When Karrin Taylor Robson, a Republican candidate for governor, launched her first campaign ad last week, I did a double-take.
Was this the same woman who Republican consultants pitched as the anti-Kari Lake, the “moderate” in the race who wouldn’t peddle Q-Anon conspiracies and Trump fantasies?
If so, we’re in trouble.
In Robson’s first ad, she stands near the border at night, her white face gleaming, her voice a whisper as she speaks of the so-called failures of the Biden administration. The ad cuts to footage of brown people walking behind her during the middle of the day, people she identifies as “illegal immigrants,” (though I highly doubt she or her team questioned any of those individuals) as she promises to “finish the wall.”
For those who doubted whether Gov. Doug Ducey was silently working to undermine public education, doubt no more.
As a lame duck governor, his war on district schools is no longer being waged in the shadows. He put his disdain for public education on full display during his State of the State speech on Monday.
Arizonans know the past two years have been a nightmare for students, teachers and parents. Conflicting guidelines from health and government leaders, coupled with remote learning and children and teens dealing with isolation and family illnesses and death have created a tsunami of loss in our schools.
Test scores have plummeted, and the surgeon general has reported huge upticks in anxiety and depression as well as suicide attempts, creating an unprecedented crisis among our youth.
Raise your hand if you’re excited for the 2022 election!
Anyone?
That’s what I thought.
Arizonans, including political nerds such as me, have little reason for excitement, even though the results of next year’s election could mean the difference between saving or undoing our nation’s democracy.
The reason for the malaise is simple: far too many weak, conspiracy-addled and scandal-laden candidates are running for the state’s top job.
Arizona Democrats are worried. And for good reason.
Katie Hobbs — their frontrunner in the race for governor — has a credibility issue, and it seems to be getting worse with each passing day.
The onus for this problem lies squarely with Hobbs.
She had an opportunity to show real leadership after Talonya Adams won her second, historic jury decision for sex and race discrimination and retaliation by taking responsibility for her role in Adams’ firing, showing genuine remorse, and offering a plan to ensure discrimination and retaliation would never again happen on her watch.
Donald Trump, cancel culture, fake news, critical race theory, border wall.
Those are the soundbite issues Arizona Republicans are focused on for 2022 because they believe those are the issues that will motivate their base.
Meanwhile, Democrats are focused on…well, I’m not so sure what they’re focused on. Unfortunately, the party has never been great at creating a unified messaging strategy around soundbite policy.
But if you look at what happened in the most recent legislative session as well as what’s happening in Congress, you’ll see an obvious dividing line between the two sides that can be summed up with this question: Do voters want more tax cuts for the wealthy or investments in people?
Plenty of APS ratepayers — myself included — have been complaining about our electricity bills for the past four years.
We watched our bills skyrocket after the 2017 rate increase while also having to navigate novel and complex rate plans — plans that few consumers understood and that APS’ own customer service reps had difficulty explaining.
During this same period, ratepayers found out the utility’s parent company spent tens of millions of dollars on political campaigns and lobbying that, among other things, discouraged investment in public education and clean energy and helped elect the very commissioners who are supposed to regulate them.
But now it seems the tide has finally shifted, and APS no longer has carte blanche at the Corporation Commission.
Americans value independent thinking. Competition. Healthy debate. A marketplace of ideas.
Or do we?
If social media is a gauge of what we cherish, I’d say the opposite is true.
These past few years, I’ve watched friends cut ties with family members because they subscribe to different political beliefs.
I’ve seen candidates and elected officials block constituents on Twitter and Facebook for the crime of expressing a different viewpoint.
Move over Tiger King. There’s a new reality show in town that’s even more outrageous than an exotic cat owner’s murder-for-hire scheme.
I call this “show” the Real Politicians of Arizona because, just like the “Housewives” series, there’s plenty of back-biting, sensationalized drama and questionable fashion choices.
Taking center-stage in this made-for-TV reality are Republican gubernatorial candidates Kari Lake and Matt Salmon. Their real-life bickering over who’s the Trumpiest in all the land makes the fist-fight between the Kardashian sisters look tame.
Who’s most likely to imprison their political opponents or spend millions more on another partisan recount?
With Lake securing Trump’s endorsement, she’s the current fan fave.
There is likely no other Democrat that has taken more fire from her party this last year than Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema.
Sinema won the ire of progressives because of her insistence on preserving an archaic Senate rule that has historically been used to hamper civil rights: the filibuster. Democrats fear the filibuster will prevent any hope of passing major election reforms. Reforms needed because of the continued assault on voting rights in conservative states across the country, including Arizona.
I’ve taken a swing at Sinema, as well, commenting on more than one occasion that real mavericks don’t simply say “no” to their party, they get stuff done.
Sinema has the potential to put a huge feather in her cap and show naysayers like myself and other progressives that Congress isn’t broken, and bipartisanship is possible on some issues, such as the infrastructure bill she helped craft and shepherd through the first stages of congressional approval.
Maricopa County has had some rough elections these past few years. Long lines, shuttered polling locations, nonfunctioning machines.
It seems the county can’t figure out how to run an election without seriously inconveniencing – if not outright disenfranchising – voters.
Read MoreI suppose we should be used to it by now.
The dog whistles and nativist language. The daily insults and Twitter rants.
Trump is who he is, and nothing, perhaps not even him shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, will convince his base that he is unfit to lead this country.
He is a contagion on our democracy, but he is not acting in isolation.
Read MoreArizona is home to the country’s founder of modern-day Machiavellian politics, Joe Arpaio.
