Maricopa County Judge Recuses Himself from Election-Related Case Due to Activist Brother’s Social Media Posts Denigrating Republican Election Lawsuits

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Opposition is increasing to the judges assigned to handle election related lawsuits in Arizona, as their biases are being revealed. After Arizona Senate Majority leader Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) requested that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Tim Ryan recuse himself from their lawsuit challenging the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM) because of his progressive activist older brother’s posts on X, Ryan voluntarily recused himself. 

The Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus issued an announcement praising the recusal. “His brother, Tom Ryan, is a liberal attorney who plagues social media with his contempt for the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature with an incessant number of juvenile posts,” the statement said. “There is no way anyone who has witnessed the antics of Judge Ryan’s brother, which included case-specific criticisms and commentary, can credibly believe that Judge Ryan could give the Legislature a fair trial.”

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Arizona Judge Rules Election Vendor Runbeck Not Subject to Public Records Law, Ignores Precedent Set in Cyber Ninjas Case

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bradley Astrowsky issued a ruling Friday dismissing a complaint filed by We the People AZ Alliance (WPAA) that requested video surveillance from Runbeck Election Services. Although another judge ruled previously that the private company Cyber Ninjas was subject to public records requests due to conducting a partial audit for the Arizona Senate of the 2020 election, Astrowsky refused to apply the same reasoning to Runbeck, the vendor that processed all of Maricopa County’s mail-in ballots prior to signature verification.

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Arizona House Speaker’s Brother Buys Majority Interest in Runbeck Election Services

Runbeck Election Services (RES) confirmed this week that Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma’s (R-Peoria) brother, Mihai Toma, purchased a majority stake in the company on August 18. 

RES is the private company that processes Maricopa County’s mail-in ballots.

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Latest Round of Legal Filings in Abe Hamadeh’s Election Challenge Pick Apart Arizona AG Kris Mayes’ 280-Vote Lead

Abe Hamadeh is forging ahead, challenging his 280-vote loss to Democrat Kris Mayes in the attorney general’s race, the closest statewide race in Arizona’s history. He is in the midst of challenging the trial court’s refusal to grant him a new trial after discovering that then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs withheld evidence from him prior to his trial regarding undervotes, votes that were not counted that resulted in narrowing Mayes’ lead. On Wednesday, he filed a reply to Mayes’ objections simultaneously with two amicus curiae briefs in support; one from Arizona legislative leadership and one from the America First Legal Foundation.

Hamadeh’s reply brief, primarily authored by Jennifer Wright, who previously served as the Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit civil attorney, pointed out various contradictions in Mayes’ response. Mayes claimed that Hamadeh was “both too fast and too slow in attempting to obtain relief in this Court,” the brief stated. On the one hand, Mayes claimed that Hamadeh was causing “unreasonable delay,” yet she still asked for a regular appeals process, not a speedy one. 

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Arizona Legislative Leadership Threatens Litigation Against Secretary of State Fontes over Draft Changes to Election Procedures Manual

Every two years, the Arizona Secretary of State is required by law to update the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM), but similarly to what happened in 2021, the process is not going smoothly. After reviewing the proposed changes Secretary of State Adrian Fontes suggested making to the EPM, State Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa), accompanied by Speaker of the House Ben Toma (R-Peoria), issued a statement on Monday threatening legal action.

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Arizona House Speaker, Senate President File Brief to Stop Hobbs’ Taxpayer Funded Child Gender Surgeries

Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) and Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) filed an amicus brief on Monday, asking a federal court to align Governor Katie Hobbs’ executive order, which forces government agencies to pay for the gender reassignment surgeries of employees, with a state law banning minors from receiving such treatments.

The amicus brief was filed in Toomey v. State of Arizona, a lawsuit launched in 2019 on behalf of Russell Toomey, an associate professor at the University of Arizona who is transgender, by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). It alleged that Arizona violated federal civil rights statutes and the U.S. Constitution because it “unlawfully discriminates against transgender people” by refusing to pay for “gender-affirming surgery”.

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Arizona State House Speaker Asks Governor Hobbs to Rescind ‘Unintelligible’ LGBTQ Executive Order

Arizona State House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) has sent a letter to Governor Katie Hobbs calling on her office to rescind a recent executive order banning so-called “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ individuals and youth, calling it “unconstitutional.”

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Arizona House Expels Republican Legislator Liz Harris After She Presented Witness Who Alleged Crimes by Officials

The Arizona House voted 46-13 to expel State Rep. Liz Harris (R-Chandler) on Wednesday after conducting an investigation into her bringing a witness to testify to the Senate Elections Committee, who accused legislators and other public officials of committing crimes. Jacqueline Breger told the committee that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, State House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) and others executed fraudulent deeds as part of a bribery scheme involving the Sinaloa drug cartel, along with other accusations.

Various legislators say that Harris was not truthful when she said she did not know what Breger was going to say. But Harris told The Arizona Sun Times it wasn’t that she didn’t know about the criminal accusations – she had instructed Breger only to address election integrity.

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Hobbs Won’t List Potential Compromises But Says Budget Is ‘Very Close’

Republican state legislators and Gov. Katie Hobbs are apparently “very close” to putting forth a bipartisan budget proposal, the governor said Wednesday.

Hobbs has been at odds with the state Legislature’s majority since taking office in January, as she’s vetoed 48 bills so far this session.

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State Legislative Leaders Weigh in on Abe Hamadeh’s Election Challenge with Friend of the Court Brief

The Arizona State Senate and House leaders, Sen. Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and Rep. Ben Toma (R-Peoria), filed an amici curiae brief, known as a friend of the court brief, weighing in on Republican Abe Hamadeh’s request for a new trial in his election challenge.

“Our system of government depends on the accurate tabulation of every legal vote. This imperative does not lapse on Inauguration Day; it imparts to the courts an enduring obligation to guarantee a full and fair adjudication of every bona fide dispute that may be material to the determination of an election,” according to the brief.

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Tucson Ban on Landlords Considering Income Could Hobble Its City Budget

An Arizona lawmaker wants the state Attorney General’s office to investigate an action taken by the City of Tucson.

Arizona House Speaker-elect Ben Toma, R-Peoria, filed an SB 1487 complaint with the Arizona Attorney General on Wednesday, asking the office to investigate Tucson’s policy forbidding landlords from considering people’s sources of income on rental housing applications. Toma wants the Attorney General’s office to investigate whether this violates state law.

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Arizona House Republicans Elect New Leaders for Next Legislative Session

Members of the Arizona House Republican Caucus met Tuesday to elect new leadership positions for the coming legislative session, ultimately choosing Rep. Ben Toma (R-Peoria) to serve as the next Speaker of the House.

“It is a profound privilege to lead the House of Representatives and our Republican majority caucus,” said Toma in response to his election. “Together, I know that the House will rise to meet the state’s immense challenges and we will continue to unlock freedom and opportunity for every Arizonan.”

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Arizona Grassroots Groups Rally at ‘Redfest’ to Push Conservative Legislators for Leadership Positions in 2023

Freedomworks, one of the nation’s leading conservative grassroots organizations, recently launched a satellite office in Arizona and held a joint “Redfest Rally” with other Arizona conservative organizations Friday night to discuss getting conservative legislators into leadership positions in the Arizona Legislature. State Rep. Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale) is vying for Speaker of the House, likely facing off against House Majority Leader Ben Toma (R-Peoria), and State Sen. Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) is going up against longtime State Sen. David Gowan (R-Sierra Vista). 

Chaplik told the crowd that people don’t trust the “fractured caucus” that exists currently under the leadership of House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R-Mesa), who lost his primary election earlier this month due to defeating numerous conservative bills including many election integrity bills. Chaplik called the legislature a “cesspool” of “sham favoritism,” and said Arizonans can expect a “more conservative caucus” in 2023. 

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Arizona Legislature Considering ‘Most Expansive Education Savings Account Program in the Nation’

The 2022 Arizona legislative session is almost over, but there are still a few key bills policy watchers say have a good chance of making it into law. One is HB 2853, which would expand school choice by opening Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) to all K-12 students in the state.

Cory DeAngelis, a national education policy expert who serves as national director of research for the school choice organization, American Federation for Children, tweeted, “This would be the most expansive education savings account program in the nation. All families would be able to take their children’s education dollars to the education providers of their choosing.”

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