KJZZ’s Friday NewsCap revisits some of the biggest stories of the week from Arizona and beyond.
To talk about the calls for a pair of school board members to step down after a security incident at a Valley high school, Sen. Ruben Gallego addressing his presidential aspirations and more, The Show sat down with Chip Scutari of S+C Communications and Karl Gentles of the Gentles Agency.
Conversation highlights
MARK BRODIE: Let’s start with this story out of Maryvale High School, where the allegation is that two members of a school board where the schools sort of feed into, that Phoenix Union High School District, brought a box cutter through security, or tried to. One of them filmed it as a way to test security.
This, of course, comes after there was a stabbing at Maryvale High School not that long ago in which a student died, was killed by stabbing. Chip, this just seems like a bizarre story there. People are calling for these school board members to step down. One of them is a member of the Legislature. This seems like a lot.
CHIP SCUTARI: Yeah, this is bizarre with a capital B. And you know, innocent until proven guilty. But if it is true, it shows a huge lack of judgment, common sense on state Rep. Lydia Hernandez, and apparently her daughter was with her as well. There’s two completely different versions of this incident, one from Phoenix Union and one from two Hernandezes, Lydia and her daughter Cassandra.
So the police are going to launch an investigation. Mark, you grew up in Connecticut. I grew up in New Jersey. There’s a famous New York City sports broadcaster, Warner Wolf. And his catchphrase was, “Let’s go to the videotape.” So this videotape is going to show who’s telling the truth, who’s lying. And if Rep. Hernandez is lying, it will look really, really bad.
BRODIE: Karl, assuming that it is true — and of course, as Chip said, innocent until proven guilty. We don’t really know. We weren’t there. We don’t know exactly what happened.
But if this went down the way that Phoenix Union says it went down, should they be stepping down? Should the Hernandez mother and daughter be stepping down?
KARL GENTLES: Well, they are innocent until proven guilty. But the evidence at this point, or at least the allegations don’t look very good for them. You know, this is just complete, I think, stupidity on behalf of people that should know better. At least one of them should have known better. And so, like Chip said, there’s video. Once that video is reviewed, it’s going to show. The evidence in the video is … going to basically say who’s telling the truth.
I should step back and say that what should not be lost is that a young student lost his life in this, over this issue. And then you’ve got these two board members that are politicizing, basically doing a stunt to try and prove a point by breaking the law, which they are supposed to be overseeing, enforcing.
And so let’s not forget, number one, that there’s a student that was (killed) and a family that’s in mourning here. But these two have to be held accountable if, in fact, that they are shown to not be telling the truth.
BRODIE: Chip, besides the fact of what they did and their story seems to be that they were trying to test security — and if that’s the case, it seems like security worked. They tried to bring a box cutter into the school, and they were caught.
How problematic do you find the timing of this, just a very short time after this stabbing incident where, as Karl referenced, a student died?
SCUTARI: Oh, it’s horrible. It’s just horrible all the way around. Why you would think that you’re going to act as police or security guard to try to sneak box cutters into a district that just had a tragic event a week or two before that? It’s just it’s awful. And I don’t get it.
Unfortunately, the Cartwright School District has kind of become a district of drama for all the wrong reasons.
BRODIE: Which is the board that the two Hernandezes sit on.
SCUTARI: And it’s putting Democrats in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. And that’s why I think Phoenix City Council members, at least few of them, have called for these women to resign. And I don’t blame them. But just think: Who would just stop for a second and think, “I’m going to try to sneak in a box cutter to a high school that just had a tragic event a week or two before?” It’s absolutely insane and stupid.
BRODIE: Yeah. Karl, I’m curious what your take is on the response of other elected Democrats. Chip referenced a couple of Phoenix City Council members called on them to step down from the school board. Legislative Democrats have not really come to their colleagues’ defense on this.
GENTLES: Well, it’s hard to defend the indefensible is really what it comes down to, right? And look, the condemnation has been widespread across all political spectrums. I haven’t seen one person stand up and say, “Oh, this was a good idea.” …
It doesn’t matter what political party you’re in. When you do stupid things, consequences are going to occur. And in this case, if they are proven — like we said, innocent until proven guilty — if it shows that the story is not what she says, then they should be removed. They should resign.
I think the broader thing here is this, that we have really good school board members, and people work hard on school boards for all the right reasons: representing our families, our students and trying to advance education in this state.
