The former chair of the Pima County GOP is leading the fight for a revote for state party chair.

A bobcat kitten found a snake in the backyard of a Tucson home and couldn't resist a tussle. The bobcat was born several months prior near the home. Video by Eric Schaffer.

Bill Beard, who has also been a local political candidate, is one of two state Republicans suing the putative state party chair, Kelli Ward, over the results of the party election Jan. 23.

The other is Sandra Dowling, who, like Beard, was an at-large candidate for the party’s state committee in her congressional district. Dowling, the suit says, “was originally declared the winner before being undeclared the winner, with the cause of this about-face ascribed to ‘human error’ by the party.”

Questions have also arisen about the narrow reelection of Ward, who defeated Sahuarita resident Sergio Arellano by just 42 votes.

After the Jan. 23 event, Beard and others collected 352 signatures from GOP state committeemen to call for a special meeting and new party elections on April 24. That’s more than the 294 required. But in a Tuesday email, Ward dismissed the signatures as ill-gotten.

The headline of the email shouted “ROGUE EFFORTS TO OUST AMERICA FIRST LEADERSHIP TEAM FALL SHORT.” She accused Beard and others — not by name — of gathering signatures through false pretenses.

Channeling Donald Trump, who endorsed Ward in the party election, Ward wrote this about the signature-gathering effort: “The accompanying letter dishonestly framed the real thrust of their effort to oust our America First team and return to swampy politics as usual. Fortunately, the vast majority of our membership did not and will not allow that to happen.”

Beard said the signatures were gathered uprightly, and that since they were presented, Ward and allies, including her husband, have been twisting the arms of people who signed to get them to change their minds.

“The good doctor is trying to have it both ways,” Beard said of Ward, who is a physician. “She tries to decide what is and isn’t a valid signature, what is and isn’t a valid ballot, what is and isn’t a valid concern regarding election integrity.”

In February, after the questions about the Jan. 23 election arose, 18 GOP legislators demanded that Ward submit to an audit or new election. They said that was the only way to remain consistent with her calls for an audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 general election results.

But Ward has fought hard against any effort to redo the vote that kept her in power, even as she tried to audit and overturn the Maricopa County vote.

Beard and Dowling sued on March 30 in Maricopa County Superior Court, asking that the April 24 special meeting be ordered.

— Tim Steller

New minimum wage push

A group of local nonprofits is gathering signatures for a ballot initiative that would raise Tucson’s minimum wage to $15 by 2025.

The campaign titled “Tucson Fight for $15” needs 30,000 signatures to make it on the November 2021 ballot.

The proposed initiative would gradually raise the minimum wage, setting it at $13 in April 2022 and reaching $15 by January 2025.

If passed, the Tucson Minimum Wage Act would affect nearly 85,000 local employees earning Arizona’s current minimum wage of $12.15.

The group says the act would also prevent the misclassification of workers as independent contractors while providing more stable work hours and creating a citywide wage enforcement office.

This weekend, the campaign will collect signatures from noon to 6 p.m. at Armory Park (Sixth Avenue and 13th Street) on April 3 and at Himmel Park (Tucson Boulevard and Second Street) on April 4.

The nonprofit groups involved in the campaign include the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Primavera Foundation, Our Family Services, Southwest Fair Housing Council, People’s Defense Initiative and YWCA Southern Arizona, as well as labor unions such as Pima Area Labor Federation.

— Nicole Ludden

CD2 Democrats brag on fundraising

State Rep. Randy Friese was the second candidate in the race for the Democratic nomination for Congress in Congressional District 2, but he was the first to brag about fundraising.

His campaign sent out an email this week saying it had raised more than $100,000 in the first four days of his candidacy. It turns out Friese has not formally filed with the Federal Elections Committee to run yet, though, so he did not have to file a campaign finance report by the normal end of the quarter, March 31.

The other declared candidate, state Sen. Kirsten Engel, has filed with the FEC, though, and she said Thursday that her campaign will report a little over $150,000 raised in her quarterly report. Engel announced her candidacy March 19.

Friese, a doctor, and Engel, a lawyer, are pursuing the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick at the end of this term.

But it’s a complicated pursuit, because redistricting has just begun, and the district will change somewhat when it is finished. Candidates could even find themselves living in different districts than the ones they are running for, though that does not prevent a congressional candidacy.

— Tim Steller

New chief deputy recorder named

After she took office, Pima County Recorder Gabriella CÃĄzares-Kelly brought in an experienced hand as chief deputy.

Adrian Fontes had just lost reelection as Maricopa County recorder when he came to Tucson to help out CÃĄzares-Kelly, a new officeholder, who took over from longtime recorder F. Ann Rodriguez.

Now Pamela Franklin will be taking over the chief deputy job permanently, as Fontes heads back to Phoenix. Franklin has worked at the recorder’s office since 2012 and became voter registration manager in 2015.

— Tim Steller

Become a #ThisIsTucson member! Your contribution helps our team bring you stories that keep you connected to the community. Become a member today.

Contact: tsteller@tucson.com or 807-7789. On Twitter: @senyorreporter.