![]() Michelle Ugenti (now Michelle Ugenti-Rita): House Bill 2648, which would have allowed counties to take over local police departments under certain circumstances. In the e-mail, Townsend writes that the feud began in 2013 over statements she made regarding a bill sponsored by Rep. On July 22, the morning after the LD 16 clash, Townsend e-mailed her bombshell of a letter to district members, describing the events of the night before and going into detail about how the long-simmering conflict between her and Biggs developed. During a televised interview with Channel 12 reporter Joe Dana more than a week before the fateful LD 16 gathering, Townsend, a Tea Party leader, had described Biggs as a "jerk" and "punitive in his nature." She went on to recount how Biggs had blocked her bills as retaliation after she'd spoken on a local conservative talk-radio show about a bill he didn't like. This is the second public flare-up of the Townsend-Biggs feud. ![]() The publication spoke with LD 16's coordinating secretary, Kay Reardon, who backed up Townsend's recitation of events, saying she didn't think it was appropriate that Biggs raised his issues with Townsend at the meeting. The Arizona Capitol Times' Yellow Sheet, which is available only to subscribers, was first to report on the brouhaha. So far, Biggs' campaign spokesman, Cesar Ybarra, has not responded to several requests for comment. I called Brimhall, but he declined to comment, hanging up on me. Townsend said that's when she and other attendees walked out of the meeting. "What's my crime? Defending myself from this accusation?" "They're going to call the police on a sitting legislator?" she asked me rhetorically. ![]() When Biggs asked the audience if there were any questions, she rose, only to be told by Brimhall that she had to keep quiet or be forcibly removed. She claims Brimhall denied her request and told her to sit down. Townsend said she approached LD 16 chairman Denis Brimhall and asked for time to respond to Biggs' accusations. "He said I threatened his family - as if I had threatened them with some kind of bodily harm," she explained. That's when Biggs unloaded on her, Townsend told me. "'I came here to talk about something else.'" "'But that's not why I came here tonight,'" Townsend recalled Biggs saying, when I interviewed her for this article. However, he soon turned his focus to Townsend, who was in the audience with her daughter. All of this dirty-laundry-airing comes at an inopportune time, with a recent poll showing that Biggs' lead in CD 5 has been eclipsed by one of his Republican rivals, former GoDaddy exec and 2014 gubernatorial candidate Christine Jones.Īccording to Townsend's version of events, which she first detailed in a July 22 e-mail to members of her district - initially published (though later taken down) by Shane Wikfors' conservative Sonoran Alliance blog - Biggs' remarks to the LD 16 crowd initially concerned his candidacy in the CD 5 GOP primary. Townsend also has chosen to go public with an account of Biggs' daughter asking her for money for personal needs – an embarrassing allegation for Biggs, a multimillionaire who likes to preach self-reliance. The feud has led to a discussion of what some see as Biggs' hypocrisy and mean-spiritedness when it comes to the treatment of the poor. ![]() The fallout from their verbal donnybrook has encouraged others to go public with grievances against the departing state senate president, who is running in the GOP primary for the open seat in Arizona's Fifth Congressional District. Andy Biggs probably wishes he never stopped by a recent Legislative District 16 meeting in Mesa, where he reportedly picked a fight with his fellow Republican state legislator, Rep.
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