Hall of Shame

Republican politician accused of ethics violations for sexual and physical abuse.

In 1990, Rick Roeber’s 9-year-old daughter was tucked in bed wearing a long Simpsons T-shirt when he allegedly picked her up, took her into the living room, laid her on his bare chest and placed her hand on his genitals, the now-adult woman told lawmakers earlier this year in testimony against Roeber, 65, now a Republican member of the Missouri House. ¹

January 6, 2021, insurrectionist and member of Oath Keepers

• Paul Gosar Friendly with Oath Keepers?

  “We did a meeting a couple of years ago where our elected representative from Washington Paul Gosar came out and we asked him flat out at that time, ‘Do you think we’re heading into a civil war?'” Arroyo said in the video, which is titled “The Coming Civil War? Part 1” and was posted on November 22, 2020. “And his response to the group was just flat out, ‘We’re in it. We just haven’t started shooting at each other yet’.” Phoenix New Times was unable to reach Arroyo for comment. Gosar, a Republican and diehard supporter of former President Donald Trump, who represents Arizona’s 4th Congressional District, did not return New Times’ multiple requests for comment. But other clues of a relationship with the group have surfaced. An image of Gosar standing near a person wearing Oath Keepers clothing emerged last summer. Also, one of Gosar’s brothers, Dave Gosar, recently told the New York Times , (which first reported on Arroyo’s video), that the congressman is closely affiliated with the Oath Keepers. ¹

• Active-Duty Coppys Training for Civil War?

  The far-right paramilitary the Oath Keepers is home to active-duty law-enforcement officers who are training up other members to prepare for civil war, according to one of the group’s top figures. CBS News’ 60 Minutes profiled the the increasingly notorious militia on Sunday night, and one of its leaders from Arizona, Jim Arroyo, spoke openly about the close involvement of police officers. “Our guys are very experienced,” said Arroyo. “We have active-duty law enforcement in our organization that are helping to train us. We can blend in with our law enforcement and in fact, in a lot of cases, our training is much more advanced because of our military backgrounds.” Arroyo’s statement was backed up by Javed Ali, an ex-National Security Council senior director and FBI counterterrorism official, who said the Oath Keepers are a “unique and challenging” threat to the U.S. because a “large percentage have tactical training and operational experience in either the military or law enforcement. That at least gives them a capability that a lot of other people in this far-right space don’t have.” Dozens of members have been implicated in the storming of the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington. ¹

Shame on Barto

Conservative Arizona legislator creating “gag rules” on free speech.

The prohibition, which effectively serves as a “gag rule” on free speech, would not only apply to sex education classes, but social studies or history classes dealing with facially-neutral, widely-accepted historical facts. For instance, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix), said during debate that parents would have to “opt in” before a teacher referenced an event — even in passing, let alone as part of the curriculum — like the 1969 Stonewall riots, the seminal event credited with sparking the modern-era LGBTQ rights movement. ⁶

Two years after Arizona lawmakers repealed a ban on any HIV/AIDS instruction that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle” as they faced a lawsuit, they have approved revamping the state’s sex education laws to make them some of the strictest in the nation when it comes to teaching about LGBTQ issues. ⁷

• Youth Oppression

  Shame on the Arizona State Legislature

  How curious that the Arizona state legislature lodged no concerns over students learning in history classes about white men engaging in horrific wars or Friday night football contests where young male gladiators bash one another into brain damaging frenzies, but, rather, it attempts to further mystify, marginalize, and place off limits and penalize (to use the football metaphor) people and communities who express love and relationships allegedly differently from those in positions of power. ⁸