding our call with these meaningful steps to protect Arizonans from extreme heat. But more must be done. We need FEMA to declare extreme heat an emergency. I'll keep pushing the administration and Congress to get that done.https://t.co/kKlpEHn8Wy
Both Gallegos have worked together to lobby the federal government to declare summer heat as an emergency.
During her annual state of the city address in April, Mayor Gallego petitioned the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to qualify extreme heat as a disaster by adding the regular seasonal occurrence to its national emergency declarations categorization.
A FEMA recognition would bring in more federal funding. The city has a number of heat mitigation projects that would likely benefit from such funding, like the manufactured shade and drinking water access areas known as “cool corridors,” which are determined on an equity basis, and the special sunlight reflective streets known as “cool pavement.” (Which, as AZ Free News reported, actually makes people hotter). Those initiatives were unique creations under Mayor Gallego’s administration.
Mayor Gallego was also responsible for the creation of one of the first heat mitigation offices within city government: the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation (OHRM). The city established the office with $2.8 million in 2021, with the explicit attempt to combat urban heat: the theory that urbanization causes higher temperatures.
Presently, the OHRM doles out COVID-19 relief federal funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for annual heat relief grants. These grants are earmarked for nonprofit, charitable, small business, and faith-based organizations existing within the city-recognized Maricopa Association of Governments Heat Relief Network that claim negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. OHRM will give out a maximum of $450,000 total, with each recipient receiving anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000.
A major focus of the OHRM is providing heat respite for the homeless. The latest update from OHRM, issued last summer, announced initiatives costing millions to increase the comfort of the homeless residing within the infamous mass homeless encampment known as the Zone: the creation of seven new shade structures; distribution of insulated and reusable water bottles, hats, sunscreen, personal misters, towels, ice chests with water; and 475 shelter beds for 24/7 heat respite.
The first and current OHRM director is Arizona State University (ASU) professor David Hondula, who teaches within the Global Institute of Sustainability. ASU worked with the city of Phoenix on the trial run and report ahead of the full launch of the cool pavement program.
After the mayor, Rep. Gallego introduced the Extreme Heat Emergency Act last month. Rep. Gallego said that extreme cold weather warrants federal disaster relief and contended that the same should be the case for the opposite of extreme heat.
“If you’re in Chicago and you have two weeks of extreme cold weather and snow and 400 people die, and Chicago calls the federal government, they will get money from the federal government,” said Gallego.
When it gets dangerously hot in Arizona, our leaders should have the ability to call on FEMA to deploy the necessary resources to save lives.
As AZ Free News reported this week, a majority of heat deaths in Maricopa County last year were due to meth.
Rep. Gallego also introduced similar legislation last year alongside Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12). Last year’s version, the Excess Urban Heat Mitigation Act of 2022, would establish a grant program through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It never made it past introduction.
In this latest announcement from Biden on Thursday, the president directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to issue a Hazard Alert for heat and ramp up workplace heat-safety violation enforcement, allocated $7 million in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for weather prediction improvements, and allocated $152 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding to expand water storage and equity-based climate resilience efforts in California, Colorado, and Washington.
The Biden administration has invested over $50 billion so far to address climate issues like heat waves. They have also established a website providing information on federal funding opportunities to mitigate health risks from heat, the #SummerReady awareness campaign, established the new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, funded 10 community groups and localities for equitable heat relief, and launched heat mapping campaigns in 154 communities across 14 states.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced other heat mitigation initiatives: $5 million to NOAA for two virtual research centers providing technical assistance and information to historically marginalized and underserved communities, a National Heat Strategy focused on equity and environmental justice developed by the White House Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Extreme Heat, meetings with local and tribal leadership to offer federal support for summer heat, and affordable housing opportunities using IRA and BIL funding.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Leftist activists beat an effigy of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego during her annual address last week. The effigy was a piñata filled with candy; on the front was the mayor’s name, and on the back was written “Kate (Sinema) Gallego,” referencing controversial Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).
The activists situated themselves outside of the venue for her State of the City address, the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel. They protested the evictions of the residents of several mobile home parks — Periwinkle, Las Casitas, and Weldon Court — as well as their general discontent with Gallego’s administration.
Fueling the activists’ discontent with Gallego was the city’s rejection of a proposal to rezone the contested properties last month. Instead, the city approved $2.5 million to help the displaced residents find new homes.
Two of the principal organizers behind the protest and the effigy beating were residents impacted by the evictions, Alondra Patricia Ruiz Vazquez and Salvador Reza. The protestors livestreamed the beating of Gallego’s likeness to Facebook. The protesters spoke and chanted mainly in Spanish.
“¡Pégale, pégale por la lucha, pégale!” chanted the protestors, which translates roughly to, “Hit it, hit it, for the fight, hit it!”
Members of Maricopa County Young Democrats were also present at the protest.
In a post following the protest, Reza responded to an alleged offense that Gallego took to the destruction of the effigy in her likeness. Reza said that the effigy was symbolic, and that she shouldn’t take offense to it.
“Breaking a piñata with the image of Kate Gallego is not only against her character flaws, but against the greed of large corporations and large universities that [are] not satisfied with what they have, lash out against vulnerable families who only ask for a home to live,” stated Reza. “Breaking a piñata is symbolic. However, losing a home is catastrophic and traumatic for the families who are living it firsthand. Neither the state’s $5,000 nor a handful of piñata candy will be able to compensate them. So, looking at things clearly, who has the most to lose? A politician offended by a piñata, or 150 families thrown with their belongings into the street.”
Symbolic violence against effigies of contested public figures has been a popular move for leftist activists over the past several weeks.
On Tuesday, rioters protesting an event featuring Daily Wire pundit Michael Knowles burned an effigy of him at the University of Pittsburgh.
A body dummy with a picture of Michael Knowles’ face on it has been lit on fire, about a half hour before Knowles is set to participate in an event on Pitt’s campus. Knowles said earlier this year that he believes “transgenderism” should be “eradicated.” @WTAEpic.twitter.com/l1k3TrEkDN
On Thursday, Phoenix had the grand opening of a $12 million community center, days after a court ruled that it had refused to clean up the massive homeless encampment downtown.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego announced the 34,000-square-foot community center, noting that she’d been working on the project since her election in 2019. That was the same year that the homeless crisis began.
Funding for the community center came from the Parks and Preserve Initiative, which sets aside one cent of sales tax for every $10 spent to improve and renovate parks, as well as to expand and improve the city’s desert preserve system.
As AZ Free News reported in its investigative series on The Zone, the homeless crisis has a devastating impact on Phoenix’s ground and waterways.
The community center is located about eight miles south of the homeless encampment (The Zone). It has an elevated track, basketball court, kitchen, fitness center, gaming room, outdoor movie theater, art installation, and a sensory room.
I’ve been working to get the Cesar Chavez Community Center built since I was elected, and tomorrow is the grand opening! With a basketball court, outdoor theater and more, it’s guaranteed fun for the whole family.⁰⁰Come to the open house from 4 to 8 p.m. to see it for yourself! pic.twitter.com/dcQw2QayBZ
The city opened the community center a day before the holiday celebrating its namesake: the civil rights and union activist Cesar Chavez.
During the grand opening ceremony, Gallego called the community center a “showpiece” that represents city values. Gallego disclosed that the city had to jump through a lot of hoops to find the funding to finish the project.
“We put inclusivity at the forefront. This building really shows our values,” said Gallego. “[W]e really had to work as a team to find out how to fund this project. Most city projects have fairly simple funding resources, but this one was quite complex with bond funding, impact fees, [and] a little bit of federal funding.”
Funding this project wasn’t easy, but we never gave up — and now the Cesar Chavez Community Center in Laveen is finally open! Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen. pic.twitter.com/eI0RHHmE9H
The city held its groundbreaking for the community center in September 2020. That was eight months after the residents and business owners within The Zone, the massive homeless encampment downtown, presented a plan to mitigate the burgeoning homeless with outdoor shelter or camping spaces on city land. According to the Maricopa County Superior Court ruling, the city generally ignored their pleas and their plans.
The Maricopa County Superior Court ruled on Monday that the city of Phoenix was at fault for the homeless crisis, which began around 2019 after the city essentially stopped enforcing laws on the homeless.
The city initially projected the community center to be completed last spring or early summer. It’s the city’s first community center established since 2007.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
