Freshman Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson filed a bill that would require cities to destroy homeless encampments, charge homeless people with trespassing and throw away their things.|| Via Justine Wadsack for Arizona campaign website
By Camryn Sanchez || Arizona Capitol Times
Freshman Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, is facing a burgeoning recall effort led by her constituents in Legislative District 17 and out-of-district organizers frustrated by controversial bills and colorful comments.
“People who do live in the district, retirees, are fed up and came to me because I have an organizing background,” organizer Christina Rodriguez said. She is one of three people pushing the recall effort and said her name won’t ultimately be attached to the filing.
Rodriguez doesn’t live in District 17; she’s a Democrat living in Legislative District 20, but said she was approached by disgruntled residents because she has a background in organizing. “My phone’s been ringing off the hook,” Rodriguez said.
The group hasn’t filed its recall petition yet but plans to in the second week of May. It will host five events each Saturday in April at Purple Heart Park in Tucson to drum up support. They intend to file in the first week of May and hope to overshoot the required 33,000 signatures by at least 2,000 since some may get thrown out in the verification process.
Wadsack filed some interesting partisan bills this year that are strongly opposed by Democrats and garnered a lot of attention from politicos. She filed a bill that would require cities to destroy homeless encampments, charge homeless people with trespassing and throw away their things and another bill that would make it a felony to take a minor to a drag show – or to perform in drag in view of a minor. Both those bills were seriously watered down with amendments.
Wadsack got the most attention for Senate Bill 1700, which would give parents the power to request schools ban books they deem inappropriate for a variety of reasons like promoting “gender fluidity” or using “pronouns.” That bill hasn’t been amended and passed the Senate on party lines with Democratic opposition.
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