The Arizona Agenda's 2023 Rewind

There's no way all that happened just this year...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, readers. Nicole speaking. 

We’re wrapping up publishing for the year and spending some time with family – this is our last edition until Tuesday, January 2. 

But before we break, Hank asked me to delve into the 2023 archives and give you all a rundown of the year that paradoxically droned on yet seems to have whizzed by. 

I left my job in November to join the Arizona Agenda, a publication that landed in my inbox far before I started writing for it, and I’m so glad I decided to take the leap. I’ve had a blast digging into Arizona’s fascinating political landscape, touring the state Capitol and meeting the lawmakers and lobbyists running the show. 

There were plenty of twists and turns in Arizona’s political scene, and the Agenda universe itself, throughout 2023. The Arizona Agenda was there for it all. 

2024 is gonna be even crazier. Don’t miss it. Click the button now for our year-end discount.

Consider it a holiday gift to yourself and a New Year’s resolution to be a smarter, more informed citizen.

Our art intern, ChatGPT, is better at abstract art than the kind of mash-up style art we asked for today. Interns — you get what you pay for!

January: 

Former Gov. Doug Ducey left his post in January, but not without a bang. He spent his final days in office rewriting contracts with private companies receiving COVID funding so Gov. Katie Hobbs couldn’t change them. Even the state comptroller, who’s supposed to sign off on such contracts, refused. Daniel Ruiz, Ducey’s chief of staff, inked the contracts instead. 

And the Agenda started the year by pushing its own legislative Agenda, for a good cause. Hank lobbied for a monument honoring Don Bolles, an investigative reporter at the Republic who was killed while following a story. Spoiler alert, the bill died in the Senate. (We’re not done though — watch out for a new bill this year!)

Hobbs ended the month with her first big loss as governor after her hand-picked candidate to head up Arizona’s Democratic Party, former lawmaker turned Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, lost to new Chair Yolanda Bejarano. 

Meanwhile, MAGA and business-wing Republicans finally found someone they could both live with as their new chair: former state Treasurer and Trump campaign CFO Jeff DeWit. 

February: 

Republican lawmakers backed legislation championed by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne to outlaw “critical race theory,” or, as the bill put it: teaching “that an individual bears responsibility or blame for actions committed by other members of the same race or ethnic group.” It became one of Hobbs’ many vetoes. 

Around the same time that Attorney General Kris Mayes revealed former AG Mark Brnovich buried findings that the 2020 election was free and fair, the Agenda was diving into the antics of insurance agent Jacqueline Breger, who believes the state’s political scene is embedded with cartels. Though they heard her out, even the far-right lawmakers distanced themselves from her. 

March: 

In a titillating turn of events, Horne revealed most of the calls to his “empower hotline,” for parents to tattle on teachers teaching critical race theory were prank calls. 

Also, the No Labels Party became a real thing in March after it submitted enough signatures to become a recognized political party and put nominees on the 2024 ballot. 

After the tragic murder of University of Arizona Professor Thomas Meixner, the faculty senate approved a vote of no confidence for UA President Robert Robbins citing many missed signs of the shooter’s intentions that came to light. 

April: 

Republican Rep. Liz Harris was expelled from the House for inviting aforementioned conspiracy theorist Jacqueline Breger to the Capitol to testify about lawmakers, police, church officials and a bunch of other people allegedly taking bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. 

Also in April, the Agenda faced its own social media censorship after billionaire Elon Musk restricted people’s ability to share Substack links on Twitter. 

Twitter is a hellscape, but it helped people find the Agenda. Stick it to Elon: Share the Agenda with friends and family this holiday season.

Hobbs broke the record for the most vetoes in a single session after shutting down a slew of Republican-backed bills. She vetoed 143 bills total in 2023, far surpassing former Gov. Janet Napolitano’s 58-veto record. 

May: 

Democrats criticized Hobbs’ negotiation skills after she worked out a budget with Republican legislative leaders that lacked Democratic priorities. Meanwhile, the end of Title 42 fueled border-related hysteria, but the Agenda broke down how you can parse out the data for yourself. 

