Sen. Wendy Rogers watches as the Senate votes to censure her on March 1, 2022. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
Flagstaff Republican State Sen. Wendy Rogers appears to have violated Arizona’s version of the Hatch Act, which bars the use of government resources for campaign activity, after she published a letter on official Senate letterhead endorsing a candidate for Cottonwood City Council.
“The swamp comes after her, yet SHE STANDS STRONG!” Rogers said in a now deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, endorsing Lisa DuVernay, who is facing a recall election. “We need WARRIORS like Lisa who FIGHT for rural Arizona cities!”
The post was accompanied by a screenshot of a letter of endorsement on Rogers’ official state Senate letterhead saying she “wholeheartedly” is backing DuVernay.
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In Arizona, lawmakers and other members of state government are prohibited from using government time, money or resources to campaign for a candidate or cause. Valley attorney Tom Ryan said Rogers’ post appears to be a “clear cut violation” of the state law commonly referred to as Arizona’s Hatch Act, a reference to a federal law that bars federal government employees from engaging in politicking at taxpayer expense.
Ryan called it “highly improper,” adding that using a letter with the state seal and the logo of the Arizona State Senate makes it appear as if the whole of the Senate or state government is calling on voters to support DuVernay.
Shortly after the Arizona Mirror began reaching out to Rogers, Senate President Warren Petersen and others about the post, it was deleted off X. Rogers had made the same post on Facebook, Telegram and Gab, and those posts began disappearing shortly after, as well.
A copy of a letter Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, posted on various social media platforms endorsing a Cottonwood City Council member facing a recall. Arizona law bars the use of governmental resources to conduct election activity, and one attorney said Rogers using Senate letterhead for the endorsement is “highly improper.” After the Arizona Mirror began asking about the letterhead, Rogers deleted her social media posts.
DuVernay responded to the post on X thanking the senator for the now deleted post.
Petersen and Rogers did not respond to a request for comment for this story. And the Attorney General’s Office declined to comment about the potential that a state senator broke the law.
“I will have to decline to comment on any potential investigation at this time,” Richie Taylor, a spokesman for Attorney General Kris Mayes, who would investigate and enforce any citations, told the Mirror.
DuVernay is facing a recall after she showed alleged pornographic material during a city council meeting in an attempt to demean drag shows. She also threatened legal action against city officials if they did not draft an ordinance banning drag shows, even though one had already been rejected by the city council.
Rogers cited DuVernay’s opposition to drag shows in her endorsement.
“Councilmember DuVernay stands for the people. She is an unflinching, courageous and stalwart defender of freedom,” Rogers wrote in her letter. “This is why the statists oppose her. We champion her! Reelect Councilmember Lisa DuVernay!”
Democrats in the Arizona Senate sent Mayes a letter Thursday asking her to investigate Rogers’ flagrant use of public resources to endorse a candidate.
“It is unclear to whom this letter was sent, but its creation using state resources — Senate letterhead and the official Seal of the State of Arizona, both of which have both reputational value and carry the weight of the official government of the State of Arizona — should not be allowed to stand,” the Senate Democratic leaders wrote.
“Therefore, we ask you to investigate Senator Rogers’ actions whereby she or state personnel composed this letter then distributed via social media and any other mediums in which it was sent,” they added.
This is not the first time a member of the Arizona Senate has taken heat for using Senate resources to endorse a candidate. In 2022, then-Senate President Karen Fann and the Senate GOP spokeswoman sent a press release calling on voters to “unite behind (Kari) Lake” in the governor’s race.
In 2019, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office fined 28 public officials for breaking the same law for using government resources to campaign against a clean-energy ballot measure in 2018.
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