Arizona Senator faces revenge for insulting Tucson police

Senator Justine Wadsack — who has tried every way possible to avoid a speeding ticket — insists she’s still “backing the Blues.” But the Blues are speeding past her like a speeding senator in her trusty Tesla.

According to Wadsack, the Pima County senator was pulled over in March for driving 71 miles per hour in a 35-mile zone. Tucson police, who have tried to issue a ticket to the speeding senator in recent weeks, have been accused of “political persecution” and widely branded as corrupt cops.

And that is because of the serious crime of wanting to hold them accountable, just like any normal human being.

Now comes revenge. On Tuesday, the Fraternal Order of Police took the unusual step of withdrawing its support for Wadsack’s re-election.

Wadsack tried to wriggle out of a traffic ticket

Senator Justine Wadsack during a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 1, 2024.

“Although Senator Wadsack has always supported public safety in her official capacity, this incident and her decision to publicly question the motives of police officers is conduct unworthy of an elected official,” said Paul Sheldon, president of the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police.

“Our recommendation committee carefully reviewed this situation and then voted to withdraw this recommendation. Like anyone else accused of a traffic violation, Senator Wadsack is innocent until proven guilty. But attacking police officers for doing their jobs is simply unacceptable.”

That will make a difference, especially since Wadsack, one of the state’s most ardent culture warriors, is locked in a bitter primary battle with former Republican Sen. Vince Leach, a traditional conservative who hopes to win back his seat.

Especially because the rest of us know what would have happened if we had driven on a busy road at twice the speed limit.

Sen. Wadsack is hit:Through a devastating advertising campaign

Tucson police did not attempt to ticket Wadsack in March when she was stopped while speeding down the speedway in her red Tesla.

The sign reading “Senator of the State of Arizona” under her license plate, the sticker on her driver’s license indicating her status as a congressman, and the first words she uttered as the police officer approached her – “My name is Senator Justine Wadsack, and I’m hurrying home…” – suggested that she was trying to avoid a traffic ticket.

She then accused the police of later citing her

However, the immunity only applies while Parliament is in session. The session was adjourned on June 15, and now the police want to charge her with speeding, a misdemeanor, and failure to provide proof of insurance.

Her answer was:

Claim “political persecution” and demand to speak to the police chief if faced with the possibility of a ticket.
Hang up if the lieutenant tries to schedule a meeting and serve her a summons.
Question the ethics of the cop who pulled her over. (“I told the cop I wasn’t driving that fast and he didn’t show me his traffic gun as proof,” she wrote in a Facebook post Saturday about the unfairness of it all. “So there is NO proof of my speeding.”)
Question the ethics of the entire Tucson Police Department and suggest that the ticket is retaliation for investigating the police on behalf of a constituent and/or that the Tucson Police Officers Association is supporting their opponent Leach.
“This is highly unusual,” Wadsack complained, “and when I asked her if she had ever done this with other MPs, her (the lieutenant’s) answer was, ‘No… only with you.'”

Perhaps they haven’t done so yet because no other lawmaker feels entitled to speed through the streets of Tucson and then invoke his exalted status as a state senator when a police officer dares to stop him?