Journalists’ Roundtable: Senator investigation, lawsuits and more

It’s Friday, which means it is time for another edition of Journalists’ Roundtable. This week, “Arizona Horizon” substitute host Rick DeBruhl was joined by Jim Small of “Arizona Mirror”, Mark Brodie of “KJZZ”, and Dennis Welch of “Arizona’s Family.”

This week’s list of topics includes:

• Mayes says Pinal County Attorney can’t investigate Lawmaker
• Mayes Sues Trump 25 times
• Senate President wants FCC to probe Arizona PBS over ‘blatant viewpoint’
• Judge rules Arizona school funding mechanism violates State Constitution
• State auditor: Arizona relied on school promises, not proof for safety grants
• Gallegos at Iowa State Fair

Mayes says Pinal County Attorney can’t investigate Lawmaker:

Dennis Welch: “…sounds like a county attorney trying to make a bit of a political name for himself…seems like a bit of a thin argument to try and go after Senator Ortiz for getting in the way of ICE doing what they’re doing.”

Mark Brodie: “The phrase I kept hearing, from both Republicans and Democrats, was ‘political theater’…a lot of lawyers are saying, there’s not a lot of there there, when it comes to having Senator Ortiz having done something wrong.”

Jim Small: “…you have absolutely no grounds or authority to do this, and you really should explain yourself because you are elected…you’ve taken an oath of office to uphold the Constitution and the laws of Arizona, and here you are talking about doing things that violate both of them pretty blatantly.”

Mayes Sues Trump 25 times:

Dennis Welch: “I do know from some reporting i’ve done…they were planning to put up a fight like this, and they have followed through on that preparation, and are challenging this administration.”

Jim Small: “I think they’ve made the choice from a political standpoint as well…she has to stand for reelection in 2026…their calculus is that they’re…both right to do to defend Arizona’s interest, and also are not going to harm her politically going into the next campaign.”