There are some that are on school boards for not those reasons. And in some cases, school boards are a launching pad for people’s political careers. In this case, it might be a killer of a political career going forward.
SCUTARI: One other thing we have talked about on The Show for months and months, how politics now is all national. It’s not local. And unfortunately, as Karl said, this is a political stunt. It was performative.
I almost think they were trying to take a page out of the Trump playbook, but it blew up in their face. You know, they were trying to make a big deal of it. They’re trying to be clever, trying to get clicks and headlines. And it’s true, it was a really dumb, dumb thing to do.
BRODIE: Karl, let me ask you about one of our U.S. senators, Ruben Gallego. There’s been a lot of speculation about whether he might be looking to run for president in 2028. He’s been traveling to Iowa and Pennsylvania: early states, swing states. This week, he said, probably not. He referenced he has three young kids.
But he did say, I have a message that I want my party to understand. Look at what we did — we being him — him during his campaign last year. And that is maybe the way the Democrats can get back on track here.
I want to ask first off, do you believe that he is not planning to run for president? And two, do you think that his message is one that Democrats across the country should be listening to?
GENTLES: I do believe that Sen. Gallego has aspirations beyond the U.S. Senate. I think he’s right that now may not be the right time, given the age of his kids. … And I think what he’s doing is right, which is he is helping the Democratic Party to rebrand itself, reposition itself because in many cases, the electorate thinks the Democratic Party has lost their way and their message of standing up for working families is just not resonating. And that has been captured by the opposite party. So I do believe him when he says that.
Now, he’s acting like a presidential candidate. He’s been to Iowa. He went and took a look at the butter —
BRODIE: Butter sculptures.
GENTLES: Butter sculptures, the cow or whatever it is. He did that, so he checked that box off. Number one, he went to New Hampshire. He went to Pennsylvania. He’s been across this country.
But I think what he’s doing is the exact right strategy, which is that the Democratic Party has a brand problem and has a message problem and has to do something that’s going to reshape people’s thoughts about the Democratic Party.
Look, he is hitting on issues that are not necessarily seen as Democratic strongholds. Immigration, tough on immigration, tough on crime, law enforcement. He is hitting on things that traditionally people think of on the Republican side. And I think he’s doing the exact right thing. Remember when he came out, he was heavily criticized, when he first got into the Senate, heavily criticized for some of the positions that he took. But I think it’s been a real strategy for him to reshape himself and reshape the Democratic Party.
SCUTARI: Karl and I are both in the communications business. And whether Sen. Gallego is doing this on purpose or not — I think he is — we’re still talking about him. It’s brilliant on his part because it’s all upside. And I think he’s just showing some deft political maneuvering.
We don’t know when 2028 rolls around, the campaign — you’ve got to catch lightning in a bottle. Whether you’re Barack Obama or Donald Trump, you have to just seize the moment. You don’t wait your turn anymore, like 15-20 years ago.
And I think what Sen. Gallego brings to the Democrat brand that maybe others don’t is he’s a pugilist. He’ll fight it out. He’ll mix it up. He’s got some gravitas there. And he’s not afraid to take some swings in the counterpunch. And I think that the Democratic Party needs more of that.
BRODIE: Do you think though, Chip, is his message the right one for Democrats nationally to be adopting?
SCUTARI: You know, I think a lot of it is. I give him kudos as a Republican when he’s saying that the Democrats have gotten immigration wrong and have been soft on border security, and it really hurt President Biden, obviously Kamala Harris. So I think when you can do some self-reflection like that and be honest, I think people that resonates, especially with independents and Democrats and maybe some moderate Republicans. So I think he’s on the right track.
GENTLES: Yeah, I think, Chip is right. People love two things about Ruben, Sen. Gallego. One is that he’s a fighter. Number two — well, I’d say three things. Well, three of maybe four or five things.
BRODIE: The list keeps getting longer, Karl.
GENTLES: That’s right, that’s right. It keeps coming. But secondly, look, he has won at every single level he has ever attempted. Every single one. And this the pathway, the roadway for him is leading towards this. He started (as a staffer for) the Phoenix City Council, I believe.
BRODIE: He was in the state House.
GENTLES: State House. And then he went, of course, to Congress, and now he’s a senator. And so he’s got this road map that is leading there. Now, whether that says 2028 or ’32, we’ll see. But to Chip’s point, you do have to strike when lightning is there, and I think it is right now for him.
But I think more importantly, I think he’s looking towards these midterms and making sure he does everything he can to help Democrats retake the House.
