Guests - Master Sgt. Jack Donna, Dave Smith, Kelly Delalla
Arizona's Stolen Valor Act: The Fight for Veterans' Honor
In a recent press conference, Rodney Glassman, candidate for Arizona Attorney General, voiced his support for Arizona's Stolen Valor Act—a pro-veteran bill currently stalled in the state legislature. The bill is named after Jack Donna, a retired Master Sergeant of the United States Army who spent nearly four decades in the intelligence community.
The Origins of Arizona's Stolen Valor Act
Master Sergeant Jack Donna explained the circumstances that led to the creation of this bill. In April 2023, State Senator Wendy Rogers asked Donna to analyze the military records of a political candidate named Steve Slayton who was running for Legislative District 7.
"She had his name on it and someone else had gotten a copy of his DD Form 214," Donna said. "What she was claiming was that the copy that was obtained was doctored and that Mr. Slayton had in fact served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot."
According to Donna's analysis of Slayton's actual military documentation, Slayton was an E-4 enlisted crew chief, not an officer or pilot. After thorough investigation involving various military verification organizations including Rolling Stone magazine, Fox News, NBC News, AZ Central, Guardians of the Green Berets, Guardians of Valor, and military phonies, Donna determined the DD Form 214 that Slayton was presenting had been altered.
"The DD Form 214 that he was waving around basically says that he was in Vietnam and that he was there under what's called the Nixon-Bietnames Program of 1974," Donna explained.
False Claims Exposed
Slayton claimed to have been deployed on secret missions to Vietnam in 1974, flying Black Hawk helicopters to Da Nang Air Base and Marble Mountain. However, as Donna pointed out, there are multiple issues with this claim:
The Paris Peace Accords were signed in January/February 1973
All U.S. combat forces had been pulled out of South Vietnam by spring/summer 1973
Da Nang Air Base was handed over to the South Vietnamese Air Force in April 1973
As an enlisted E-3 or E-4, Slayton would not have been a helicopter pilot
Black Hawk helicopters were not deployed as claimed
"To date, this gentleman has provided no paperwork, no awards, no documentation whatsoever other than that DD Form 214 that he waves around," Donna stated. The National Archives and Military Personnel Records Center confirmed that the DD Form 214 Slayton presented "does not exist anywhere in any of the government databases."
Additionally, former pilots from the 128th Aviation Unit that Slayton was actually assigned to in Korea were contacted by Stolen Valor investigators, and they confirmed that Slayton's claims were false.
Political Complications
Despite this evidence, Donna encountered resistance from certain politicians. He was in communication with both Senators Wendy Rogers and Mark Fincham about his findings.
"I explained to Wendy Rogers, 'I know you want this to be true, but it's not. He's lying.'" According to Donna, "Senator Rogers basically told me that I was wrong and that everybody else was wrong."
Similarly, Donna reported that Mark Fincham told him, "There's going to be a big lawsuit about this. A lot of people are going to get sued. You need to keep quiet, Jack."
The issue became more complicated because both Rogers and Fincham had publicly endorsed Slayton for office—endorsements that remained up despite the evidence against Slayton's military claims.
The Legislative Journey
After Slayton lost his primary election, State Representative Walt Blackman decided to put forward a bill modeled after successful Stolen Valor legislation in Florida and New Jersey. The bill, HB2030, was named after Donna's father, a Vietnam veteran and Bronze Star recipient who had recently passed away.
Donna clarified what the Stolen Valor Act would and wouldn't do: "If you want to put on a whole bunch of medals, walk around and call yourself General Patton, that's free speech. You can do that. The minute you do that and you profit from it, whether you gain entrance to an organization or you ask people for a donation for a campaign, or you in some way obtain something of benefit, then that's when the Stolen Valor bills would kick in."
The bill passed the Arizona House unanimously with a vote of 58-0 (with two absent members who were ill). However, when it reached the Senate, Senate President Warren Peterson assigned it to the Judiciary Committee chaired by Senator Wendy Rogers—the same senator who had supported Slayton.
"I and others believe that that was a mistake on the part of Mr. Peterson," Donna said. "He knew about the conflict from last year. He knew about this bill. He was very well aware of it. What he should have done was tell Wendy Rogers, 'I'm going to have to have you recused.'"
