Superintendent of Public Instruction Nominee Ruiz Condemns Yee’s Baseless Cat Conspiracy Theories

Well, it is not quite the Trump and MAGA Republican fecal matter that Haitians are eating the dogs in Ohio, but Arizona Treasurer and Republican Superintendent of Public Education Nominee Kimberly Yee is making a good faith effort to emulate that to appease the MAGA base at campaign events with remarks that school board members are claiming to be cats, litter boxes are being provided at public schools at taxpayer expense, unions are bad, and her Democratic opponent, Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz wants to designate all children with the pronoun of their choice at age five.

Among her remarks, Ms. Yee said:

“Recently, a school board member was elected from the Washington Elementary School District who believed that she was a cat. And she not only wore cat ears regularly, she wore them in her official photo that is so proudly displayed in the front office of the school district administration building. And the reason why I learned about my old school district was on Fox News…Not only did she stop there, I looked further and they were doing cat wear boxes with our taxpayer dollars for those who also identified as cats…”

“…My opponent believes that it’s okay to put pronouns in our classrooms as early as five years old. Are you a boy or a girl? It or they? And these are the things that the progressives want to put in front of our children. We have to make sure that we do not elect a Democrat leader to the state education position.

And the Board of Education is where we have the opportunity to make sure we do not have this go down into our school system. One of the things I want to talk about today before I leave the stage is an opportunity to help me fight back against NEA and AEA. Those are the teacher unions.

They have a lot of money, and they’re going to put it all into this race. The woman that I am running against is not only a member of the teacher’s union, she’s a school teacher, but her husband is a firefighter, so he’s a union member. And so we’ll have labor unions across the board, and we have to fight back against that money…”

Two things should come to mind when reading Ms. Yees remarks.

• Her source for the discredited cat story is that haven for conspiracy theories and disinformation, Fox News.
• She moans and groans about debunked conspiracy theories about taxpayer-funded dollars going towards litter boxes, yet says nothing about the huge amounts of taxpayer funds released in part by her office towards fraudulent and unethical purchases in the Empowerment Scholarship Private School Voucher System. That really says a lot about her stewardship of the public treasury and how much voters can trust her with their money.
• She attacked teacher and firefighter unions, the entities that provide professionals who shape young minds and protect communities. Historically, they helped bring about the eight-hour workday, work breaks, safety standards, fair wages, overtime, and in many cases, paid leave and holidays. Do voters really want a person heading the Department of Public Instruction who thinks teacher and firefighter unions are bad?

Responding to the outlandish cat comments, Democratic Superintendent Nominee Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz said on social media:

“Wait, what? I’ve spent decades in Arizona classrooms.

This is not only absurd. It’s offensive. Is it any wonder our schools and teachers are struggling when this is how our elected officials behave? Arizona deserves a superintendent who is focused on our students’ success, not conspiracy theories.”

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In an official press release, Dr. Ruiz wrote:

“Arizona is facing a teacher shortage crisis, and people like my opponent are a major contributing factor. Teachers don’t need more political attacks from career politicians who aren’t listening to them. They need respect, resources, and a Superintendent who understands what is actually happening in their classrooms.”