Stay ConnectedHelping you keep up with what matters in Arizona’s political news. Each week we interview politicians, public figures or journalists to break down one local issue and how it affects your life in Arizona.
Coming to you every Wednesday morning, The Gaggle is hosted by The Arizona Republic’s national political reporters Ron Hansen and Stephanie Murray, and is produced by Amanda Luberto.
Artificial intelligence is a booming business. With a few dollars anyone can create a deep faked voice online. ChatGPT and other AI writing programs can take a student essay and polish it to a Ph.D. level. Manipulated videos can show an official saying or doing something outrageous -- and fake.
With such powerful technology at everyone's fingertips the question arises: how can we keep our election systems safe from bad actors using AI?
In this episode, our election dissectors, Mary Jo Pitzl and Sasha Hupka, speak with Don Palmer, the vice chair of the Election Assistance Commission. This is a bipartisan commission that was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, and it is tasked with certifying voting systems across the country. It also supports state and local election officials in their efforts to ensure accessible, accurate and secure elections.
Palmer explains both the pros and cons of AI and why it's important to set parameters on how it can be used. You will also hear an example of deep faked voices of our hosts. Listen closely and see if you can tell the AI from the real voices.
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In her second year, Gov. Katie Hobbs has used her veto stamp much less than her first year.
By this time last year, the Democratic governor had denied a record-breaking 63 bills presented by the GOP-dominated Legislature. This year, Hobbs is at 42 vetoes.
Her second red stamp came across House Bill 2570, or the Arizona Starter Homes Act. Introduced by Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City, it was intended to make homebuilding more efficient and thus more affordable.
But Hobbs said the bill couldn’t guarantee affordable home prices. She argued it went too far because it cut much of the local control cities have over development.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Mary Jo Pitzl is joined by housing expert Mark Stapp, the Fred E Taylor professor of real estate at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He says the solution is more complicated than it seems.
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On Tuesday, April 9, the Arizona state Supreme Court ruled to uphold near total-ban on abortions dating back to 1864.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the exact parameters for Arizona went into question. Just months before, then-Governor Republican Doug Ducey signed a law that limited abortions to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. In 1973, when Roe v. Wade went into effect nationally, Arizona had an abortion law dating back to its territorial days.
So the question became: which ruling would be the law of the land in Arizona? At the time, the state Court of Appeals overruled and instated the 15-week law. This week, the Arizona Supreme Court reversed this decision, allowing the 19th century law to take affect.
Today on The Gaggle, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl dissect Arizona's new, but ancient, abortion law and how it will impact the state politically and legally.
First, state politics reporter Stacey Barchenger joins the podcast to break down why the justices allowed at 160-year law to stand and who will benefit politically from the decision.
Later, University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias joins The Gaggle to investigate the legal fallout from the court's decision.
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Imagine there is a ballot with several candidates seeking the same seat. And you like most of them. But you can only pick one because that’s what the rules require.
When that happens, the vote in a multi-candidate race is split – and the outcome often is the candidate you least like wins.
This is called vote splitting, a phenomenon that happens when a race attracts at least three candidates who have similar positions or maybe similar demographics. This makes it attractive for a contrasting candidate to benefit from the divided vote and prevail.
It’s happened time and again across the nation and here in Arizona.
Think Paul Gosar. He emerged from an eight-candidate field in 2010 to win the GOP primary in a heavily Republican district. It cemented his standing as an incumbent and he hasn’t lost since.
There’s a move afoot to stop vote splitting by introducing “approval voting,” a system where voters could vote for all of the candidates in a given race who appeal to them. And they could do that without ranking them. This is something the Center for Election Science, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit focused on voting reform, is pushing.
In this episode of The Gaggle, Mary Jo Pitzl examines the effect of vote-splitting, the potential issues it can cause, and some of the unintended consequences of the practice. You'll also hear about the related practice of ticket splitting, which factored prominently played a big role in the 2022 general election.
Joining Pitzl via Zoom are Nina Taylor, the organization’s CEO, and Chris Raleigh, director of advocacy and communication and a specialist in campaign management.
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Trust in the election system in Arizona is eroding. Some may even say it's broken all together. One side says the vulnerability of voting machines and delay in election results is what makes the system distrustful. This was most obvious during the Maricopa County recount of the 2020 ballots that lasted months.
The other side says it's the new found distrust in the system that makes it broken.
But either way a question remains among most American, and specifically Arizonan, voters: how can we make elections better?
This question fuels the work of David Becker. He is a co-founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research and he believes that technology and reliance on data can help us toward improving elections. He also helped launch the Election Official Legal Defense Network, which connections election officials with free legal advice.
