40 MEGALOPOLITAN LIFE SEPTEMBER 25, 2025 | WWW.BESTOFPHOENIX2025.C0M | BEST OF PHOENIX 2025 Scottsdale lawmaker, many of them very right-wing, voted against it. Even they can be spot-on once in a while. e e e B E S T H Y P O C R I T E MYLIE BIGGS Any half-serious candidate running for public office knows to do a quick personal inventory. Past arrests? Those will come up. Off-color tweets? Prepare to hear about them again. Did you once brag on a podcast about not voting for women because women shouldn’t be seeking public office, and now you’re a woman seeking public office? Yeah, that boomerang is headed back your way. If you answered yes to the last one, condo- lences: You must be Mylie Biggs, the 25-year- old daughter of far-right congressman and gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs. Mylie is mounting a run for the Arizona Senate in deep-red Queen Creek, though her self- sabotaging comments on an obscure podcast last year might hurt her chances. (Though, after Phoenix New Times reported the comments earlier this year, it probably didn’t hurt the podcast’s numbers.) Speaking without a filter, the young Biggs opined about how she’d never vote for a woman and believes that women should be in the home and not in political office. Funny views from a woman seeking political office. How does that meme go? “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions ...” e e e B E S T P O L I T I C A L S C H A D E N F R E U D E KARI LAKE After another failed political campaign against Sen. Ruben Gallego, it seemed like forever-loser candidate Kari Lake would finally get a position in the federal govern- ment that she so desperately wanted. In December, President Trump named Kari Lake as his pick for the director of Voice of America. In early interviews, she indicated big dreams and ambitions for the role. She didn’t plan to turn it into “Trump TV,” but it was gonna be pretty close. Then, instead of being the international newsroom’s new fearless leader, Lake, at the direction of Trump and Elon Musk, DOGE’d her way out of a job. As a U.S. Agency for Global Media advisor, which oversees VOA, Lake began to demolish the same agency she was once appointed to guide. The firings sparked legal challenges and now, instead of leading an entire agency with thousands of employees, Lake is back in a familiar envi- ronment — the courtroom. e e e B E S T P O L I T I C A L M A N E U V E R KATIE HOBBS The Arizona Legislature is filled with moments of political theater. But this session, House Republicans tried to play a political game with the lives of kids with develop- mental disabilities. After Gov. Katie Hobbs renewed the Parents of Paid Caregivers program following the end of federal funding, its parent entity — the Division of Develop- mental Disabilities — was running out of money. Instead of passing a common supple- mental budget request to fund the program, which pays parents to care for their severly disabled kids, Republicans chose to hold it over the governor’s head as a bargaining chip to force cuts and increase oversight. Commit- tees were packed with extra Republicans to prevent common-sense bipartisan reforms from passing, and DDD families, who were packing the hearing rooms, were losing hope as they considered a possible move out of state. But then Arizona’s “Veto Queen” made her own move that forced Republicans to reconsider. She’d be vetoing every bill that came across her desk until the legislature brought her a “reasonable, negotiated” bill that would continue funding DDD without cutting essential services for families. Less than a week later, Hobbs was signing a bipar- tisan DDD bill into law. e e e B E S T P O L I T I C A L F A I L JUSTIN HEAP It’s been only nine months since Justin Heap took office as Maricopa County’s Recorder, but it’s felt like years. Why? He’s been on a warpath of lying, stretching the truth, fabri- cating conversations and feuding with the people he’s supposed to work with. From taking credit for firing staffers who actually resigned to publicly beefing with the Repub- lican-led Maricopa County Board of Super- visors, his first year in office was one big flop. You’d think a county government led by one party would get things done, but with Heap in charge of the recorder’s office, that’s proved unlikely. He’s been on a crusade of lawsuits and threats, rendering the partner- ship ineffective. He pushed for an illegal mail-in ballot proposal that resulted in the leader of his own party threatening him to drop it or get hit with a lawsuit. And despite
