David Boyles

David Boyles is an English instructor at Arizona State University and the Voter Registration and Polls Chair for the Arizona Democrats of Legislative District 18. He is also the research coordinator for White Hat Research & Policy Group and a co-founder of Drag Story Hour - Arizona, and is a past board member of NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona and the Abortion Fund of Arizona. He primarily works on issues related to education, voting rights, and gender and LGBTQ equality.

Scott Weinberg is Gone, But the Threat of Purple For Parents Remains

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The political career of Twitter troll and bigot Scott Weinberg ended as abruptly as it began this week, as he announced the end of his candidacy for the Kyrene School District governing board.

You may remember Scott from a post I wrote in January about a contentious board meeting in the Chandler Unified School District where Weinberg and his Purple For Parents compatriots squared off against advocates for equity and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Scott was apparently no fan of that post, as he posted a long thread “fact-checking” my post. Unfortunately, that thread, along with the rest of Scott’s Twitter, is no longer available, for reasons we will get into. But all you really need to know is it began by “fact-checking” my title, “Standing Up for Democracy at the School Board,” by arguing that, well actually, the United States is NOT a democracy, parroting a favorite nonsensical comment section retort pushed by right-wing faux education institutions like Prager U.

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Eddie Farnsworth Protects Rapists Again

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Content Warning: The following post includes a discussion of sexual assault and domestic violence. It has been quite an eventful legislative session already for everyone’s favorite misogynist grifter state legislator, Eddie Farnsworth. He made national news last week when a hearing he was chairing devolved into chaos because of his poor leadership. After activist Hugo … Read more

AZ State Rep. Eddie Farnsworth is stonewalling gun safety legislation.

Eddie Farnsworth Bravely Speaks Up for All Victims Named Eddie Farnsworth

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At around 1:00 am on Tuesday morning, the 2019 Arizona legislature finally adjourned sine die, bringing to an end a contentious legislative session that stretched through most of May and included rare sessions on Memorial Day weekend. And the session ended much as it began, with controversy over the sexual abuse of children. And it ended with Eddie Farnsworth once again showing us who he truly is.

On Memorial Day, Farnsworth’s effort to thwart reform of the statute of limitations for civil suits by victims of childhood sexual abuse went down in defeat, but not before he whined, made offensive historical comparisons, and turned himself into the victim, joining the ranks of former legislator David Stringer, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and of course the president in the long line of powerful men who respond to challenges to their power by throwing a histrionic pity party for themselves.

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AZ State Rep. Eddie Farnsworth is stonewalling gun safety legislation.

Why is Farnsworth Blocking Support for Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors?

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This week, the Arizona legislature passed its 120th day of session, which, as this article from KJZZ, points out, means the legislators might have to start having to start skipping their afternoon lattes, as their per diems have been cut from $60 to $20 for out-of-county legislators and $35 to $10 for those from Maricopa. The per diem cut is meant to be an incentive for legislators to get things wrapped up quickly, but as it stands right now there is no definite end in sight as June is coming quickly on the horizon.

What is causing the holdup? Well, with slim majorities in both houses and a firm commitment to not working in a bipartisan manner and letting Democrats in on negotiations, the Republicans have little margin for disagreement within their own caucus and several Republicans in both houses are unhappy right now and unwilling to sign on to a budget from their leadership.

According to an anonymous source with knowledge of the negotiations, some Senate Republicans are reportedly backing the “Bradley Budget” proposed by Democrat and Senate minority leader David Bradley, while many House Republicans are complaining about being shut out of the process by the small and secretive group working on the House Republican proposal.

In the Senate, one of the Republicans who has been most vocal in his refusal to sign on to the budget is Paul Boyer of LD 20. Boyer has said he won’t vote for any budget until the Senate allows a vote on his bill, SB 1255, which extends the statute of limitations for civil suits by survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Why is this seemingly uncontroversial piece of legislation now threatening the entire budget?

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