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Every year, the Arizona chapter of Americans For Prosperity releases a comprehensive ranking of the state’s legislators. Each gets graded on their adherence to the group’s right-wing agenda, and scored on a scale that ranges from “Hero of the Taxpayer” to “Hero of Big Government.”
Who or what is Americans For Prosperity, you might wonder? Oh, just the group founded by the billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, who are responsible for injecting massive amounts of dark money into the state’s elections.
As our sister paper, the Miami New Times, points out, “AFP denies it’s simply a lobbying arm dedicated to promoting policies that help the Kochs’ private agenda, but decades of reporting disputes that assertion.”
Travis Grantham of Gilbert got the “Hero of the Taxpayer” status – the highest score from Americans For Prosperity this year.
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The Arizona scorecard also includes a list of the 17 bills that AFP deemed a top priority during this year’s legislative session. Many are fairly obscure tax and pension-related bills (shoutout to SB 1152, Consolidated Election Dates for Tax Authorizations,) but the controversial push to expand the state’s school voucher program also made the list.
Overall, it seems safe to say that the Koch brothers are pretty pleased with Arizona conservatives. Nearly all of the state’s Republican legislators received either a “Hero of the Taxpayer,” “Champion of the Taxpayer,” or “Friend of the Taxpayer” score.
The exceptions were Representative Todd Clodfelter, who got a chilly “Not Bad,” and Representaties Michelle Udall, Doug Coleman, Heather Carter, and State Senator Kate Brophy McGee, who got hit with “Needs Improvement.”
Here are AFP’s highest-ranking legislators – unsurprisingly, all Republicans:
1. Representative Travis Grantham, Gilbert
2. Senator Warren Petersen, Gilbert
3. Representative Eddie Farnsworth, Gilbert
4. Representative Rusty Bowers, Mesa
5. Represenative Jill Norgaard, Chandler/Tempe/Ahwatukee
And those with the lowest scores are all Democrats:
1. Senator Martin Quezada, Maryvale and Glendale
2. Senator Steve Farley, Tucson
3. Senator Jamescita Peshlakai, Cameron
4. Senator Juan Mendez, Tempe
5. Senator Katie Hobbs, Phoenix
You can view the full scorecard and see where your elected representatives rank here.
