The Daily Agenda: Ready your records request

There's a new camera and it's searching for Bibles ... They're probably not going to appoint her ... And an oven might be an understatement.

In a turn of events that can best be described as strange and unexpected, a Democratic lawmaker was caught on camera moving around Bibles in the Arizona House members’ lounge. 

It’s been a weird week at the Arizona Capitol, so somehow a midweek Bible swipe caper seems fitting. We don’t really know what to say about it, so we’ll break down all the big questions this incident may bring to mind.

What happened?: Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton was captured on camera moving around Bibles at the House. She took them from on top of tables and put them in other places, like underneath furniture cushions and in the refrigerator. 

Who is Stahl Hamilton?: Stahl Hamilton is a Presbyterian minister and lawmaker who lives in Tucson. You may recognize her name because she filed an ethics complaint against former Rep. Liz Harris over that wild elections hearing, which led to Harris’ expulsion.

Where did this story come from?: AZFamily’s David Caltabiano obtained and posted the footage of the Bible snatching and did a classic TV news confrontation of Stahl Hamilton at the House to ask her about it, calling her “Stephanie” throughout. Stahl Hamilton didn’t comment to Caltabiano in person.

Why did she move the Bibles around?: Stahl Hamilton described her actions as “just a little playful commentary on the separation of church and state” in a statement to AZFamily. The next day, though, she apologized on the House floor, noting the strong role scripture plays her in life. 

"It is what guides me,” she said yesterday. “It is what shapes and informs the decisions I make. I have the utmost respect for people of all faiths, and for those who choose not to have a faith. And because of that respect, I recognize that my actions could have been seen as something less than playful, and offensive."

There’s a members-only lounge?: Yes. Behind the House and Senate floor, there’s a space where lawmakers can meet with each other or staff to confab about whatever they want. It’s a private space, so reporters, lobbyists and other guests are only allowed in with a lawmaker.

Why are there Bibles in the lounge? Are there other religious texts?: According to 12News’ Brahm Resnik, the Bibles have been there since the 1990s. We haven’t heard of or seen any other religion’s sacred texts in the area. 

The lounge has cameras?: Apparently! After the Bibles went missing, House security suggested putting up a “temporary camera,” Fox News reports. There wasn’t a camera in that area before, though there are plenty around the House. 

Who can get access to that footage?: All of us! Caltabiano said on Twitter that he obtained the footage via a public records request.

What happens next?: The House could try to take some kind of disciplinary action against Stahl Hamilton for the not-illegal act of moving books around, but it’s not clear yet if anyone will. The House GOP didn’t respond to our questions about that. 

Doesn’t everyone have something better to do than play hide and seek Bibles?: Always. They always do. We’ve said it so many times. 

How to win friends and influence people: Just like accusing the person involved in appointing you for a job of a ballot-burning scheme at a chicken farm probably won’t get you said job, having your supporters show up to berate the people in charge of giving you your job back probably won’t work either. But that didn’t stop Liz Harris’ friends from coming to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday and angrily telling the supervisors they should reappoint Harris to the job she was expelled from earlier this month, the Arizona Mirror’s Caitlin Sievers reports. Harris was present at the meeting but didn’t speak to the supes. One of those supporters, who incorrectly claimed Harris’ expulsion was illegal, also got mad about the daily prayer given by new Phoenix City Councilman Kevin Robinson for not being godly enough.

It’s not getting better: Maricopa County elections saw more than one threat or harassing message per day in 2022, an increase over 2020 though the county ramped up its monitoring to better analyze threats against its workers last year, Rachel reports for the Guardian. The threats, received via public records request, include references to treason, hanging, civil war, harm to officials’ families, violence and other hateful conduct. Examples of the threats in both messages and via voicemail are included in the story. 

“Election stealing piece of shit – get cancer,” one person wrote to a county elections official.

“You cheating sons of bitches every last one of you should swing for treason,” a Twitter user wrote to the county.

“You deserve to be executed in front of America by Firing Squad,” another wrote to the county supervisors.

Maybe merge: The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees voted against merging with the Arizona-based for-profit University of Phoenix on Monday, Axios reports. But the system’s president still could decide to pursue the deal anyway by having an affiliated nonprofit buy the university instead. 

Arts inside: The Republic’s Jimmy Jenkins reports from the Perryville women’s prison on a performing arts program where incarcerated women performed dance, poetry and spoken word that helped them tell their stories. The voluntary program is funded through a $7,500 grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and provides a respite for two hours a week for 12 weeks. 

What’s mined is mine: Freshman U.S. Rep. Eli Crane took aim at the feds for delayed gravel mine permits for the Navajo Nation that could have eased flooding on tribal lands, the Republic’s Ryan Randazzo reports. Crane said the tribe should be given the ability to use their own gravel pits to put on dirt roads and prevent flooding and said he’s contacted the Interior Department to try to get access. The Navajo Nation said it wants faster permitting for the gravel mines, too. 

Whatever you say: No Labels, the third party that gathered enough signatures to get a ballot line in Arizona in 2024 and was swiftly sued by the Arizona Democratic Party, claims that it is “not a political party,” which is at issue in the lawsuit over claims the group is not following campaign finance rules for political parties, KJZZ’s Ben Giles reports. The group also said it will not run a presidential campaign but could use its ballot line in whatever states it gets access to to advance a potential “unity ticket” as a sort of “insurance project.”

Goodbye, Thielbucks: Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire who played Daddy Warbucks to several GOP candidates including 2022 Senate contender Blake Masters, doesn’t intend to spend his money on candidates next year, Reuters reports. He is supposedly sick of Republicans’ emphasis on cultural issues like abortion and bathroom bills instead of economics and business. Masters’ campaign was hugely funded by Thiel, who put in more than $20 million. 

We have never had any Thielbucks (not that anyone was offering). We’re funded entirely by paid subscribers who read our work and support our mission as local journalists. To become one of those very small-time Daddy Warbuckses, click the button below.

It’s all political theater, all the time: Most of the 12 House Democrats who changed their votes in favor of the tamale bill between its passage and the veto override attempt haven’t explained why they did so, the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger reports. The two who did explain, Reps. Seth Blattman and Cesar Aguilar, said the vote was an attempt to make Gov. Katie Hobbs look bad and a way for Republicans to pander to Latinos, respectively. 

School board wars: Two Apache Junction Unified School District Board members face a recall effort after the board cut ties with another superintendent, the third in six years, the Republic’s Madeleine Parrish reports. The superintendent exits have come with severance payouts that have parents frustrated and going after two board members who voted for the recent ouster (the third hasn’t served long enough yet to be recalled). Meanwhile, Tucson’s Catalina Foothills School District Governing Board canceled a Tuesday board meeting because of threats to board members and staff stemming from opposition to a nondiscrimination policy for trans students, Arizona Public Media’s Paola Rodriguez reports. 

Help improve the news: The journalists at LOOKOUT, a Phoenix-based Substack focused on LGBTQ+ issues, are building a database of “local LGBTQ+ people, experts, and allies” who would be interested in talking to reporters for stories that don’t just focus on the queer community. The database would help reporters diversify their sources and include LGBTQ+ voices in all stories. If you fit the bill or know someone who might, they can fill out this form. 

Very serious topic, very perfect over-the-top headline from Insider on this story about extreme heat in Phoenix: