Week in Review: Arizona Town Makes History

An Arizona town just made history by banning taxpayer-funded “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” practices, as the Goldwater Institute continues to lead the effort to dismantle DEI across the country.

Queen Creek became the first municipality in the state to prohibit the town government from implementing the tenets of DEI. In other words:

• No affirmative action.
• No mandatory loyalty oaths to progressivism.
• No taxpayer-funded “consultants” telling town employees they’re racist.

Goldwater is spearheading the nationwide campaign to defeat DEI, from public university lecture halls to the very halls of government. After all, government employees should focus on actual town business, not obsess over identity politics.

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Another Victory Over Local Government Overreach

Fighting government overreach at the local level never really ends. But if you keep at it, one victory for liberty can turn into another and another—dismantling government’s wall of tyranny one brick at a time.

That’s what happened in Phoenix and Tucson, where Goldwater scored a massive win over burdensome “prevailing wage” mandates. Most recently, it happened in Tempe, where the city council this month suspended its own prevailing wage ordinance in light of our court victory.

Small businesses, minorities, younger workers, and taxpayers all suffer under “prevailing wage” mandates that force regulations and bureaucratic tape down businesses’ throats. Defeating them takes persistence and determination—but we won’t stop until the job is done.

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Government’s Fake ‘Emergency’

When the town of Payson, Ariz., decided to take on $70 million in debt without voter approval, resident Deborah Rose wanted to do something about it. But she couldn’t because the town abused its emergency powers to prevent citizens from challenging the measure—in violation of the Arizona Constitution, which guarantees the right of referendum.

Now, with Goldwater’s help, Deborah is suing the town to put a stop to the spending.

The “emergency”? Town officials’ apparent belief that interest rates might rise in coming months. But as Goldwater’s John Thorpe writes, “Government officials’ efforts to time the market, based on pure speculation about financial trends, is not an ‘emergency.’”

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