by Staff Reporter | Jan 13, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A former Tucson councilman’s pornographic and violent past has resurfaced again amid his newly launched state senate race.
Tucson Councilman Rocque Perez advocated for the harm and murder of his political opponents and promoted pornography in the years immediately leading up to his foray into politics. Perez has since deleted all of the incriminating posts.
AZ Free News covered Perez’s rhetoric in October. These posts were made in 2020, around the time that Perez was a student body senator for the University of Arizona.
Perez advised his friend to murder conservative family members:
“So kill them, do your duty baby girl,” posted Perez.
Perez threatened to murder a classmate defending President Donald Trump:
“This vapid white girl is defending Trump[’s] response to COVID in my Zoom public relations class, do I end her or do I end her,” posted Perez.
Perez called for the assassination of Ivanka Trump:
“Someone throw this b***h off the capitol building roof please,” posted Perez.
Perez threatened to assault Trump if given the opportunity.
“Honestly I would take one for the team and knock him out if I could,” posted Perez.
Perez also wished for Trump to die from COVID-19, in multiple posts.
Perez called for the assault of conservative activist and pundit Kaitlin Bennett:
“How has she not gotten beat yet? Like… hath no one the bravery to literally hurt her cause…?” posted Perez.
Perez threatened to stab Trump voters:
“Roses are red, violets are blue, vote for Joe Biden, or I’ll cut you,” posted Perez.
Although Perez has ceased posting the caliber of violent rhetoric of his past, his actions indicate that he still holds the sentiments that inspired those deleted posts.
On Friday, Perez participated in a vigil for Renée Nicole Good, the Minnesota woman and anti-ICE activist fatally shot by law enforcement after driving her car in the direction of an ICE agent.
Along with advocating for assault and murder, Perez posted pornographic videos and pictures to promote his OnlyFans account.
In one of the posts, Perez claimed he engaged in sexual activities with an unnamed male professor and was later solicited by the professor’s husband.
In another post made in March 2021, Perez claimed to have masturbated while at work at the University of Arizona.
“Guys I’m so horny I might jerk off somewhere at work, stay tuned,” posted Perez. “Update: loads of bro butter at work.”
Both Perez’s personal and porn accounts were public. As a result, at least one minor engaged with Perez’s work. The California Globe uncovered in a report that one minor at the time, now a staffer for Tucson Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz, engaged with Perez’s porn account.
Although his pornography was public and clearly visible to minors, Perez would go on to become executive director for a nonprofit directly involved with minors: the Metropolitan Education Commission (MEC), created by Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva. MEC advises and makes recommendations on K-12 education for all of Pima County.
Perez launched his state senate campaign in December, around when his six-month appointment to the Tucson City Council came to an end.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jul 6, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The balance of Arizona’s Legislature may hinge on Republicans being able to pick up seats in districts under Democrats’ control in the upcoming election. Robert Scantlebury, who is running for state senate in Legislative District 9 in Mesa, may be one of those candidates for the Republicans in November 2024.
Robert has lived in Mesa since 1992, when he joined the City of Mesa Police Department as an officer after graduating from California State University with his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. He started his career with Mesa in its holding facility before serving as a police officer, special investigations detective, patrol sergeant, school intelligence detective, and a detective sergeant. After this distinguished body of work for the Department, Scantlebury retired in 2018, completing 25 years with the city.
Retirement couldn’t keep Robert from the persistent itch of public service. He served as a volunteer Reserve Police Officer until 2020, when the Mesa Police Department ended the program. In this role, he worked as a School Resource Officer and School Intelligence Detective. As Scantlebury reflected on this period of his life, he said that “I loved my job and have always felt I had a calling to protect and stand up for others.”
When his tenure at the Department came to an end after the sunset of the reserve program, Scantlebury followed in the footsteps of his parents, creating his own small business, Little American Tractor Service. He also serves as a school board member for Step-up School, which is a nonprofit school in his community.
The Mesa law enforcement officer veteran entered the political realm in 2018, when he unsuccessfully ran for Mesa City Council in District 4, finishing third. However, Scantlebury just barely missed the bar to move on to the November 6 election, falling 39 votes short of second place. He then challenged incumbent State Senator Tyler Pace in the August 2022 Primary Election, garnering more than double the votes for a shocking victory. Robert couldn’t defeat his Democrat opponent, though, losing to incumbent Eva Burch by five percent (just over three thousand votes).
Scantlebury decided to run again for Legislative District 9 in the 2024 cycle. In August 2023, he wrote that “people have asked why I’m going to run for office again when it is so hard to do,” answering that he has “always done hard things to do my part to make things better and stop bad people from hurting others.”
