The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast

The liberal wing of the Democratic Party seems to be nearing its breaking point with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.Over the weekend, members of the non-profit Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, followed Sinema, D-Ariz., into a bathroom at Arizona State University.Activists recorded and shouted their grievances at her for not supporting more accommodating immigration reforms.Progressives' frustration with Sinema go beyond Arizona voters. A Saturday Night Live skit portrayed her as the senator derailing legislation central to the Biden administration, including the $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package.Sinema has said that is too expensive for her vote, but hasn’t said what she would support.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen, speak with Emily Kirkland, executive director of Progress Arizona, a progressive community nonprofit. She's breaking down why the left is angry with Sinema and what they're doing about it.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last nearly 10 months, ballots from the 2020 election have been counted and recounted to ensure that there was no election fraud and that Arizona really did vote President Joe Biden into office. While the election review is still happening in other ways, the official reports from Cyber Ninjas confirmed that there was no fraud and that Joe Biden did win Arizona's 11 electoral votes.Leading the way through the ballot recount has been Senate President Karen Fann. She signed onto subpoenas to obtain materials from the county, and helped press the county to hand over its ballots and tabulation machines. And she has presided over various public proceedings involving the review.A year ago, most people didn’t know who Fann even was, but now she has international recognition. This week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen are joined by Arizona Republic reporter Mary Jo Pitzl. Mary Jo has covered the state legislature on and off for a long time and has watched Fann navigate the Capitol for more than a decade.She recently sat down with Fann to find out how she became synonymous with Maricopa County's ballot review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ten months ago, President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Arizona’s 11 electoral votes. But a review of Maricopa County's 2.1 million ballots ordered by the Republican-controlled state Senate only ended last week.Cyber Ninjas, the Florida company that oversaw the review for the Senate, found President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump by a slightly margin than the certified results showed, and raised questions about thousands of ballots cast in the election.Arizona Republic reporters spent the weekend absorbing the ballot review results and tracking reaction from across the political spectrum. In this bonus episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen, speak with Jen Fifield, Mary Jo Pitzl and Ryan Randazzo to break down the results. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. Senate passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package on Aug.10, a win for President Joe Biden and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who co-negotiated the bipartisan legislation. But what is infrastructure? And could a massive investment like this make a meaningful impact on your life? Projects could be underway as soon as next year if the legislation passes the House of Representatives and is signed into law by Biden. Those projects include broadband expansion, water projects, funding for tribal communities, public transportation, airport updates and more.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen spoke with various Arizonans to learn how this bill could impact their daily lives.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benny White, a prominent Pima County Republican data analyst and Larry Moore, the founder of Clear Ballot, one of the largest vote-tabulation companies in the nation, have analyzed voting patterns using public records. Over the summer, White and Moore independently offered their expertise multiple times to the Arizona state Senate’s review of Maricopa County’s ballots. Clear Ballot had no formal role in the analysis. Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, rejected their offer. In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen speak with White and Moore who give us a sense of what they’ll be on the lookout for once the ballot-review report is released. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week 22,000 documents related to the ballot recount of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County were released to the public. Those include thousands of text messages and emails that shed light on key players and their involvement in the months long election audit.Still to be released are nearly 2,900 more documents that the Senate has kept hidden because they don't believe it's required under the state's Public Records Law. In those documents are conversations between contractor Cyber Ninjas and the lawmakers who ordered the ballot review.This week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, host Yvonne Wingett Sanchez is joined by two Arizona Republic reporters: Jen Fifield and Ryan Randazzo. They provide insight on how the documents were obtained, what they discovered, and what it says about the election audit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's bonus episode, we're talking about some of the 22,000 records released by the republican-controlled senate. These records are related to the review of the 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa county from the 2020 election. On Tuesday night, Ryan Randazzo, Jen Fifield and Robert Anglen began poring through those records. They include emails, text messages and videos.We'll go over some of the early highlights and how the ballot review began, who's paying for it and other tidbits we think are worth watching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canvassing efforts to examine the legitimacy of voter ballots for the 2020 presidential election could be illegal, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York-based policy institute, but that hasn’t stopped Liz Harris.Harris, who lost a race for the state Legislature in November, is the mastermind behind the “Voter Integrity Project,” an ongoing canvassing effort that began in December.Last weekend a couple dozen volunteers out to prove former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election gathered in Queen Creek. Using a mobile app that provides names, addresses and publicly available voting information of registered voters, volunteers set out to ask voters questions such as, “Can you verify the voters registered to this address?” and “Did you vote by mail or in person?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As debates about mask mandates in schools rage on in Arizona, pediatric cases of COVID-19 are on par to surpass the cases from the winter surge. Vaccines have proven to be beneficial to people who are contracting the coronavirus, but currently children under the age of 12 years-old are too young to be vaccinated.Away from the discourse on what schools should and should not enforce, doctors are treating young kids who are being affected physically and mentally.In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, co-hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ron Hansen are joined by Valleywise Health Center pediatrician Dr. Salil Pradhan and Pediatric Infectious Disease specialist Dr. Angela Veesenmeyer.They take The Gaggle inside what they are seeing day to day and what they think Arizonans can expect in the new few months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has upended the lives of Afghans as the Taliban takes power.Many are fearful of Taliban rule because of their barbaric behavior and disregard for women and children. Afghans and civilians who helped the United States during its invasion of the country after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as interpreters, drivers and in other capacities are fearful they will be viewed as traitors. They worry the Taliban will kill them and their families. The images streaming out of Kabul depict desperation, with civilians begging to flee their country. Some scaled the sides of one American airplane preparing to take off. They fell to their deaths. Others ran alongside the plane, screaming as it gained speed.Evacuation flights for U.S. citizens and Afghan refugees are underway. Many worry not all of their family and friends will be able to escape — particularly those who have cooperated with the U.S.President Joe Biden meanwhile, is facing intense criticism from both sides of the aisle for the withdrawal. He stands by his decision to exit war-torn nation.  In this week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, host Yvonne Wingett Sanchez speaks with Aaron Marquez, a U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan. She also speaks to an Afghan refugee who served as Aaron’s interpreter, whose real name is not used in this episode for safety concerns. He is instead referred to as Alex. Years ago, Marquez and Alex spent time traversing Afghanistan in their official capacities, helping to rebuild parts of the nation and strengthening relationships with local officials. Aaron then helped Alex build a life in Arizona, and go to college here. Now, the two are fighting a different battle: they fighting to evacuate Alex’s family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices