40 Best of phoenix 2023 | WWW.bestofphoenix2023.c0m | septemBer 28, 2023 Things have changed radically since the days of the Republican supermajority in the legislature. Right-wing radicalism will not always be rewarded, and if the Dems take control of one or more houses of the legislature, it will be rewarded no more. Best Political Triumph PROPOSITION 308 Prop. 308’s passage in 2022 undid some of the damage wrought by state Sen. Russell Pearce’s Prop. 300, which was passed in 2006 and denied in-state college tuition to so-called “Dreamers,” the children of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. Prop. 308, the brainchild of Mesa Republican Tyler Montague, opened up in-state tuition to anyone who’s graduated from an Arizona high school. Montague courted both Republicans and Democrats in the effort, which was approved by voters by more than 51%. It’s part of the healing process after more than a decade of hate directed at people with brown skin by nativist poli- ticians. Montague’s impassioned drive offers an example of how conservatives and liberals can cooperate in the quest for equality for all people. Best Bad Omen RIO VERDE FOOTHILLS WATER FIGHT Though Mayor Kate Gallego and the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce would have you believe there is zero shortage of water in the Phoenix area, the reality of the drought and climate change is as plain as Lake Powell’s “bathtub ring.” Gov. Katie Hobbs’s announcement earlier this year of a groundwater shortage limiting development in outlying cities should be a wake-up call: It’s time for all of us to work to conserve this precious resource. But there is no such call from our leaders. Which is why the Rio Verde Foothills fight for drinking water is such a bad omen for the future. Scottsdale stopped supplying H2O to the unincorpo- rated area at the beginning of the year, and it took till June for the legislature to cobble together a temporary fix that will give Rio Verde water for about three years. So, what does the subdivision do after that, turn into a pumpkin? No, because a pumpkin, like all living things, needs water to survive. The short-sightedness and cowardice of Arizona’s political class offer no solutions. It remains to be seen if average citizens can fill this void in lead- ership. We need to, because the politicians are fiddling while Arizona runs dry and agribusiness and developers suck up what’s left of the state’s moisture. Best Criminal Redneck Bigot ETHAN SCHMIDT-CROCKETT That boy ain’t right. And by “boy,” we mean grown-ass, 25-year-old, anti-gay, antise- mitic redneck bigot Ethan Schmidt- Crockett, who’s made quite a name for himself through a series of self-recorded threats, criminal acts and stunts that haven’t been rivaled since baby-killer J.T. Ready was still above ground. Take a look at Schmidt-Crockett’s résumé. He’s on record for harassing a Mesa wig shop that caters to patients who have lost hair due to chemotherapy; trampling a Target Pride display and then trying to sell the shoes he did it with for $10,000 online; targeting local synagogues; acting the fool at a Barnes & Noble and a local Church of Scientology; promising to “hunt” LGBTQ+ people, then making the same threat about Jewish people; and so on. The dude is quite obviously “tetched,” as folks say down South, and probably in need of some serious meds. Or at the very least, some quality time in the pokey, which he has so far been able to avoid. Is he just another alt- right social media troll or something more sinister? Don’t let his clownishness mislead you. J.T. Ready, Arizona’s most infamous neo-Nazi, had a similar repu- tation for media stunts. Schmidt-Crockett’s combination of menace, threats and need for attention may end very badly for all concerned. Best Racist Dogwhistles BLAKE MASTERS There are Republicans, and then there are Republicans who know better. Blake Masters, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 against incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly and lost, should know better. The Stanford graduate, venture capitalist and protégé of tech billionaire Peter Thiel sure ain’t dumb, so when he embraced the far-right “great replacement theory,” which posits that Democrats are trying to “replace” white folk with nonwhite
