Welcome to the 594th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’re going to be talking about Arizona State Senator Steve Montenegro, just elected to serve District #13 in that body after spending 2009-2016 working in the Arizona House of Representatives. and a rarity among Republicans… Montenegro isn’t just a Latino Republican… he’s actually an immigrant from El Salvador. And, that made him an interesting individual to watch during the debate over Arizona’s SB 1070 a few years ago, where he voted in favor of it, and argued that a law which allowed Arizona law enforcement to racially profile suspects and detain individuals based on their own judgment if they were suspected of being an illegal immigrant wasn’t racist, in its premise. In fact, Montenegro lamented that most of SB 1070 was overturned by the courts, and still insisted that it was meant to “target coyotes”.
Now, where things are getting even more interesting is that Montenegro is a is the son of a Pentacostal minister, and is ordained himself. But after he supported SB 1070, a local Christian AM radio station began to get phone calls from the Montenegro’s church, saying that they were illegal immigrants who went there, and that they had donated money towards Montenegro’s college. Montenegro, of course, claims it was “scholarships, loans, and help from his family”. Either way, a lot of the Hispanic community accuse him of being a sellout. When you factor in his background in ministry, and that he once served as an intern to the quite bats*** Evangelical Arizona Congressman Trent Franks, it should come as little surprise that he’s other full blown GOP theocrat. Sure, he might have been provoked when an atheist colleague gave a “prayer” to open up a session in the state legislature by thanking Carl Sagan and so on, but to literally respond by freaking out and changing the rules so that prayers within the legislature MUST mention God?
Yeah, that’s a thing. And it’s only part of a sign that Montenegro isn’t so keen on the whole separation of church and state. He’s also sponsored bills so that the clergy can turn away gay couples, sponsored a “religious freedom” law so that Arizona businesses could discriminate against the LGBT community, and even tried working to prevent same sex couples from adopting children. Because heaven forbid they end up in a loving home if it’s not with straight people.
Even more concerning to us is that Montenegro also changed rules for the media covering the Arizona state legislature, forcing the entire pool of reporters to first undergo background checks before having access to the legislature. When the media cleared their background checks and got to ask him why the hell he did it, he effectively played dumb and pretended he didn’t know the reason for the policy change.
Here’s a rundown of some of Montenegro’s more egregious moments in his voting record:
- January 13th, 2010: Montenegro co-sponsors Arizona’s highly anti-immigrant bill, SB 1070, that allows law enforcement to racially profile citizens while looking for illegal immigrants.
- January 20th, 2011: Montenegro co-sponsors SB 1188, a bill aimed at curtailing same-sex couples from adopting, by favoring couples where the parents are a man and a woman.
- January 20th, 2011: Montenegro co-sponsors SB 1187, a bill to extend the waiting period for divorce, that critics pointed out could force abused spouses to have to wait to separate themselves from their abusers.
- February 1st, 2011: Montenegro co-sponsors SB 1433, a bill aimed at trying to justify why Arizona should be allowed to nullify federal law.
- February 21st, 2012: Montenegro votes for HB 2563, Arizona’s attempts to have elective courses about the Bible taught in public high schools (which would be a pretty grievous violation of the separation of church and state.
- March 7th, 2012: Montenegro votes for HB 2780, a bill drafted to allow Arizona ranchers to be exempted from animal cruelty laws as it relates to the dogs they have overseeing their ranches.
- April 19th, 2012: Montenegro votes for HB 2625, which would allow Arizona employers to refuse to provide health insurance coverage for employees’ contraception. Because of course he also hates birth control. Of course.
- March 4th, 2014: Montenegro votes for HB 2284, which would allow law enforcement to make unannounced inspections of abortion facilities, and is about the most flagrant disregard for the Fourth Amendment you’ll ever see.
- February 18th, 2015: Montenegro votes for HB 2173, Arizona Republicans’ bonkers attempt to have citizens start regarding gold and silver as legal tender.
- March 11th, 2015: Montenegro votes for HB 2643, another nullification bill, this time specifically aimed at the Affordable Care Act.
- February 29th, 2016: Montenegro votes for HB 2338, to allow the concealed carry of firearms specifically near schools. Because Arizona apparently needs to set the stage for their own version of Sandy Hook, we guess.
- January 31st, 2017: Montenegro votes for SB 1367, an anti-abortion bill that would require the doctor performing the procedure to attempt to revive any “viable fetus” after an abortion, including if it has a heartbeat (fetuses have heartbeats at 6 weeks, so…).
- March 1st, 2017: Montenegro votes for SB 1122, which aimed to again ignore federal law, this time to skip out on any and all background checks on firearm sales. Because criminals and the mentally ill should regain easy access to guns, as well.
- April 25th, 2017: Montenegro votes for SB 1042, wherein Arizona Republicans changed the laws regarding teacher requirements so that they could lower the bar on who is qualified to teach students, and justify the pittance of a salary to those willing to teach, at all.
Steve Montenegro has decided to take a chance in the 2018 elections, and rather than run for re-election to the State Senate, he’s going to take a crack at running for Arizona Secretary of State, instead. That’s not the worst idea, considering the current office holder, Michelle Reagan blamed long lines in the 2016 Arizona Primary on… the voters! As in the voters who will get to vote on her getting a new four year term in 2018 or not.
We’re not exactly enamored between these two options, and hope they do a fine job of wrecking the other’s chances in a nasty primary so that a Democrat can swoop in and win the office, instead.
One Year Ago, July 22nd, 2016: Scott Jones (CA)
Two Years Ago, July 22nd, 2015: Joe Walsh (IL)… 2015 Update
Three Years Ago, July 22nd, 2014: Joe Walsh (IL)… Original Profile