Joanna Mendoza is running for Congress in Arizona's 6th District, and her troubling platform should concern the state's voters. Mendoza has a history of supporting the defunding of the police, attacking parents who want to protect girls' sports, pushing to legalize prostitution to benefit "trans women of color," and she has issues with her tax record — namely, she wants to raise taxes more than 30 percent to support "trans minorities."
Mendoza was also once a member of the Red Rock Elementary School Governing Board, and an audit by the Arizona Auditor General's Office found that during her time on the board, the district failed to properly oversee the superintendent's compensation and use of taxpayer-funded resources.
The Auditor General's Office sent a letter and report to Gov. Katie Hobbs. In that report, the Auditor General noted that the district "provided its superintendent with unauthorized and/or potentially excessive vehicle-related benefits, likely resulting in gifts of public monies and waste, and failed to establish statutorily required performance-based pay." It also said the district "did not follow some cash handling, travel, and critical IT requirements, putting public monies and sensitive computerized data at risk."
The report's most troubling findings include that the superintendent's employment contracts did not contain provisions authorizing use of a district vehicle or a district credit card for fuel costs. Those were statutory requirements. The use of a vehicle and fuel card for the superintendent's personal benefit may have violated Arizona's constitutional gift clause, which prohibits public entities from improperly providing public resources for private benefit.
The Auditor General's report made several recommendations as well, including that the district "comply with State statute by ensuring that the superintendent’s contract designates a percentage of annual salary as performance pay based on specified goals," and "ensure staff comply with cash-handling and travel approval and reimbursement requirements by developing and implementing necessary policies and procedures and providing staff training."
The bottom line is this: Arizona voters deserve to know what kind of steward Mendoza was with taxpayer funds during her time in Red Rock. While Joanna Mendoza wants to go to Congress to raise our taxes to fund her preferred causes and pass her progressive agenda, she served on the Red Rock Elementary Governing Board, and during her tenure, that board failed to oversee the superintendent's compensation, likely wasted taxpayer money, and potentially violated Arizona's Constitution.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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