Did anybody really support this bill?
Taking a look at communications behind the bill that would ban filming police officers.
The bill was unconstitutional, but that didn’t stop Republican State Rep. John Kavanagh, a former Port Authority police officer1, from sponsoring the measure that would make it illegal to film police officers.
It passed along party lines, Gov. Doug Ducey signed it into law and then when it inevitably came to a legal challenge, nobody wanted to defend it. If lawmakers would have actually listened to their own attorneys who warned of its unconstitutionality.
But even though that was the process from this year, communication records don’t show much support of HB2319. In fact, quite the opposite.
Ordinarily, this would raise all sorts of questions about why sponsor the bill anyway, but I’m not sure if anybody truly thinks the elected lawmakers here are honestly doing work on behalf of the people.
In the records I received from the Arizona House of Representatives, Kavanagh was hoping to convince those who reached out in opposition to “keep an open mind,” but Kavanagh also refused to live by the same principle.
Here’s an email Kavanagh replied to asking him to keep an open mind.
Kavanagh did receive some over the top remarks, too, but the majority of them were just people frustrated with the legislator and the bill he was pushing.
“Your bill to make it a crime to film police in the conduction of their duties as law enforcement officers is a laughable joke, and will not pass,” one person wrote.
Here’s another:
“It's unfortunate that as someone who I am sure supports the state and federal constitutions wholeheartedly as you do, would choose to ignore it when it becomes inconvenient,” wrote another person.
And my personal favorite: “You are a clown. Why do you hate transparency and freedom?”
Kavanagh also heard from pro-police and former military members who were also in opposition to the bill and yet nobody wrote to warrant their support.
Despite all the opposition and harsh words toward Kavanagh, the most interesting thing in the records was Kavanagh accusing Arizona Republic editorial director Elvia Diaz of libel against him.
Diaz wrote a column (an opinion piece, which people tend to forget is different than a typical reported article) about the bill and what she viewed as Kavanagh’s reason for sponsoring it. Kavanagh was not happy with the finished product, writing to Phil Boas, who was in charge of the opinion section at the time before Diaz took over.
“Certainly veteran reporters like Howie Fisher or Mary Joe Pitzl would never write something as irresponsible, slanderous, and mean-spirit as what Dias wrote. Is that what's going on? Is it a new generation of newspaper people devoid of ethics? And if so, why do you allow this to happen?” Kavanagh wrote. He also on several occasions misspelled Diaz’s name.
There was no response from Boas in the records.
Most of the records were flooded with media clips, lawsuit filings and requests to interview Kavanagh, but view them all here.
Kavanagh has also sponsored legislation to make it more difficult to obtain police body camera footage or allows agencies free rein to redact the videos before releasing them to the public.