The Daily Agenda: Erasing Brnovich's legacy

Republican lawmakers miss the old days ... Open congressional seat attracts one candidate ... And is that the official smell?

Back in early January, we predicted that one of the biggest shifts in state government would come from Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes and her decisions on what to defend — or not — in court. 

We were right: Mayes, in her first few months in office, has worked to unwind several of her predecessor’s legal moves and policy decisions. And Republican lawmakers have tried to step in to defend the laws they wrote, as have others outside the Legislature.

So far, Mayes has: 

• repurposed the election integrity unit, a cornerstone of Republican AG Mark Brnovich’s administration, to focus on voting rights and protecting elections officials.

• released documents that Brnovich had refused to, showing how the office had debunked widespread fraud claims in the 2020 election.

• decided not to appeal a ruling that set the state’s more recent 15-week abortion ban as enforceable law instead of a territorial outright ban.

• reversed a legal opinion from Brnovich on a lawmaker’s 1487 complaint, saying cities do have the right to ban housing discrimination based on sources of income.

Jeremy Duda @jeremyduda

We have yet to see any lawmakers file an SB1487 complaint to the AG's Office under Mayes, but her reversal of Brnovich's last finding demonstrates her position on the law that gives the benefit of the doubt to cities

axios.comArizona AG to favor local control when lawmakers target citiesRepublican lawmakers have often used the complaint system against policies enacted by Democrat-led cities.

Aside from the undoings, Mayes’ decisions on where to intervene on federal or multistate issues differs widely from Brnovich, too.

• She’s traveling the state to hear from people about a proposed grocery store merger between Kroger and Albertsons as part of an increased emphasis on consumer protection for the office.

• She’s joined several multistate lawsuits or policy letters with other attorneys general on issues like anti-LGBTQ+ blood donation policies, right-to-repair laws, environmental regulations on pesticides, protecting Dreamers and restrictions on abortion medications.

• She’s removed the office from other lawsuits, like a challenge to a federal lawsuit over ghost guns.

A couple of abortion cases give perhaps the best examples of how differently Mayes has managed the office — and how Republicans are trying to adapt to that. 

An ongoing lawsuit over the state’s abortion access pitted two laws against each other: a complete ban on abortion that’s been in law since before statehood, compared to a more recent 15-week ban. Abortion advocates don’t want either law in place, but see the 15-week ban as less onerous. The courts have so far aligned with them, saying the more recent law would take precedent.

Mayes, in January, said she wouldn’t appeal that ruling from the Arizona Court of Appeals, effectively removing her office from further litigation in that abortion case as advocacy groups work toward a 2024 ballot measure that will ask voters to provide more clarity on abortion access.

With Mayes out, a doctor at a crisis pregnancy center instead appealed the ruling to the Arizona Supreme Court. And Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane is trying to intervene as well, saying a public lawyer should defend state law in the case. 

In a separate abortion lawsuit, Mayes said she wouldn’t defend a 2021 law that bans abortion for genetic abnormalities, leaving the fate of that legal question open. 

Republican lawmakers decided to intervene. Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma asked a federal court for the ability to defend the law, paid for by the Alliance Defending Freedom. The Republican leaders said they had a “crucial interest" in defending the law, absent the AG’s involvement. The judge granted their request.

Mayes’ decisions won’t be without backlash. Republican Sen. John Kavanagh is pushing a bill that would require the AG to defend all state laws. Senate Bill 1021 still needs a full vote of the House, though. Kavanaugh’s bill stemmed from his inability to find a lawyer to defend a patently unconstitutional police filming law, but it gained traction now that Mayes is in office. 

The legal shifts by Mayes, and Republican responses to her decisions, are just now starting to become clear. It’s only been a few months — we’re sure there are even more big changes, and more retaliation, to come.

We finally have a candidate: Phoenix City Council member Yassamin Ansari became the first Democrat to officially announce her run for U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego’s solidly Democratic district. Gallego, meanwhile, says he raised $3.7 million this quarter in his bid to challenge U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who raised less in the quarter but has almost $10 million on hand, should she decide to seek reelection, The Hill notes. In other Gallego news, the Republic’s Tara Kavaler notes that Gallego is championing legislation to ban hidden “junk fees” on things like concert tickets. The fees would have to be disclosed at the beginning of the transaction rather than at the final checkout. 

Can you just do that?: A group of Navajo people who live near Grand Falls, a popular tourist destination with a “spectacular chocolate-brown waterfall,” are patrolling the area and passing out flyers to turn tourists away, saying they’re done cleaning up after them, KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports. The group plans to pass a resolution to make the closure permanent.

It’s not alt fuels, OK?: Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma authored an op-ed in the Republic defending the state’s universal voucher program, saying parents clearly like it, and although the projected cost is skyrocketing with enrollment, “this is not ‘alt fuels,’ and Arizona has the money to afford this program.” 

ItalicizedConsulting @ItalicizedAZ

In case you needed another good reason to tune in to the #AZLeg Finance Advisory Committee meeting on April 13, @Garrett_Archer has one for you: We could learn more about how the ESA expansion impacts current and future state budgets.

abc15.comData: Universal ESA enrollment about 51K, cost estimates likely near $500MPrior to universal ESA expansion about 11,000 students, mostly with disabilities, were enrolled in the program.

