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AZ reporter rings State Senator's doorbell; she's not shot but is slapped with a restraining order [1]

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Date: 2023-04-22  

Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers: Hanging political opponents and crushing the press.

Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers, who was censured last year by her own Republican Party for saying pro-Putin shit and suggesting her political enemies should be hung, doesn’t like the press asking questions. She’s so fearful of encounters with inquisitive journalists that when Capitol Times reporter Camryn Sanchez rang her doorbell to ask a question, Rogers found a judge to slap a restraining order on Sanchez, who was working on a story about Rogers’ place of residence. That’s been a question here for years: Did candidate Rogers buy a trailer in Flagstaff, and claim residency there, so she could run for office in a large red district that is more tolerant of her extremism and Qanon nuttery?

What better way to get an answer than ask the Senator herself, which is what Sanchez tried to do. Rogers, however, said she doesn’t know what Sanchez is “capable of,” and suggested she might “lash out and try to physically harm me in some fashion.” Rogers no doubt had those violent thoughts because she’s a psychopath who thinks in those terms, but all the Ring camera on the Senator’s home shows is a journalist ringing the doorbell and waiting—certainly not a “stalker” exhibiting “bizarre behavior,” as Rogers alleged.

Sanchez was investigating where Rogers lives—in Flagstaff, seat of the northern red district that elected her, or in the homes she owns farther south in Tempe and Chandler. Arizona law requires members to live in the district they represent, so where Rogers lives is a fair question, especially because she collected nearly $20,000 in per diem this year for out-of-town travel to the Capitol in Phoenix. She wouldn’t be eligible for the per diem if she lived in nearby Tempe or Chandler, yet a property deed Rogers signed stated she does live in Tempe, a blue city that would never elect Wendy Rogers.

So that’s worth a look and a question, which is what journalists like Sanchez do. Imagine if every politician found a judge to keep reporters from asking uncomfortable questions. Not surprisingly, civil rights and journalism associations tore into Judge Amy Criddle’s ruling.

“Knocking on doors and asking questions is what we do,” [Arizona Republic editor Greg] Burton said. “It's how we find the truth. It's an act of journalism that legislative leaders should be constitutionally obligated to defend. Their apparent endorsement of this order will have a chilling effect on newsgathering and should be withdrawn or overturned immediately.”

Rogers asked for Sanchez to be banned from the Senate completely, but that request was even too preposterous for the Senate President, a Republican, who said Sanchez can continue covering the Senate, as long as she does not approach Sen. Rogers’ desk. And she certainly can’t ask her a question.

Rogers proudly identifies as a christian nationalist. She’s appeared alongside Nick Fuentes and other white supremacists, antisemites, and fascists, and she’s definitely adopted one of their key strategies—control the press. Her dick move may backfire, however, since the question of Rogers’ residency is in the news again, as is her affection for autocrats like Putin, whose press critics are either dead, imprisoned, or in exile.



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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/22/2165275/-AZ-reporter-rings-State-Senator-s-doorbell-she-s-not-shot-but-is-slapped-with-a-restraining-order

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