On March 29 of this year, Scantlebury turned in 920 signatures of qualified voters to make the ballot for the primary election. That number was almost three times the minimum he was required to submit to the Arizona Secretary of State. In a Facebook post, he thanked “all the people who talked with me at their front door and all the supporters who visited their neighbors and advocated for me.”
His three top priorities for public office at the state legislature are public safety, lower cost of living, and supporting parents and students. On his campaign website, Robert writes that his “thirty years in law enforcement have made it clear to me that we need our state government to do more. I will be a voice to empower local law enforcement, address serious mental illness appropriately, and work to stop human trafficking and the flow of drugs coming across our border.”
Scantlebury goes on to address his economic priority, stating that “we should be able to afford groceries, gas, electricity, and rent or buy a home in a safe neighborhood. But today, we’re paying more to buy less and our kids can’t envision ever affording a house. That’s the opposite of the American dream.” He promises to “defend our flat tax, oppose new taxes, stand up to radical environmental policies that raise the cost of our gas and electricity, and balance community needs with individual property rights.”
In addressing his priority of supporting parents and students in Arizona schools, Robert asserts that “one size doesn’t fit all and families should be able to access what works for their child, regardless of where they live or how much money they make.” He assures voters that “I am going to protect this for any family that needs it.” He adds that he “want[s] schools to focus first on the basics of education like reading, writing and math” and “schools that are responsive to students’ and parents’ needs.”
The Republican lists endorsements from the Mesa Police Association, the Arizona Republican Assemply, LUCA-Latino United, East Valley Young Republicans, and Arizona State Representative Barbara Parker on his website.
Robert has been married to his wife, Heather, for 23 years, and they have two daughters, Ryley and Robyn.
In July’s Primary Election, Scantlebury faces off against fellow Republican Christopher Stapley. The winner of the contest will be pitted against the entrenched Democrat incumbent, Eva Burch, for the November General Election.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Mar 2, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Republicans and Democrats might have had different motives for supporting a bill that would require Arizona governors to operate with more transparency with their inaugural funds, but they managed to come together to overwhelmingly pass the new policy out of the Arizona Senate.
SB 1299, which was sponsored by Senator Wendy Rogers, passed the State Senate on Monday with a 29-0 vote – with one Democrat not voting (Eva Diaz). Senator Diaz had previously voted for the bill when it unanimously passed the chamber’s Government Committee earlier in the month.
Senate Republicans were extremely pleased with the progress of the legislation. Soon after the bill’s passage in his body, President Warren Petersen tweeted, “Democrats and Republicans just voted out unanimously that the Governor needs to be transparent with her inauguration funds!”
The Arizona Senate Republican Caucus victoriously stated, “In an effort to address the shady practices of @GovernorHobbs with regards to her handling of her Inauguration Fund, @WendyRogersAZ sponsored SB1299, which would require the Governor’s Office to publish on its website, within 15 days after the inauguration ceremony, information detailing each organization that organized, supported or funded the ceremony.” The Caucus also touted the bipartisan support for the bill.
Bill sponsor, Senator Wendy Rogers, tweeted, “Proud to sponsor this vital bipartisan SB 1299 bill promoting #TRANSPARENCY.”
Democrats had no choice but to support a bill aimed both at transparency and at their same-party chief executive, whose actions around the fundraising, reporting, and future use of her Inaugural Fund generated red flags and questions around the state since the start of the year. Legislators in both chambers have sent letters to Hobbs about her Inaugural Fund – most recently about what her intentions might be when it comes to spending the massive amount of excess funds not used from the early-January inauguration events.
The headlines have not been gentle when it came to Hobbs’ actions (or lack thereof) with her Inaugural fund. On January 5, Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic wrote an opinion piece entitled, “Katie Hobbs keeps donations secret. Is this what she calls ‘transparency’?” And on February 2, Roberts wrote another opinion piece with the headline, “Gov. Katie Hobbs still hasn’t come clean on her inauguration fund.” Roberts wrote, “While governors always have raised money to help defray the cost of their inaugurations, Hobbs is the first to keep the leftover cash. Usually, it’s transferred into a public protocol fund, to be used for public purposes. Hobbs, instead, established a nonprofit account where the money can be used to fund political campaigns. A state government website was employed and now mum’s the word on how she intends to spend the $1.6 million or more in leftover funds…. Hobbs promises to be a ‘champion for everyone’ but my guess is that, as with all politicians, some ‘champions’ will have more access and influence than others.”
SB 1299 now heads to the Arizona House for consideration before a potential showdown with the inspiration for the bill herself: Governor Katie Hobbs.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
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