Legislative Watch

Keeping an eye on Arizona's Legislative District 4 lawmakers.

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Those pro-waste, fraud & abuse folks at Goldwater Institute sued for LESS oversight of ESA spending. What changes? Now supplemental materials “need not be listed as required or recommended on a curriculum document in order to be approved.”
https://t.co/5QJrhdZ18J

[Legislative Watch @LD4Watch]

Matt's too busy attacking firefighters, police, and teachers by going after their unions.

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

.@MatthewGress is “proud to have the support of @TPAction.”

Will Matt condemn Turning Point and their racist fight with Rep. Nguyen?

https://t.co/r5AXxIyTn7

[William Coffin @CoffinItUp]

$153.42 per month doing multi-level marketing while running up your credit card debt? Tell us Pamster, what was your secret!!!???

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

ICYMI: Lobbyist/Rep Matt Gress is facing calls for a formal ethics investigation. He’s paid by a nat’l org working against protections for teachers & 1st responders.

Gress is paid to lobby in other states, but then pushes his employer’s policy in AZ. #LD4 https://t.co/oHI0wRI0kH

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Shout the TRUTH from the rooftops! #LD4

Matt Gress is a paid lobbyist for a shady, out-of-state organization. He works to denigrate teachers, destroy Arizona public schools and attack public-sector unions, including police officers and firefighters.

[Legislative Watch @LD4Watch]

They're CELEBRATING no accountability. Teachers ration whiteboard markers. Parents buy the pencils. ESA families get funding public schools can't even count on, with none of the strings attached.

@arizona_sos is going to bring big change to our state in November!!

[Jenny Clark @ClarkRimsza]

Huge win for Arizona ESA families thanks to the work of @GoldwaterInst !!!!

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Here's Rep/Lobbyist Matt Gress' coworker Corey and their employer @AmericansFair celebrating after HCR2040 passed the House. HCR2040 was a policy priority for his employer and Matt Gress used his position as Chair of the House Education Committee to advance his employers' mission

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Please look out for Rep/Lobbyist Matt Gress too. He works for a national organization trying to dismantle our public-sector unions. These 3 photos are from his employers’ website. Matt & his org want to take wage, benefit and safety protections away from our first responders.

[Legislative Watch @LD4Watch]

His employer was retweeting the drama from the house floor on the night they passed #HCR2040, the anti-union bill. Their whole mission is to decimate unions. Sounds shady to me.

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Rep/Lobbyist Matt Gress: "my employer was not involved in #HCR2040 and my outside employment has no role in Arizona policy matters." But here's a blog post by his employer @AmericansFair celebrating after Matt used his Ed Cmte Chair position to pass his employer's policy priority

[Legislative Watch @LD4Watch]

OUT OF STATE?!?!...421K signatures say that Arizona voters don't want ESA expansion (and they never did). Voters are ready to reign in vouchers in November and say no to this sneaky ballot referendum that is about protecting ESA expansion, not military families.

[Doug Ducey @DougDucey]

Out-of-state special interests and their union allies are trying to take educational scholarships away from the children of Arizona’s military families.

That is why today, we are proud to launch Protect Military Families PAC @ProtectMilFam.

Our mission is simple: keep Arizona’s promises to the families who have served our country by protecting their children’s education scholarships.

Read our announcement below. 🇺🇸

[Doug Ducey @DougDucey]

Out-of-state special interests and their union allies are trying to take educational scholarships away from the children of Arizona’s military families.

That is why today, we are proud to launch Protect Military Families PAC @ProtectMilFam.

Our mission is simple: keep Arizona’s promises to the families who have served our country by protecting their children’s education scholarships.

Read our announcement below. 🇺🇸

[Arizona Education Association 🍎🏫 @ArizonaEA]

When lawmakers approached unions with an offer to pass voucher reforms & drop their referrals, we were open to talking.

Instead, Andy Biggs & his fellow extremists created a circus. Our initiative has the signatures to make the ballot & we look forward to victory in November.

[Kris Mayes @krismayes]

In 2022, lawmakers deliberately exempted police and firefighters from anti-union legislation. But in their rush to punish teachers, Warren Petersen and his allies in the senate just passed a ballot referral that could harm all unions in our state, including police and firefighters— and he is too incompetent to get a repeal over the finish line.

The anti-union measure is despicable. At a time when working families are struggling to keep up with rising costs, the answer is not to make it harder for workers in Arizona to stand together.

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

So, Biggs proposal is for the Dems who already voted NO on #HCR2040 to bail out GOP from their own stupid mistake (or their intentional destruction of unions). Wake up, @AZPoliceAssc & @AZTroopers -maybe stop supporting GOP who’s willing to throw you under the bus w/our teachers!

[Jane McNamara @jhmcnamara]

Teachers in #AZ are pretty low on the economic ladder of life. Why would Gress take away their opportunity to advocate as a group for better wages and benefits? Did he attend public schools, have a favorite teacher who impacted his life’s journey?

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

All the @AZDPSHwyPatrol Officers I know are quite apolitical. They take these endorsements seriously. It’s troubling to see their @AZTroopers Assoc endorsing Matt Gress, whose actions in AZ & with his nat’l anti-union group put their wages, benefits and safety at risk.

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Does @AZTroopers Assoc know Rep. Matt Gress is also a paid anti-union lobbyist with @AmericansFair?

Gress runs bills that mirror his nat’l employers’ priorities to dismantle all public-sector unions. DPS officers need to know Gress’ bills harm them & other 1st responders in AZ.

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Matt also says “We don’t care if they join a union or not….” Hard to believe that, since Matt Gress is also a paid lobbyist for Americans for Fair Treatment. AFFT is an organization working to dismantle all public-sector unions nationally, including teachers & first responders.

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Matt Gress is trying to pretend a Legislative Council memo has binding legal authority. It does not.

Matt knows #HCR2040 puts wage, benefits & safety protections for @AZPoliceAssc @AZFirefighters @AZTroopers at risk, just like it hurts AZ teachers.

https://t.co/rW0EV65iwE

[Legislative Watch @LD4Watch]

Yeah sure would be nice if one of the amazing AZ journalists can find out who funds AFFT's efforts. Would be nice to know who's paying Matt to destroy unions in Arizona.

[Kelli Butler @KelliButlerAZ]

Sure looks like Americans For Fair Treatment is getting its money’s worth with their very own paid lobbyist, Matt Gress (aka AZ State Rep from LD4). AFFT seeks to destroy ALL public sector unions, presumably to benefit their unknown 501c3 donors.