The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast

Two years ago in Arizona, and in most of the world, conditions were starting to feel apocalyptic. After sweeping across China and Europe, the new coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, made its way to America. The nation was suddenly locked in quarantine. Grocery store shelves were barren of essentials. Workers were laid off by the millions. Life as we knew it was upended and no one how bad it would get or how long it would last.Around this time, Gov. Doug Ducey took some of his first executive actions on COVID-19. All elective surgeries were halted to make room in hospitals for coronavirus patients. Restaurants were closing but were allowed to start serving alcohol to go.Two very strange years later, it seems that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, host Yvonne Wingett Sanchez is joined by two Arizona Republic reporters to help take stock of it all. Stephanie Innes covers health and walks through the timeline from March 2020 to March 2022. Russ Wiles is a business reporter and he shares how Arizona is surviving financially and economically compared with the rest of the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Monday, Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel announced she will resign from her position on Friday, March 25. This comes after months of dismay regarding how she is leading one of the nation’s largest prosecutorial teams.Her time as County Attorney comes to an end amidst scrutiny that she is not fit for office after her staff raised concern regarding her battle with alcohol abuse. Arizona Republic investigative reporter Robert Anglen recently noted that 180 cases fell apart because of her procedural failures. Her impending departure means there will be a special election to replace her, and not a lot of time to qualify to run. As of yesterday, Julie Gunnigle, who ran against Adel in 2020, collected enough signatures to run.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, host Ron Hansen talk with Robert Anglen about Adel's resignation and what will happen next to replace her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Republican state lawmakers are scrambling to undo parts of a law they fast-tracked to change the way party activists become party officials. Precinct committee members, or PCs, are not people the casual voters will know, but they play a key role in shaping party politics and who runs for political office.Republicans quickly pushed through election changes that reflect the state's new political boundaries after last year's redistricting process. The governor signed the bill the same day.To the surprise of the grassroots and lawmakers themselves, the law also eliminated elections for PCs. Changing the law it requires a legislative super-majority, and the Democrats aren't eager to help Republicans fix their mistake. Sparks are flying on both sides of the aisle.  In this episode of The Gaggle, The Republic's state government reporter, Mary Jo Pitzl, joins hosts Ron Hansen and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez to discuss the unexpected drama. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney labeled U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar a moron over the Arizona Republican's association with a political conference organized by a white nationalist.Another participant, Republican state Sen. Wendy Rogers of Flagstaff, was censured by the Arizona state Senate for threatening comments she made to her colleagues. It was the first time in three decades a senator was publicly censured by her own party. It was a move applauded by Gov. Doug Ducey, who had been slow to condemn her remarks.The rise of extremism in the Arizona GOP has grown over the past few years, with concerns also raised over the actions of Kelli Ward, chair of the Republican Party of Arizona. Recently, the U.S. House Committee that is investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol issued subpoenas to her.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen talk with political historian Matthew Dallek. They discuss how these fringe views became more mainstream and what it means for the future of politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conservatives from Arizona and elsewhere took aim at President Joe Biden while outlining their preferred policy agenda during annual gatherings in Orlando last week.Among those on hand were several notable Arizonans, including U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, a former Fox 10 anchor.Also last weekend, far-right extremists heard from U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and state Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff.The Conservative Political Action Conference and America First Political Action Conference drummed up grievances against Biden and promoted former President Donald Trump.In today's episode, The Republic's Stacey Barchenger joins Gaggle hosts Ron Hansen and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez to dissect the what happened and what it means in Arizona. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the early weeks after the 2020 election, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, resisted direct appeals by President Donald Trump and key allies to participate in a scheme to set aside the certified election results in Arizona.He’s still getting lobbied by some in that orbit, and Bowers is still pushing back. His support was recently sought He recently received a recent effort to get his support on a bill to decertify the 2020 presidential election results. That effort was previously unknown. At the outset of this year’s legislative session, Bowers emphatically killed one bill that would have banned voting machines and mail voting, among other things. Bowers assigned the bill to 12 House committees, effectively ensuring its demise.He also came out against another bill that would set aside the 2020 presidential results. Bowers called the legislation “profoundly unwise.” That bill was introduced by Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, a loyalist to former President Donald Trump.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen wanted to hear directly from the speaker. He is an artist by trade who is charting a decidedly different path than many in his party these days. The Gaggle met with Bowers in his office to discuss his relationship with Republican Party, previously unseen documents related to the 2020 presidential election results, and his future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Dec. 14, 2020, 11 Republicans met at the Arizona party headquarters. There they signed a document falsely claiming they were the “duly elected and qualified” electors for the state of Arizona. But the truth of the matter was that they were anything but.Now the House committee investigating the January 6th attack subpoenaed two Arizonans who signed that false document. In this week's Gaggle reporter Richard Ruelas joins Yvonne Wingett Sanchez to explain what was happening with the Arizona GOP electors.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel's career in the office has been connected to her health since before she was elected. She had been appointed to the position and was recovering from a life-threatening fall and major brain surgery when election results showed she had won the job.She returned to her office in March, only to step away in August 2021 while she entered rehab for anxiety, alcohol abuse and an eating disorder.Now, according to an investigation by Arizona Republic reporter Robert Anglen, staffers have expressed concern over her sobriety and absence in key meetings.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, Anglen joins host Ron Hansen is joined by Robert Anglen to discuss these allegations and what the next steps could be for Adel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID-19 continues to grip our state as attempts to return to a semblance of normalcy hobble along. After two years of data collection, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that Arizona has the second highest COVID-19 death rate in the country. For most of January, Arizona has reported an average roughly around 20,000 new infections daily. This is the stage set for schools this semester. Last week on The Gaggle we heard from our own education reporter and the executive director of Arizona Schools Administration about what the situation looks like on the ground. This week, we turn our attention to the capitol and the bills that could affect schools and their ability to defend against the coronavirus.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen talk with Mary Jo Pitzl, state government reporter, and Stacey Barchenger, who covers the Ducey administration for The Arizona Republic about how the Arizona legislature is dealing with COVID and schools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the past few weeks, parents of school-aged children have all had the same experience of getting their kids ready for school. You grab their backpack, their lunch, a snack and, for the third year in a row, you grab their mask. The COVID-19 variant omicron is twice as contagious as the delta variant and at least four times as contagious as the first strain we experienced in March 2020. Currently, the omicron variant has resulted in the highest number of COVID-19 cases Arizona has seen in months. This has some parents nervous about their K-12 children returning to class in 2022. But schools that don’t return in person run the risk of losing school funding.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen talk with Yana Kunichoff. She is the k-12 education reporter at the Arizona Republic.She joins the podcast to dive into what is going on within Arizona’s public school system about the coronavirus, how schools are staying open and what that could mean for parents and students moving forward.Later in the episode, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez talks with Mark Joranstaad, executive director of the Arizona Schools Administration, for a look on in the inside of the operation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices