Left to right: Vicki Barber, president of the PebbleCreek Democratic Club, and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes
Gillian Driscoll
The PebbleCreek (PC) Democratic Club meeting on June 4 welcomed Arizona Attorney General (AG) Kris Mayes, who was elected in 2022 by the closest vote for statewide office in Arizona history. An Arizona native, she was raised on a tree farm in Prescott and attended Arizona public schools. AG Mayes graduated from Arizona State University and from Columbia University Graduate School. She earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence from ASU.
Present at the meeting were the Mayor of Goodyear, Joe Pizzillo, and three Goodyear City Council members: Benita Beckles, Brannon Hampton, and Trey Terry. Also in attendance were representatives from legislative district (LD) 25 and LD 29 along with approximately 200 club members and visitors. Vicki Barber, president of the PC Democratic Club, opened the meeting and asked that anyone interested in leadership roles to please come forward. She added that there is also a need for more Democratic precinct committee persons.
The June meeting was treated to a rousing and encouraging speech from AG Mayes. She was interrupted by applause numerous times. Ms. Mayes talked about the various activities of the AG’s office. She has brought suits against abusive owners of senior citizen care homes. She has also sued landlords representing many apartments in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas for developing an algorithm for calculating maximum rents to charge and colluding to charge those rents. The impact of the algorithm is that rents in Arizona have gone up by a disproportionate amount. Ms. Mayes has also brought suits against people falsifying records to claim educational voucher money in Arizona. The AG cited 18 federal lawsuits that she had filed on behalf of the citizens of Arizona. These lawsuits Included birthright citizenship, withholding federal funds from Arizona, voting restrictions, firings of federal employees, protecting museums, protecting the Department of Education and Department of Human and Health services, funding of purchases of electric vehicles, tariffs, and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) activities. These lawsuits were brought in conjunction with 22 other state AGs offices and they have been winning almost all the cases.
This was the second time that Attorney General Mayes has visited the PC Democratic Club. She spoke to the club before the successful and close 2022 election. AG Mayes is running for reelection in 2026 and said she viewed this as an existential time for American democracy. She has held town halls all over Arizona and will continue to do so. She encouraged debate and discussion of all viewpoints and requested our help to address critical issues.
The PebbleCreek Democratic Club meetings will be on hiatus for July and August. Meetings will resume in September on Wednesday, Sept. 3. Club meetings are held monthly on the first Wednesday of the month at the Tuscany Falls Ballroom. Social hour starts at 6 p.m. and the meeting begins at 6:45 p.m. Meetings are open and all are welcome.