Hunt carefully: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a proposal to protect coyotes from hunting within Mexican wolf territory in New Mexico and Arizona, Axios Phoenix’s Jessica Boehm writes. The proposal was aimed at protecting the endangered wolves from hunters, who can confuse them for coyotes.

Flag on the play: A former Arizona Cardinals executive accused team owner and Arizona Republican megadonor Michael Bidwill of cheating, discrimination and harassment, saying Bidwill created a scheme to use burner phones to contact general manager Steve Keim while he was suspended for an extreme DUI in violation of league rules, ESPN reports. Former Cardinals executive Terry McDonough, who filed the complaint to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, also accused Bidwill of bullying pregnant women and treating a Black employee poorly. Bidwill denied everything. McDonough says he still has the burner phone with evidence.

Tom Ryan @tomryanlaw

If anyone wants to read the 34 Counts of Felonies that Trump was indicted for, here you go:

There’s always an Arizona angle: If you’re reading the indictment of former President Donald Trump and wondering about the woman mentioned who isn’t Stormy Daniels, it’s probably one-time part-time Phoenix resident and Playboy’s 1998 “Playmate of the Year” Karen McDougal. The two seemingly met in 2006, around the same time she moved to Phoenix, the Republic’s Richard Ruelas writes. 

Today in TikTok: As Congress considers a ban on TikTok, Native American TikTokers say the app helps them share their heritage and culture to groups that would never know about it and brings attention to Indigenous issues and businesses, the Republic’s Arlyssa Becenti writes. And Phoenix musicians also like TikTok, one of the few scrolling apps that automatically plays sound, as it helps them build their followings and careers, Chris Coplan writes in the Phoenix New Times. Finally, Tucson Unified School District is in damage control after a paraprofessional in the district went viral on TikTok, claiming special education students were being left with him and not a qualified special education teacher. The district fired the paraprofessional and told the Daily Star’s Genesis Lara that when one the special education teachers was absent, the school combined two classes and a certified teacher was always in the room. 

Blood saves lives: Attorney General Kris Mayes is backing a proposal to make it easier for gay and bisexual men to donate blood and plasma, Cronkite News’ Kylie Werner writes. Currently, gay and bisexual men are prohibited from donating blood for three months after their most recent sexual contact with a man. But Mayes and other attorneys general are urging the Food and Drug Administration to adopt rules that would bar anyone who has had a new sexual partner or anal sex within three months from donating. 

Gun owner and gun violence survivor: Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Longdon talked with Laruren Gilger on KJZZ’s “The Show” about her many failed attempts to pass gun control measures at the state Capitol, her own upbringing around firearms and the shooting two decades ago that paralyzed her from the chest down. 

“I don’t want to use the word cowardice, but I really can’t understand why we have such urgency about exposing our children to books or drag queens, but we won’t talk about the leading cause of death for children in the United States right now, which is gun violence,” Longdon said. 

Lots of problems to fix: Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego spoke to KTAR’s “The Gaydos & Chad Show” yesterday about “The Zone,” offering up a list of things the city is doing to house people, including asking other cities to do more, that did not seem to convince the hosts. In other Phoenix news, Phoenix Police shot their seventh person this year, an 76-year-old man who had fired his gun in the air after police arrived at his home, the Phoenix New Times’ Katya Schwenk reports. (An eighth man died after officers knelt on his back while he was handcuffed.) Phoenix police shot and killed 10 people last year and six in 2021, Schwenk writes.

New York Times Pitchbot @DougJBalloon

Whether it’s AOC believing that the US should have single-payer health care or MTG believing that Hillary Clinton killed a kid, skinned the kid, and wore the kid’s skin as a face mask, charismatic women on both sides of the aisle have espoused controversial opinions.

Maybe it’ll slow the pedestrian deaths: The Phoenix Suns want to paint crosswalks purple and orange in downtown Phoenix ahead of the NBA playoffs, the Republic’s Taylor Seely reports. The Phoenix City Council is set to consider the request today. 

A poet sheriff: Now that former Gov. Doug Ducey’s $200 million temporary border wall made out of shipping containers has been removed after a court order, activists are celebrating and surveying the landscape to assess the environmental damage, the Border Chronicle’s Melissa del Bosque writes. Among those who joined in on the celebration was Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway, who had threatened to arrest contractors for illegally dumping the containers.

Republican lawmakers this week took another shot at banning ranked-choice voting, which Arizona doesn’t use, though a group is looking into a ballot measure to potentially bring it to Arizona. 

As we’ve noted, we’re not convinced ranked-choice voting is the answer to Arizona’s political woes, but the frenzy with which Republican lawmakers are trying to stop it makes us think that maybe it’s not so bad. 

Last week, Republican lawmakers sent a question to the 2024 ballot asking voters to outlaw ranked-choice voting, in an attempt to head off an initiative that may or not even happen, considering it’ll cost about $20 million that the group backing it doesn’t yet have, as Bob Christie reports for Capitol Media Services. 

On Monday, they passed House Bill 2552, which also attempts to outlaw ranked-choice voting, sending it to the governor. 

We expect Gov. Katie Hobbs to veto it, though she may pause after reading the first sentence: “For every election held in this state, the person who receives the highest number of legal votes shall be declared elected.”

Phoenix stink inspectors are investigating the source of the skunky smell along I-10.