The Free Agenda: The curious case of Michael Way
Who’s paying the tab? … Who rigged the polls? … And will she sing it in Germany?
When Michael Way, a Republican House candidate in one of Arizona’s most Republican districts, appeared in court yesterday to defend himself against accusations that he’s not eligible to run for office in Arizona because he voted in North Carolina in 2021 and 2022, his lawyer asked one very pointed question: Who paid for the lawsuit?
It’s clear that the plaintiff, a Republican precinct committeewoman in Way’s Queen Creek-based Legislative District 15, didn’t pay for it herself.
She swore under oath that she didn’t know who had paid for the lawsuit and lawyer, and that she had solicited donations from LD15 Republicans.
Who paid for the lawsuit is an important question because all signs indicate that this challenge is not coming from Democrats, but from the Freedom Caucus, a tight-knit group of far-right Arizona lawmakers with a national infrastructure stretching across multiple states.
“I believe that this is all politically motivated,” Way said, noting that even in North Carolina, it’s the Freedom Caucus Republicans who have jumped on the bandwagon accusing him of crimes.
Several Republicans have told us that Jake Hoffman, the Arizona Freedom Caucus leader state senator from Way’s district, is behind the push. Hoffman had endorsed Way’s opponent in the primary election. And the persistent rumor in Republican circles is Hoffman is mad that Way wouldn’t commit to voting for Joseph Chaplik, Hoffman’s fellow Freedom Caucus leader, for speaker of the House.
If you missed that backstory, check out last week’s edition.
The case against Way appears relatively cut and dried.
The Arizona Constitution states that a candidate must be an Arizona resident for at least three years before taking office.
Way lived in North Carolina for two-and-a-half years and cast ballots in a 2021 election and 2022 primary election there.
The timeline says he’s ineligible.
But the bigger question — what exactly is residency? — has perplexed Arizona courts for years.
Why is it so hard to decide if someone is a resident?
What will happen to Michael Way?
And will this stunt cost Republicans the House?
Click the button to find out.
Fake polls precede fake elections: All the polls showing Kari Lake trailing Ruben Gallego in the U.S. Senate races are fake, per Lake, who told KTAR’s Mike Broomhead that only her internal polls that show her tied are legit. There are no polls showing her leading.
Shorter ballots ahead?: It’ll be a lot harder to put a citizens initiative on the ballot in the future, if voters approve a question that lawmakers put on this year’s ballot to require petition signatures be gathered from all 30 legislative districts, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports. Meanwhile, polling indicates that Arizona voters overwhelmingly favor Prop. 314, the Immigration and Border Law Enforcement Act, which would require local law enforcement officers to arrest illegal migrants, KTAR’s Kevin Stone writes.
Not in My Scottsdale: Scottsdale City Council members are adamant that nobody from Phoenix’s “The Zone” should be sheltered at the city’s temporary shelter at Independence Hotel, even though the plan and funding for the program was specifically to house around 750 people who formerly resided at The Zone, the Scottsdale Progress’ Tom Scanlon writes.
The kids are alt-right: Pro-Trump youth group Turning Point USA and its founder, Charlie Kirk, have become incredibly influential in the new right, the Republic’s Laura Gersony writes, but that meteoric rise was accompanied by bullying and pushing old-school Republicans out of the party.
“There are people who are afraid of them. … Maybe I’m too old to care,” former Speaker of the Arizona House Rusty Bowers told Gersony.
“Public” records: Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs approved a law in 2023 jacking up the price of police body camera footage to deter what they consider frivolous requests. Police agencies are now allowed to charge $46 “per video-hour reviewed,” the Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy writes, and now people are stuck shelling out thousands of dollars for public records.
The first citizens: Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling forcing Arizona voters to prove their citizenship (rather than simply attest that they are citizens) has Native American Arizona officials worried that Indigenous people will be confused about their ability to vote, the Arizona Mirror’s Shondiin Silversmith writes. Meanwhile, The 19th has a profile of Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, a member of the Tohono O’Odham tribe, as she canvasses the county.
Lede of the Day: The creepy taxidermy “International Wildlife Museum” in Tucson is up for auction after abruptly closing last December, the Daily Star’s Henry Brean writes. The opening bid is $1 million and the 11-acre property doesn’t include the stuffed animals.
“It isn’t heaven, but it is the place where animals used to go after they died,” Brean wrote of the former museum.
It’s not funny haha that Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers is now openly spouting Nazi slogans.
But some of the replies to her pro-Nazi posts are legitimately lolable.
