Sonoran Alliance obtained a copy of an email that is currently circulating among Maricopa County Republican Precinct Committeemen. The email is a personal and heartfelt defense and revelation of the difficulty she has had working with the President of the State Senate, Andy Biggs.
Sonoran Alliance has redacted certain personal information from the email.
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- In 2013, I went on the radio to discuss the child bride situation in Colorado City, where the police would return a 12 year old runaway to her abuser rather than hold that abuser accountable. I was asked on radio why people turn a blind eye to the situation, which I answered that although I couldn’t turn a blind I, I pledged to do everything I could to fight pedophilia wherever I could. I hung up and cried due to the disturbing content of the conversation, and meanwhile the radio host subsequently began to bring up Andy Bigg’s blocking of a Michelle Ugenti bill that would have allowed for sanctioning of that police department. I knew that he might think I was participating in that part of the conversation, so I immediately began to reach out to him to explain I was only talking about child brides. He didn’t answer so I left a phone message. After no personal communication, I began asking for a meeting at work. I sent several emails, as did my assistant, none of which were returned. The rest of my bills died that session. I finally asked him if he would speak to me at the end of session, and he agreed and admitted he was angry at me and said I should have never gone on the radio to discuss the issue in the first place. I told him that I had thick skin and if there was something I did wrong, as Senate President he should sit me down and talk about it, not stonewall me.
- Although it was very upsetting that Andy Biggs did not allow Rep. Ugenti’s bill to go forward, I had hoped that he would offer an alternative solution to the police scandal in Colorado City. The following year I saw no such solution. Instead, all of my bills that went out of the House were not assigned to committee for a great length of time. I had to call the Speaker-Pro-tem and tell him I was “off the budget” meaning I would vote no on any budget bill until after my bills had been assigned. I had learned from the previous year that the “stall to kill” tactic could be used to delay the bill from getting through the process in time before the budget was complete and we closed session. We were in budget negotiations and would close session any day and my bills had yet to be assigned. I knew at that point I was being punished once again. I wasn’t sure if it was because I spoke out against pedophilia or if this time it was to punish me for my Convention of States bill that he didn’t like. He claimed last night to only have blocked 5 of my 60 bills. Although that may be the hard fact, the sad fact is I had to resort to counter tactics each subsequent year to avoid being punished again. Something I never thought I would have to do within my own party, with someone who was once my #1 political hero.
- Later that year, his [REDACTED] began sending me Facebook messages asking for money over the course of 6 months, along with asking for advice about a suspected pregnancy. I am a doula and we were Facebook friends so I suppose [REDACTED] thought I would be helpful. It was Christmastime and I didn’t have extra funds. I was asked for food money, for money to keep [REDACTED] phone on, money for various other needs. I was confused because I thought [REDACTED] had won the publisher’s clearing house, and I also thought he believed that family should help the needy, not the government. I was dismayed when [REDACTED] told me [REDACTED] had been on food stamps for two years because he wouldn’t help [REDACTED]. Not that I judged [REDACTED] for that, but because he would often scoff at people for “drinking from the public trough” as he always put it.
- I began to see an incredible level of hypocrisy from a man who was punishing me for wanting to stop pedophiles. I decided it was time to send him a text and tell him that it was inappropriate for his [REDACTED] to be asking me for money and that it should be he who was taking care of his pregnant [REDACTED]. He returned the email telling me to stay out of it. Soon thereafter, I received a new message from his [REDACTED] excited that he was buying [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] new [REDACTED] a house. Relieved, I agreed to see the photo of it. I was shocked to find a photo of a garden shed with a porch on it. No running water, one room. [REDACTED] was asking me if it was legal to put it on her mother-in-law’s back yard without a permit and I advised [REDACTED] that as a pregnant mom, she should be in a house with running water.
- At this point, I was horrified and didn’t know what to think. I stopped corresponding with [REDACTED] because I knew it would only lead to disaster, which it did. Shortly thereafter we had to vote on the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). I was so appalled that there was the argument that families and church should be the ones taking care of their own, not government and all the while I was being asked by this person’s [REDACTED] to support [REDACTED] when he was the millionaire. It was almost too much to bear at this point. I took a long time deciding how to vote, and I chose to vote yes on his bill as a Conservative. But it wasn’t without tears, it wasn’t without feeling horrible and full of questions about rhetoric that really isn’t meaningful when you don’t put your money where your mouth is. And yes, I partly chose to vote yes because I didn’t want all my hard work going down the drain again next year due to the stall and kill tactic.