Arpaio successfully used the public’s fear of immigrants and the media’s thirst for the outrageous to create an image of himself that made him the most well-known—and perhaps most hated—law enforcement officer in the world.
Read MoreStephanie Pullman didn’t need to die. Though she had a number of health issues, it wasn’t her diabetes or her heart disease that ended up taking her life. It was the actions of her public utility company.
As we all learned from the Phoenix New Times, the 72-year-old woman was behind on her APS bill. Last August, the company informed her they would be disconnecting her electricity. Though she made a partial payment a short time later, APS still cut the power, and several days later, she was found dead.
Read MoreEven though I was still in elementary school, I remember when the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl happened. It was before the fall of the Berlin Wall and at a time when Americans were deeply distrustful of the Soviets.
I was anxious to watch HBO’s new miniseries, “Chernobyl,” to see how this historical drama would play out. But a couple episodes into the miniseries, and I’ve found myself comparing the Soviet Union of the 1980s to the United States of today.
Read MoreArizona is in desperate need of leadership.
Normally, the role would fall upon the governor, the head of our state, the CEO and chief vision-setter.
But vision has never been Gov. Ducey’s strong point. In fact, if there’s one thing both Republicans and Democrats can agree on, it’s that this governor is as status quo and milquetoast-y as they come.
Read MoreRemember when Governor Ducey and certain Republican legislators claimed they were shocked by the charter school abuses uncovered by watchdog groups and reporters at the Arizona Republic?
They demanded accountability! Transparency! Reform!
Read MoreWe’re not allowed to choose our electricity providers. If we dislike our service or believe our rates are too high, we have little recourse.
Because we’re captive customers of a monopoly, our public utility is supposed to be regulated to ensure quality service and fair rates. Profits aren’t disallowed, but are capped, and are expected to cover the costs of service and investments as well as reasonable compensation for employees.
Read MoreNow that Rep. Ruben Gallego has officially decided against a run for the U.S. Senate, all eyes are on the presumptive Democratic nominee, Mark Kelly.
While most Democrats see Kelly’s run as positive, others are privately fretting about his number one enemy, the NRA.
Read MoreLet me tell you a tale, one about a little girl named Mary who has dyslexia and a little boy named Peter who is learning “typical.”
Mary’s school is required by federal law to provide services to help her access a free and appropriate education that meets her individual needs. These services include things like a reading specialist and assistive technology.
Read MoreI hate to say I told you so. But I told you so.
Before the legislative session began, I predicted all the outrage over charter school owners turning taxpayer-funded schools into personal piggy banks would result in a reform bill heavy on pomp and light on substance.
Read MoreThere’s a wall in our politics right now, both symbolic and literal, and it threatens to divide America in ways we haven’t seen in more than a century.
MAGA architect Steve Bannon summarized this sentiment in a recent interview with VICE News, saying, “2019 is going to be the nastiest year in American politics since, I think, since before the Civil War.”
Read MoreThe U.S. Constitution protects religious freedom and prohibits discrimination based on race. But when it comes to protections for gender?
Meh.
Read MoreEver play the Chinese fortune cookie game where you add the phrase “in bed” to the end of every fortune?
Lately, I’ve been playing that game with Governor Ducey’s hashtags, though I use the phrase “for special interests” instead of the other one.
Read MoreThe 2019 legislative session kicks off in less than two weeks, and the most urgent matter on legislators’ plates is also likely to be the most explosive.
The issue? Tax conformity.
Read MoreIn a state that languishes near the bottom in public education funding, it’s understandable why Democrats would support taxes meant to prop up our schools.
But not all taxes are created equal, and Democrats need to stop putting their stamp of approval on ones that harm Arizona’s most vulnerable residents.
Read MoreWe’ve been reading about it for months. Charter school CEOs, including a powerful Arizona legislator, are making millions off publicly funded charter schools.
Oh, well, we shrug. They took a risk, invested money, and made a profit. That’s what businesses do. Except Arizona charter schools aren’t supposed to function like private sector businesses. Rather, they are classified as public schools, receiving almost all of their funding from Arizona taxpayers.
Read MoreAmericans are a generous people. In 2017, everyday citizens along with multi-millionaires donated an astounding $410 billion to a variety of qualified charities and religious organizations.
We donate because it feels good to buy a Christmas present for a child in need or purchase a box of groceries for the local food pantry. The images of little kids receiving a warm meal or a shiny new bicycle can bring us to tears. We’re moved by the stories of shelters providing a safe place for victims of domestic violence or stable housing for homeless veterans.
Read MoreRecord turnout. Progressive enthusiasm. Young voters. Those three things should have combined to create more wins for Arizona Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm election. Instead, we are licking our wounds and wondering how we failed to capitalize on growing discontent and a changing electorate that favors progressive issues.
Read MoreRep. Martha McSally and Gov. Doug Ducey used to tread a fine line when it came to President Trump. They distanced themselves from the scandals — the Access Hollywood tape, the embrace of dictators and authoritarians, the demeaning of our nation’s intelligence community — while embracing his policies.
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Gov. Doug Ducey and his wealthy special interest pals were absolutely gleeful last week when the voter-approved education initiative known as the Invest in Education Act was overturned.
Ducey & Co. worked overtime to ensure that nearly $900 million in additional education dollars will never reach our classrooms and that our tragic underfunding of special education programs, our bottom-of-the-barrel per-pupil funding, and our teacher shortage crisis continue.
But it’s important for Arizonans to understand that schoolchildren and teachers are not the only ones adversely affected by this decision.
Our state constitution and the right of all Arizona citizens to create policy via the ballot has been greatly diminished, as well.