17 Feb 27th-March 5th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Trent Franks Two things sure to survive after a nuclear holocaust are cockroaches and reprobate politicians, such as Franks. The former Republican congressman resigned in disgrace in 2017 after nearly seven terms as one of “the most conserva- tive members” of the U.S. House of Representatives. Franks fell on his sword after the House Ethics Committee began investigating allegations that he had sexu- ally harassed female staffers, including two he pressured to be surrogate mothers for him and his wife. Franks even allegedly offered one staffer $5 million to carry his baby. Talk about an indecent proposal. Franks later admitted to discussing surro- gacy with the women but claimed he never pressured anyone for sex. Franks could’ve afforded the $5 million, given his estimated net worth in 2017 of more than $30 million due to his connec- tions to the oil and gas industry. Known for his anti-Muslim stances as well as his perfervid opposition to abortion, Franks was infamous for suggesting in 2010 that African Americans were better off under slavery than in modern America with Roe v. Wade in effect. Last year, Trent joined a passel of other extremist nutjobs vying for retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko’s seat. He came in fourth in the primary, which might dissuade a normal person from ever running for office again. But no one’s ever accused Trent Franks of being normal. Andy Biggs To judge from his reception at the recent Arizona Republican Party convention, Biggs could be a shoo-in to win the GOP nomination for governor in 2026. State committee members enthusiastically cheered the uber-conservative five-term congressman when he announced his intention to take on Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. They booed and hissed at the mere mention of his primary rival, multimil- lionaire gadfly Karrin Taylor Robson. Of course, Biggs has his own millions to draw on — $10 million, to be exact — by virtue of his winning the American Family Sweepstakes in 1993. Who said dumb luck doesn’t count? The anti-abortion, anti-immigrant pol is backing a bill to deprive birthright citizen- ship to the children of undocumented immigrants. The Gilbert Republican also has been linked to the “Stop the Steal” effort to overturn the 2020 election, claiming that the winner of the presiden- tial contest in Arizona that year was unknown. (Duh, it was Joe Biden.) He’s denied allegations that he had anything to do with the planning of the Jan. 6 rally that later devolved into an assault on the U.S. Capitol, falsely claiming that Antifa and Black Lives Matter were involved in the ruckus. Two of Biggs’ brothers told the Arizona Republic they believed that their sibling was at least partially to blame for the uprising, but this is likely only to bolster Biggs’ standing with the MAGA faithful. Anthony Kern The former state senator was an also-ran in the same “clown car” congressional primary as Franks, coming in fifth with less than 5% of the vote. Ouch. But we’ve hardly seen the last of him. Kern is a former El Mirage code enforcement officer who got canned from the job for lying to a superior, earning a placement on the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office’s infamous Brady list of dishonest cops. While in the Arizona Legislature, he backed an effort to allow law enforcement to challenge their inclusion on the list, only to have it watered down so it would not benefit him directly. Kern was indicted last year for his role in the fake electors scheme to overthrow the 2020 election, a matter that is still pending in the courts. And guess where he was on Jan. 6, 2021? Yep, right smack dab in the midst of the MAGA crowd storming the Capitol. He’s also known for his attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and for an unhinged 2024 episode in which he led a half-dozen anti-abortion zealots in a prayer that involved speaking in “tongues” on the floor of the state Senate. That stunt won him New Times’ award for “Best Religious Nuttery.” Not exactly the same as being on the Brady list, but close. Wendy Rogers It takes quite a lot for Arizona’s MAGA- majority legislature to censure such a devoted Donald Trump follower as Rogers. But that’s what happened in March 2022, when her fellow state senators voted 24-3 to censure her for “conduct unbecoming of a senator.” Specifically, Rogers was repri- manded for “encouraging violence” during her remarks at a white nationalist conference, where she reportedly called for “high-level officials” to swing from “a newly built set of gallows.” On social media, she also promised to “personally destroy the career” of any Republicans who went after her. Rogers has been blasted for repeating antisemitic tropes on social media, being a “charter member” of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia and for suggesting that a 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo was a false flag operation carried out by the feds. She’s denied the results of the 2020 elec- tion and blamed the Jan. 6 insurrection on “violent antifa mobs.” Last year, she celebrated wins by far- right parties in local German elections by posting the lyrics to an old Nazi fave, “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles.” She later claimed she had no truck with Nazis, though she happens to follow a few of them on X. It’s been a long, strange polit- ical turn for the former Air Force pilot who began her political career a rather wall- flower-ish Republican. But as long as it works for her, there’s no end in sight. Mark Finchem Samuel Johnson said patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. But in Arizona, the shield for scallywags is legislative immunity, which Finchem recently invoked to get out of a speeding citation in Prescott. Like Rogers, the Republican state senator claimed to be a member of the Oath Keepers (though he later denied it), and he’s been a purveyor of right-wing conspiracy theories. A fellow GOP legis- lator once referred to the cowboy-hat- wearin’ Finchem as “one of the dumbest legislators,” but brains are not needed to rise in the Arizona Republican Party these days. It’s Trump-loving extremism that counts, and it got Finchem about five points away from becoming Arizona’s secretary of state in the 2022 election. As with Kari Lake in her loss to Hobbs that year, Finchem sued, claiming shenani- gans at the ballot box cost him the office by about 120,000 votes. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge later tossed Finchem’s claims. Finchem also believes the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and (sigh) attended Trump’s Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally, though he’s tried to walk back his presence. He once claimed that the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — which ended in violent melees and one death when a neo- Nazi plowed his car through a crowd of people — had “Deep State PSYOP written all over it.” Jake Hoffman Hoffman’s got Finchem, his fellow Republican and state senator, beat. Finchem used his legislative immunity to dodge a speeding ticket for going a mere 18 miles over the limit. But on Jan. 22, the Arizona Highway Patrol clocked Hoffman doing 89 in a 65 mph zone and declined to cite him, supposedly because Hoffman was “recog- nized” as a legislator. Hoffman’s no piker when it comes to playin’ hooky, which is why he came in second as the legislator with the most excused absences from the session in 2024. He was also late 14 times. Was that why he was speeding? Hoffman is a blowhard and useless legis- lator who revels in performative stunts like his unconstitutional effort to ban Satanic displays from government property, which was defeated on the Senate floor. His latest lunatic proposal is to create a bounty system for local law enforcement to round up undocumented immigrants, using a tax on wire transfers out of the United States. Predictably, Gov. Hobbs has promised to veto it, again making the founding chair of the Arizona Freedom Caucus one of the least effective members of the legislature. Notably, Hoffman’s company Rally Forge was banned from Facebook in 2020 for “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” basi- cally creating fake accounts to push pro- Trump narratives. Hoffman is closely allied with Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA. In 2024, Hoffman was indicted by a state grand jury in Arizona’s fake electors scheme along with Kern and several others. Apparently, that’s one charge to which legis- lative immunity does not apply. Rather, Hoffman has declared his innocence. He was subsequently elected to represent Arizona on the Republican National Committee. Former Rep. Trent Franks resigned in 2017 after the House Ethics Committee began investigating allegations that he had sexually harassed female staffers. (Gage Skidmore/ Flickr/CC-BY-SA 2.0) Former state Sen. Anthony Kern was at the Jan. 6 insurrection and has been indicted as a fake elector. (Photo by TJ L’Heureux) Wendy Rogers, possibly right after being asked if she knows any white supremacists. (Photo by TJ L’Heureux) Another Dirty Dozen from p 15
