Tim Steller's column: Sen. Wadsack 'fights crazy' in response to speeding incident

It’s bad enough that a state senator would drive dangerously fast on a Friday night through the heart of the University of Arizona.

It’s worse that the senator would take no responsibility and instead lash out at others — the city, the police, the news media — ginning up a new conspiracy theory in the process.

But it’s no surprise when you know the state senator is Justine Wadsack.

She’s the one who has labeled online criticism of her “harassment”; who has repeatedly bashed Tucson, the city where she has long lived; who has declined to pay a legal judgment against her; and who has embraced even vile conspiracy theories.

It’s natural that Wadsack would call her pending charges for allegedly driving 71 mph down Speedway “political persecution.”

That’s just Wadsack.

Stopped around 10 p.m. March 15 at East Speedway Boulevard and North Wilson Avenue, just east of North Campbell Avenue, Wadsack immediately identified herself as “Senator Justine Wadsack.”

I suppose that was just in case the officer didn’t notice either the the plaque under her license plate that says “Arizona State Senator” or the sticker on the back of her driver’s license pointing out the state law that offers legislators immunity from citations or arrest during their sessions.

Officer Ryan Schrage, possibly sensing this was a politically delicate stop, told Wadsack calmly, “Well, Speedway is a 35 mph zone, and you were doing over 70.”

“I was not doing 70,” she responded.

“Yes you were. I was behind you. I had my radar on.”

In fact, in his report, he noted that he had previously clocked her going 58 on Speedway.

She said she was “racing home” because her Tesla was down to four miles worth of charge. It was a poor choice of words — and of excuses: There are a half-dozen 24-hour charging stations within four blocks of the stretch of Speedway she is accused of speeding down.

In any case, after Schrage consulted his supervisors and a legal advisor, he let Wadsack go on her way.

Fighting crazy

Some people would have responded to the situation with contrition. Some might have waived their legislative privilege.

Not Justine Wadsack. That’s not her style. She has told me before, and posted online, that in court she likes to “fight crazy.”

“The AZ Bar needs to go away,” she said in a 2022 text message. “The people can’t fight crazy, and citizens rights are abused every day. Lawyers are unattainable, and the courts are corrupted.”

When Tucson police contacted her after the legislative session, on June 27, to issue her the criminal-speeding citation she had earned March 15, she started to “fight crazy.”

Lt. Lauren Pettey, who talked with Wadsack, said in a report that Wadsack called the criminal citation “political persecution.” After the Tucson Sentinel broke the news of the incident on July 19, Wadsack elaborated in a Facebook post and subsequent comments.

She claimed to be “investigating TPD” at the request of a constituent and that issuing the citation now is “highly irregular.”

Later, in a comment, she said, “There’s so much corruption in Tucson. Marana PD and Oro Valley PD are amazing! Good people. But, Tucson PD has both good people, while it’s also full of bad apples.”

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She went on to detail why she thinks she is “hated by TPD” and the victim of the “Leach mob,” a reference to her opponent in Tuesday’s Republican primary election, Vince Leach.

What she didn’t do is acknowledge that she might have been endangering others by speeding — an acute problem in Tucson, where 48 people have already died in traffic incidents this year.

“I told the officer I was not going that fast, and he failed to show me his traffic gun as proof. So there us (sic) NO proof of my speed,” she wrote.

Of course, that’s not how these things work, even for state senators.

Conspiracy theories

It should be no surprise that Wadsack would invent a conspiracy to try to deflect from her dangerous driving. She’s long embraced conspiracies:

— After three different hazardous materials accidents happened across the country in early 2023, including one in Tucson, Wadsack posted “THIS FEELS ORGANIZED!” and added the hashtag “#BiohazardAttacks.”

— She’s argued repeatedly that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine kills people; said the CEO of Pfizer should face a “Nuremberg 2.0”; and said the National Institutes of Health should be tried for murder for recommending against ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.

— After the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, she posted in a Facebook comment: “This school shooting has nothing to do with keeping minority voters in check, IMO. But I believe it has everything to do with instilling Red Flag laws and gun regulations that move America toward losing our 2nd Amendment.”

This is just a sampling, not an exhaustive list, mind you. So, we should be skeptical when Wadsack says, as she did in a Facebook comment, “I have been hated by TPD for years.” More likely it’s just Wadsack fighting crazy.

This comes out in court, where Wadsack has a practice of countersuing when she’s sued. She’s done it in three lawsuits since 2017. Once, when sued by a man named Aaron Parkey over her alleged role in online harassment, a role she denied, she countersued not just against him, but against another man who had complained of online harassment, Mark Sawyer.

Sawyer had not been involved in the lawsuit up to that point, and when Wadsack later dropped the case against him, Sawyer got Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson to order that Wadsack pay his filing fee of $170. That was Feb. 9, 2023, but Wadsack has never paid it.

Sawyer showed me emails he’s exchanged with and sent to Wadsack asking for the money, but with no results, other than seeing more harassing, anonymous posts about him online, mocking his request.

Perks of the office

Not every state senator has the plaque identifying them as such near their license plate, nor the sticker explaining legislative immunity on the back of their license.

I asked Sen. Priya Sundareshan, a Tucson Democrat, if she has either, and she said no.

“It wasn’t given to me as a default,” she said. “I haven’t gone out of my way to ask for it.”

I don’t know how Wadsack ended up with the plaque or the get-out-of-jail-free sticker, but there is growing evidence of her enjoying the perks of power.

The Arizona Agenda reported last month that Wadsack has been taking full advantage of both the per-diem payments offered to legislators living outside Phoenix and the mileage reimbursements for her trips home to the Tucson area and back.

In 2021, the per-diem for legislators from outside Maricopa County increased from $60 per day to $252 per day, the idea being that these legislators can use the money to stay in Phoenix as needed. But Wadsack has been driving home frequently, earning mileage reimbursements, while also taking in the per-diem that is meant to pay for housing.

The Agenda noted that last year, Wadsack received $15,971 in mileage reimbursement, plus $44,738 in per-diem pay. “In total, Wadsack earned almost $84,000 last year from a part-time job that ostensibly pays $24,000 per year,” the Agenda reported.

So it doesn’t surprise me that Wadsack would take advantage of her status as a senator to avoid a criminal-speeding citation or lash out when confronted with her misbehavior, or invent a conspiracy against her. This is consistent — it’s who she’s been — and to me it’s disqualifying.