Stalled in Committee
Senator Rogers sat on the bill for three weeks, then put it on the agenda at the last possible moment. Prior to the hearing, she issued a letter claiming she had been trying to work with Walt Blackman and his staff on changes to the bill but hadn't received any communications.
Donna called this statement "a flat-out lie," saying, "Never once did her or any of her staff reach out to him to make changes on HB 2030."
At the committee hearing, which was attended by over 70 veterans, including descendants of Navajo code talkers, Rogers announced she was holding the bill because she hadn't heard from Blackman about her amendments. When a Democratic senator named Ortiz motioned to vote on the bill since it was already on the agenda, Rogers refused and closed the session.
The Path Forward
Anticipating this obstruction, Representative Blackman and Senator Shawna Bullock had prepared a "striker bill." They took a bill that had already passed through the House and Senate and replaced its language with the exact wording of HB2030. This new version, SB1424, would bypass committee review if passed by the House and go directly to the Senate floor for a vote.
"This all rests in one person's lap, Senate President Warren Peterson," Donna explained. "All he has to do is put this to a vote of the people."
However, according to Donna, Senators Fincham and Rogers have been working to prevent the bill's passage. "I even got a call from a legislator who said, 'You should know that Mark Fincham is calling his colleagues and telling them if you vote for this bill, I'm going to tank any of your bills that come to me.'"
Veterans Rally for Support
In response to the bill being stalled, Rodney Glassman organized a rally at American Legion Post Number One in downtown Phoenix, bringing together veterans and military commanders to show support for the legislation.
"This is not a political event," Donna emphasized. "This is just veterans supporting veterans."
The event was covered by Fox News, with Donna specifically mentioning reporters Trent Hooker and Justin Lum for their coverage.
Liberation Day: Trump's Tariff Strategy Explained
On April 2, 2024, President Donald Trump declared "Liberation Day," marking the implementation of new tariffs on imports. These tariffs specifically target countries that impose fees on U.S. exports, aiming to create a more reciprocal trading relationship.
The Historical Context of Tariffs
Dave Smith, a market analyst with governmental experience, provided historical perspective on the tariff strategy: "Tariffs are American history. They're European history. I mean, they've been a diplomatic and economic tool forever."
Smith explained that in early American history, tariffs (then called "imposts") were commonly used by individual colonies to protect their own products from competition, even from other colonies. Over time, the United States moved away from using tariffs to fund the government and instead placed the tax burden directly on citizens.
"If you study the history of diplomatic competition, which is what you have in the world constantly, of course, you have the famous saying war is just another political action. War is a political weapon. So is a tariff. It's a nonviolent weapon against other products and other peoples," Smith said.
Trump's Reciprocal Tariff Strategy
During his Rose Garden remarks, President Trump displayed a poster board showing the combined rate of tariffs from various countries against the United States, including China, the European Union, Vietnam, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and others.
Trump described the day as "one of the most important days in American history" and called it a "declaration of economic independence." He stated, "For years, hardworking American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense. But now it's our turn to prosper and in doing so use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes, pay down our national debt, and it'll all happen very quickly."
Notably, Canada and Mexico, which are part of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump negotiated during his first term, were not included in the White House's reciprocal tariffs fact sheet. The USMCA generally lowered or eliminated tariffs on goods covered by the agreement.
The Purpose and Impact of Tariffs
Smith emphasized that tariffs serve multiple purposes in international relations: "A tariff is simply an increased burden on your products for a home product. If you're producing something X and Canada produces X, they're going to tariff the hell out of you to protect their people."
He pointed out that other countries have been using tariffs against the United States while the U.S. has hesitated to reciprocate: "We, as a country, have been so supine. The American people are far more reliable than other countries' imposts or tariffs. So the burden has been shifted onto us."
Smith also highlighted the domestic manufacturing losses that have occurred without tariff protection: "I remember when I was a young man teaching at Fletsey in the 1980s, in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center there in Georgia. They had an outlet mall in all the underwear in the country, and most of it was made in Georgia. Our baseball gloves were made in Georgia. These were huge manufacturers. They're all gone now. They're all vacant. Those people all lost their jobs, and no one lamented that."