This week on Election Dissection, an elections series of The Gaggle podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Mary Jo Pitzl and Sasha Hupka sit down with Becker to discuss why he's confident in the safety of our elections systems, how America ended up in this position and why he's keeping an eye on those who oppose Donald Trump come next January.
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Rents in Arizona have jumped significantly since the pandemic. In 2021, metro Phoenix made national headlines when rents skyrocketed by 30%. An investigation by the Arizona Attorney General's office reveals that a group of nine landlord companies have been using a software that allows them to see what other properties are charging and thereby "fix" their rental prices to match. Attorney General Kris Mayes is not having it and is seeking restitution for those affected. But that could take years. What about renters who need help now?
In this episode of The Gaggle, producer Amanda Luberto sits down with Stacey Barchenger, our state politics reporter, and Catherine Reagor who covers real estate issues. They hash out what could happen and what resources renters have access to right now.
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U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko has had enough of Washington, D.C.
Lesko has represented the northwest Valley for six years after winning a special election to fill the spot for Trent Franks, who stepped down after allegations of sexual harassment involving his female staffers.
Lesko has been a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, voting against his impeachment and voting in Congress to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
But when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was being pushed out of office in a Republican-led coup, Lesko decided that she was done with Capitol Hill.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by Laura Gersony to dive into the crowded Congressional District 8 race to replace her. The Republic's two national politics reporters dissect the approach and positions of the candidates eyeing the open seat and discuss who has a chance of winning the primary in August.
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The battle over copper mining at Oak Flat, an area sacred to Native tribes, has been waged for two decades.
On March 1, the dispute marked a significant milestone: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals narrowly rejected the argument from the grassroots group Apache Stronghold that mining activity would destroy First Amendment religious rites observed by Native tribes.
The court voted 6-5 to uphold a lower court’s denial of a preliminary injunction that sought to halt the transfer of federal land to Resolution Copper for the mining project.
The suit, Apache Stronghold v. United States, was filed in January 2021 in federal district court. After losing that ruling, the Native rights group took the case to the appeals court, where a three-judge panel rejected Apache Stronghold's assertion that the mine would pose a substantial burden to their First Amendment religious practice rights.
Oak Flat, located just shy of 70 miles east of Phoenix, is regarded as one of the most sacred sites to the Apache people. It has been at the center of debate on religious protections. Apache Stronghold, with the backing of the nation's largest religious freedom law firm, Becket Law, is resolute in its commitment to fight for the religious site's protection.
However, with this narrow ruling – a victory for Resolution Copper – the question now is: what’s next for the Apache people?
In this episode of The Gaggle, Mary Jo Pitzl and Kaely Monahan sit down with Indigenous Affairs Reporter, Debra Krol, to find out what's next for the sacred site.
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Suspicions about Arizona's voting returns have been growing for several years. It hit its peak in 2020, in the immediate aftermath of Joe Biden's narrow win over Donald Trump in this swing state.
In response, the Arizona state Senate launched what it called an audit of all Maricopa County ballots cast in November 2020. In reality, the organizer couldn't even vouch for the hand count of 1 million ballots.
This recount stirred not only conspiracy theories, but also worries from citizens that their ballots were not being counted. Attention switched to the early voting system, which allows people to vote by mail, in the 2022 election. Kari Lake, who lost the governor's race, contends that she did not win because of ballot tampering and is still arguing that point in court, even as she runs for U.S. Senate.
As Arizonans head into the newest presidential election, debate continueson the best way to vote: drop off boxes, vote centers, in-person or by mail. These options are the subject of legislation and litigation leading up to the big day in November.
This week on Election Dissection, an elections series of The Gaggle podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Mary Jo Pitzl and Sasha Hupka examine different voting practices, their origins and their critiques.
County recorders for Maricopa and Yavapai, Stephen Richer and Michelle Burchill, discuss how they're keeping constituents reassured this election year. Rep. Rachel Jones, R-Tucson, explains why she’s sponsoring a ballot referral to end vote centers.
You'll also hear opinions on polling places from Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, Sen. Bennett, R-Prescott, and Rep. Michael Carbone, R-Buckeye.
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Everyone knows 2024 is an election year but amid the chatter of who will be president of the United States is a wide selection of smaller, important local Arizona elections.
Residents in the small town of Litchfield Park will have the opportunity to cast their vote to be an official charter city. It's the first city in the Valley to do so in 40 years and will grant them independence from the state on things like when their elections are held and term limits on elected officials.
Tempe voters have the chance to elect who will sit on their city council. They will also vote on a proposition that will impact Tempe's ability to grow.
In this episode, producers Amanda Luberto and Kaely Monahan are joined by Republic reporters to discuss not only who is running and what is on the ballot, but why voters should turn out for these hyper-local elections.
We’ll also hear about one state senator who is trying to make changes to how cities can run their elections.
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