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Former state Representative Austin Smith has entered a guilty plea in connection with forged signatures on his 2024 nominating petition. The case exposes a failure in the very processes conservatives often champion: transparency, accountability, and the rule of law. Smith, 30, served one term representing Legislative District 29 in the Phoenix suburbs. He withdrew his bid for reelection in April 2024, after questions emerged about the integrity of his nomination petition shee

Let’s put something back on the table, because the passage of time does not erase what happened. Anthony Kern, then a Republican member of the Arizona House, had a professional history that should have raised serious red flags for anyone who cares about law-and-order principles. Instead of being sidelined, he stayed in elected office and pushed legislation that would have weakened transparency. Here are the facts that too many people have forgotten. In 2014, Kern was fired fr

If you’ve been around Arizona politics long enough, you know that scandals come and go faster than a monsoon storm. But some are worth remembering, especially when the same people try to resurface as if nothing ever happened. Case in point: Steve Montenegro. Back in 2018, Montenegro, then the golden boy of Arizona conservatives, was gunning for Congress in the special election to replace disgraced Rep. Trent Franks. The pitch was simple: a devout Christian, family man, and re

Former Prescott lawmaker David Stringer resigned from the Arizona House in 2019, and many voters assumed that was the end of the story. It was not. He kept his law license for several years, built a local media platform, hosted candidates and forums, and is still drawing respectable guests from around the state. That is a problem Republicans should stop pretending not to see. The core facts are not in dispute. In 1983, Stringer was arrested in Baltimore on suspicion of payin

Arizona politics has a short memory, but the public should not. The sexual harassment allegations involving Senator Michelle Ugenti Rita resurfaced this week as Democrats renewed calls to revisit the case. The controversy first erupted several years ago, yet the details remain relevant because the questions about accountability were never fully resolved. The allegations stem from a deposition by a former lobbyist who accused Ugenti Rita and her then fiancé, now husband, of in

You may have skimmed the news and moved on. You shouldn’t. Anyone who values integrity, accountability, and the rule of law in Arizona politics should still be paying attention to what is happening with State Senator Wendy Rogers. Her situation shines a very bright light on how easily our system tolerates avoidance instead of answers. The controversy resurfaced in July 2024 when campaign and financial filings raised fresh questions about whether Rogers actually lives in the r

Meet John Gillette, R-Kingman. On September 25, 2025, he took to social media and posted that Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic congresswoman, should be tried, convicted and hanged. Why? Because she dared to speak about protest rights and harsh-government policy under the Trump banner. This isn’t hyperbole—the comment is literal. “Until people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried convicted and hanged.. it will continue,” Gillette wrote.