And as part of budget negotiations, lawmakers began using a windfall of one-time money for their own priorities, many of which were derisively labeled “pet projects.” But a lot of good work was actually funded, like a bridge in Lake Havasu and new school building roofs in Tombstone and Huachuca City.  

June: 

Newly revealed texts showed Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan’s volunteer-led recount of Maricopa County’s election produced, as Logan put it, “screwy” numbers. Taxpayers paid at least $150,000 for the haphazard effort. 

Republican Sen. David Livingston filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office to investigate dark money in Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign. The governor’s campaign had a massive slush fund that sent money to a political dark money outfit instead of a state bank account. 

And the anticipated costs of school vouchers skyrocketed to $900 million. 

July: 

We celebrated the Fourth of July by launching our first sister publication the Tucson Agenda. Seasoned reporters Curt Prendergast and Caitlin Schmidt hit the ground running bringing the news to the Old Pueblo. 

Meanwhile, Independents became Arizona’s most populous political party, but Independents still can’t vote in Presidential Preference Elections. And the social equity sales pitch for the passing of Prop 207 (to legalize recreational marijuana in 2020) turned out to be duplicitous. The social equity licenses sold as a way to promote ownership among communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of weed laws primarily went to wealthy, white men. 

August: 

Hobbs and Lawmakers struck a deal to continue Prop 400, leaving the Valley’s transportation infrastructure funded. While transportation funding stuck around, Arizona Agenda reporter Rachel Leingang left the agenda to pursue new adventures in Minneapolis. But she did leave us with a heartfelt goodbye. 

We had a wealth of guests step in for the meantime, nonprofit news organization LOOKOUT gave us an inside look at LGBTQ+ issues in Phoenix, longtime Republic columnist Robert Robb told us about the importance of independent opinion journalism and legendary Tucson cartoonist and opinion writer David Fitzsimmons wrote about his own journey on Substack. 

September: 

Local media empire Wick Communications bought Flagstaff’s main paper, the Arizona Daily Sun while reporters at local papers owned by the newspaper conglomerate reported mass furloughs. Surprisingly, CEO Francis Wick engaged in a very interesting conversation about the future of the industry. 

In other media landscape news, Arizona PBS General Manager Mi-Ai Parrish held a grudge over Hobbs’ refusal to debate Kari Lake in 2022 and demanded an apology from the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission over the fallout of PBS giving Hobbs her own air time. 

Hobbs, of course, won that election. But she faced continued political pushback from the Republican majority in the Legislature, some of whom refuse to acknowledge her as a legitimate governor. After months of watching her department director nominees receive brutal hearings from the Senate committee tasked with vetting them after, she eventually pulled her nominees back, calling the process a “sad display of partisan obstructionism.”

October: 

Democratic Rep. Jennifer Longdon, who uses a wheelchair, was denied main floor seating that lacked wheelchair access and forced to sit away from her fellow lawmakers. The issue was followed up by a barrage of apologies, but her colleagues saw what was happening and took seats at the front without her anyway.

Legislative staff estimated Arizona will have a $400 million deficit by next June with another $400 million short for the upcoming budget year, forcing policymakers to seriously reconsider their one-time spending habits. And Hobbs’ Bipartisan Elections Task Force came up with a slate of vague recommendations to address the state’s tight election deadlines that could put Arizona’s transmittal of its presidential electors in jeopardy this year. 

November: 

Hank laid out the bizarre, and at times violent, behavior of Democratic Rep. Leezah Sun, and House Democrats filed an ethics complaint against her days later. 

And then I came on board! A lot of amazing people said super nice things about me in my introduction. 

The ad hoc committee tasked with overseeing ESA vouchers held its final meeting of the year, and as we predicted, nothing came out of it. 

December: 

As 2023 finishes its final month, December’s news isn’t letting up. Hank introduced a new tool that will revolutionize how Arizonans consume and utilize political and governmental data and information: Skywolf. 

The Lukeville border crossing closed, shuttering access between Arizona and Rocky Point and forcing travelers to go hours out of their way to cross the border. Sun racked up yet another complaint regarding alleged threats to the Littleton Elementary School superintendent, and the House Ethics Committee scheduled an evidentiary hearing where witnesses will testify to the lawmaker’s antics this coming Tuesday.