Republican state Sen. Wendy Rogers continues to stand in the way of a proposed law designed to punish people who lie about their military credentials.
Rep. Walt Blackman’s “stolen valor” bill would make it a crime to impersonate a military veteran or lie about earning medals and other distinctions awarded by the branches of the U.S. armed forces.
Blackman, an Army veteran, won election to the Arizona House of Representatives last year in Legislative District 7, an expansive rural district. He won the seat after placing first in a crowded Republican primary that included Steve Slaton, the owner of the Donald Trump-themed store in Show Low who claimed he was a decorated Vietnam War veteran.
Those claims generated push back from several veterans groups that accused Slaton of stolen valor, alleging his discharge papers from the National Archives and Records Administration showed he lied about receiving multiple military awards and did not see combat in Vietnam. Slaton has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Despite passing out of the Arizona House with unanimous bipartisan support in early February, Blackman’s House Bill 2030 has languished in the Arizona Senate, where Rogers has refused to give it a hearing in the Judiciary and Elections Committee she chairs.
That all appeared to change earlier this week, when Rogers added HB 2030 to a crowded March 26 meeting agenda.
Several veterans showed up to the meeting to support the bill.
And then Rogers abruptly pulled it off the agenda shortly after starting the meeting, claiming Blackman refused to agree to amend the legislation.
“I asked if he would amend the bill to comport with federal law, but was informed there was no interest in doing that,” said Rogers, an Air Force veteran, as the people who showed up to speak on the bill filed out of the room.
In a statement issued the next day, Rogers defended the decision.
“I take this seriously, but have concerns Rep. Blackman ran this legislation to hamstring political opponents, rather than hold accountable those who engage in this type of fraud,” she said. “This bill would weaponize state government against federally regulated veterans who are already subject to the Stolen Valor Act of 2013. State government does not have access to records, including off the books combat operations.”
Blackman (R-Snowflake) previously accused Rogers of holding the bill due to her close ties to Slaton, who ran alongside Rogers for the legislature last year. But he said the bill was not about exacting retribution.
“This is bigger than the individual that actually did what he did,” Blackman said.
Blackman said he opposed amending his bill, because he believes the federal law passed in 2013 “didn't go far enough.”
But whether he agreed with the amendment or not is irrelevant, he argued.
As the chairwoman of the Senate committee hearing the bill, Rogers had the power to amend the legislation with or without his consent. Or, she could have introduced an amendment later on in the process when the legislation reached the Senate floor, Blackman argued.
“She didn't do that,” Blackman said. “So my question to the senator is either you don't know how to do your job or you're lying.”
He also accused Rogers of disrespecting her fellow veterans by placing the bill on the agenda only to pull it down after they had shown up to testify.
“That was more of a slap in the face, with the communication that I got from the veterans community, more than anything else,” Blackman said. “We had folks that came from out of town, three to four hours away. We had four individuals that came from out of state, because they supported it.”
Rogers denied those accusations in her statement, saying she left the bill on the agenda in the event Blackman decided to accept her amendment.
“Neither Rep. Blackman nor his staff communicated that he was willing to work on an amendment with me,” she said.
And it appears an attempt to circumvent Rogers’ committee is also dead on arrival in the Senate.
The Arizona Capitol Times reported that the House Rules committee approved an amendment that essentially replaced an unrelated bill with Blackman’s stolen valor legislation with the support of that bill’s sponsor, Sen. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix).
The Arizona House gave preliminary approval to that bill on Wednesday but it still needs to pass final votes in both the House and Senate before it can be transmitted to Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Through a spokeswoman, Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) said he does not intend to bring the new stolen valor bill to the Senate floor for a final vote.
"I'm optimistic Senator Rogers and Representative Blackman will be able to reach a compromise on HB 2030," Petersen later said in a statement.
