Exposing the Corruption of the "Family Values" Party
Eddie Farnsworth was an Arizona state legislator and later state senator until his retirement in 2021. He is most well-known for his endless effort to protect marital rapists. For example, when a Democratic senator introduced a bill allowing severance of the parental rights of rapists he added an amendment to protect the rights of marital rapists.
Michelle Ugenti-Rita was a Republican state senator in Arizona and a state representative before that. She was accused of sexual harassment by a female lobbyist who claimed that Ugenti-Rita and her husband were soliciting her for a threesome. Ugenti-Rita’s husband sent explicit photos to the lobbyist asking for a threesome, but she also claimed Ugenti-Rita invited her to her hotel room and asked her to stay the night. Ugenti-Rita acknowledged she took the photos, but claimed not to know her husband sent them to the lobbyist.
Paul Petersen was a Republican elected county assessor in Maricopa County, Arizona. He was charged with human smuggling and selling babies in 2019 and pled guilty in 2020.
Anthony Kern was the Republican chair of the House Rules Committee that was deciding what to do with legislation that would affect abuse survivors’ ability to sue their abusers. There were three bills floating around addressing legal issues about child sex abuse such as changing the statute of limitations and the ability of people to sue. This was a bill child sexual abuse survivors opposed and they were present to share their perspective.
Kern refused to allow testimony because he said they heard testimony on a similar bill. The thing is, though, both bills might address the same issue, but one protected abusers. There was a vote, 5-3, along party lines, the Republicans prevailing and denying survivors of child sexual abuse a chance to testify.
Paris Dennard was a conservative pundit for CNN until 2018 when it was revealed he had been fired at his previous job for sexual harassment, including gesturing as though unzipping his pants and masturbating. He was then hired by the RNC as a national spokesperson until he was fired in August 2022 for unknown reasons.
David Stringer was a Republican state representative in Arizona when it came out that he had reached a plea deal decades earlier that cleaned up his criminal record, a record with child pornography and child molestation.
When the story broke that he had a criminal record that had been expunged, he claimed he made a plea agreement even though it was an unjust, false arrest. He claimed two sex workers named him as a client in order to get out of trouble. That was a complete fabrication. The police records show he was arrested for child pornography and molesting two children.
Joa Arpaio is most well-known for glorying in abusive prison conditions and his racist hatred of Latinos. He was Trump’s favorite sheriff and was convicted of contempt of court for refusing a judge’s order to stop racial profiling. Trump promptly pardoned him. However, contemptible as his treatment of prisoners and immigrants was, he is on the list for his office’s mishandling of more than 400 sexual assault cases.
Scott Bundgaard was the Arizona Senate Majority Leader. He was dating Aubry Ballard. While on the way home from an event, they got into an argument. He pulled over to the side of the freeway. He claimed she was hitting him and throwing his clothes out of the car. He claimed she had a gun. He was seen dragging her on the side of the road and she had cuts and scrapes on her legs. The police arrested her. They would have also arrested him but he claimed he had legislative immunity and could not be arrested while the legislature was in session.
Of course, this led to more scrutiny of his past and the discovery that he had been accused of domestic violence in the past by his then-newlywed wife who left him on their honeymoon after calling police to escort her to their rental so she could pack her things and leave. She had the marriage annulled.
He reached a plea deal on the reckless assault charge and pled no contest to a misdemeanor with no jail time. He resigned when the Senate took up an ethics investigation.
Dan Shooter was a Republican state representative in Arizona when he was accused of sexually harassing women and creating a hostile work environment. The first accuser was a fellow Republican, Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita. After she came forward, eight additional women came forward. A firm was hired to investigate and found several of the complaints credible. He was expelled from the House by a 56-3 vote. He sued but his case was dismissed in state and federal courts.
In 1993, he was convicted of molesting an eight-year-old child. The victim said he molested her while playing hide and seek with her and his daughter. She was supposed to stay the night but ran home and told her mother what happened.