By Steven Hsieh | Phoenix New Times
Believe it or not, 2019 was a comparatively sane year in the Arizona Legislature. No one tried to give the government the power to seize the property of people who plan protests. Abortion rights went relatively unscathed. No one argued with furries on Twitter.
But as always, this state’s lawmakers still found a way to introduce some batty ideas in the fabled halls of the Arizona Capitol. Here are four that stood out:
Introducing a Bill Drafted by a ‘Hate Group’
State Representative Mark Finchem, a Republican from Oro Valley, once described the white supremacist murder in Charlottesville, Virginia, as a “Deep State” psychological operation possibly involving liberal crisis actors. He has palled around with the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group known for sending heavily armed men to political hot zones, like Cliven Bundy’s ranch and Ferguson, Missouri. And he has introduced legislation that would allow Arizona to subvert U.S. Supreme Court rulings and transfer federal land into state management.
That’s to say Finchem is a man on the fringe.