Smith acknowledged that the market's initial reaction to the tariffs was negative, as "markets don't like uncertainty and they don't like novel events," but suggested waiting to see what happens in the coming weeks.
Tucson's Budget Priorities: The Push for Police Funding
The City of Tucson is currently developing its fiscal year 2026 budget, which will take effect on July 1, 2025, and run through June 30, 2026. Following the defeat of Proposition 414, which would have raised sales taxes partly to fund police services, community members are now advocating for prioritizing police funding through the regular budget process.
Public Input Opportunities
The Mayor, City Council, and city staff are encouraging residents to participate in shaping the budget through town hall meetings and a budget engagement survey. Upcoming opportunities include:
In-person budget engagement meeting on April 3rd, 6-7 PM at Morris K. Udall Center (7200 East Tank Verde Road)
Virtual Budget Engagement Meeting on Thursday, April 10th, 6-7 PM
Online Budget Engagement Survey (available through April 11th)
The Case for Police Funding
Despite the failure of Proposition 414, advocates argue that the city still needs to address the issues that motivated the proposition in the first place, including:
Funding for more officers on the streets
Competitive pay to retain and recruit top talent
Proper equipment for officers
"The Mayor and Council have to be held accountable for what they said was a priority and important," Kathleen Winn emphasized. "We now need to tell them that through their own city charter, this is a priority. Public safety here in Tucson is a priority."
For comparison, Winn noted that Mesa, a city of comparable size to Tucson, spends 50% of its budget on law enforcement.
The Politics of Police Funding
Dave Smith, who trained many Tucson Police Department officers and served in TPD himself, reflected on the department's history: "We had an outstanding agency both in terms of education, motivation. Guys were coming back from Vietnam and serving their community. People were graduating from college serving their community, and they loved TPD. They had a high esprit de corps."
Smith also mentioned political concerns regarding city leadership, noting that the original sales tax proposal morphed from being police-focused to including other priorities: "The mayor and council could not help themselves. They go, 'Oh, we got people's attention. Yes, we need to help our police.' But then they tacked on a whole bunch of other stuff. And then in the end, it wasn't what they had said it was. It was a bait-and-switch. It was a slush fund."
U of A Conservative Women's Group Hosts Riley Gaines
The University of Arizona chapter of the Network of Enlightened Women (NEW), a conservative women's group, is hosting an event featuring Riley Gaines on Monday at 6:30 PM at the Biosciences East building.
Event Details
Kelly Delalla, president of the U of A chapter of NEW, explained that the event titled "The Fight is Far From Over" will feature Riley Gaines speaking to young women at U of A as well as community members. The event is free, but registration is required. For security purposes, attendees must bring photo ID and cannot bring purses.
Gaines, who has been advocating against allowing biological males to compete in women's sports, is traveling to various college campuses as part of a tour with the Leadership Institute, a conservative organization that works with NEW.
About the Network of Enlightened Women
NEW is a national organization with a chapter at the University of Arizona. Delalla, a sophomore who became president in August, described the group as a community for like-minded young women on a predominantly liberal campus.
"It's great to find a community of girls that you get along with great and we can do fun events together," Delalla said.
Membership is open to college-age women, even if they don't attend U of A. The group meets every other Thursday at 6:30 PM and organizes various social activities, including a planned trip to the state capital for a tour after the Riley Gaines event.
Changing Political Climate on Campus
Delalla noted that the political climate at U of A has "de-escalated" since the election season, which was "quite rowdy on campus with lots of protests." She also mentioned that NEW has grown significantly over the past year, attracting freshmen and even some independents who are disillusioned with extreme liberal positions.
"We've actually grown a lot, especially since last year. We found a lot of new freshmen who have joined and then more people that are just hearing about us, even some that are more independent, but think the liberals are crazy, so they're joining our side," Delalla said.
She shared a story about a new member who had grown up liberal but shifted her perspective in college because of how extreme her professors and classes were: "She wanted a different perspective. She joined NEW, she's learning and she's growing, and she's loving being a part of NEW."
For those interested in attending the Riley Gaines event or learning more about NEW, information is available on their Instagram account (@newarizona).