Ruben Gallego calls press conference to talk about police, dips early

Ruben Gallego is eager to talk about what Arizona cops are doing well — like supporting him in his Senate battle against Kari Lake. If you want to talk about what they’re doing wrong, he’s got somewhere else to be.

On Tuesday, the Democratic congressman held a press conference to highlight his “work to support local law enforcement and protect public safety,” according to a press release. The event was not a campaign event and was organized under the auspices of Gallego’s congressional office. But it was attended by the president of the Arizona Police Association, which has endorsed Gallego over Lake.

Gallego was joined at the presser by APA President Justin Harris and Republican Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers, both of whom are Trump supporters. After Gallego spoke about his history of supporting police — and after Weiers and Harris applauded him for helping to secure $95 million in funding for Arizona police departments and “always being an advocate for law enforcement” — Gallego opened the floor for questions.

There weren’t many, partly because only two reporters attended and partly because Gallego cut the presser short. The Marine veteran answered just two questions, including one from Phoenix New Times about his late-August letter to the U.S. Department of Justice that downplayed the severe issues the DOJ found with Phoenix police. Notably, Gallego sent the letter just days after receiving the APA’s endorsement, and many police accountability groups viewed the letter as a betrayal of Gallego’s avowed progressive views.

Gallego answered the question, agreeing that some police reform is needed. But before Gallego could be asked a follow-up, his team scurried him away.

‘There should be reform’

Gallego has talked a big game about police reform in the past.

He’s criticized the increasing militarization of police departments and voiced outrage over the killing of George Floyd in 2020. However, police accountability groups have noted his silence when bad policing rears its head closer to home. Gallego has said little about unjust police killings in Phoenix and didn’t make a peep when Phoenix police and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office plotted to falsely charge free speech protesters as members of a made-up criminal street gang.

He finally addressed issues with Phoenix police in his August letter but hardly in the manner police reform advocates hoped to see. Released in June, the DOJ’s report chronicled systemic civil rights violations by Phoenix police, including the frequent use of excessive force, discrimination against people of color and the trampling of unhoused people's rights. The DOJ also revealed that Phoenix police officers were taught that using escalating force would, paradoxically, lead to de-escalation.

The DOJ is seeking a consent decree that would subject Phoenix police to federal oversight, while the city — led by Gallego’s ex-wife, Mayor Kate Gallego — has resisted. In his letter, Gallego not only shot down the need for a consent decree but suggested the DOJ’s findings were overblown.

"It is clear a pattern or practice of civil rights violations does not exist," Gallego wrote to the DOJ, "and it is certainly not the kind of situation Congress envisioned when it gave the DOJ the authority to conduct investigations of this type."

At the time, Gallego did not respond to a request for comment from New Times. Tuesday, New Times asked him if, after reading the DOJ’s report, he felt Phoenix police needed reform.

“There’s no denial that the police department, the city of Phoenix and the community believe that there should be reform,” Gallego responded. “It’s just that a consent decree is overly burdensome, very expensive, and we don’t think it’s going to get us there. But we do want solutions.”

Before New Times could ask what those solutions might be, the press conference ended.

Moving to the center

Once an unabashed progressive representing a deep-blue congressional district, Gallego has tacked to the center and moderated his left-leaning views since he announced his Senate run.

Appearing alongside Weiers and Harris fits within that trend. Both spoke at a rally for former President Donald Trump in August. (In classic Trump fashion, the former president prodded Harris to wrap his up speech.) In his remarks, Harris said Vice President Kamala Harris would be a “clueless president” who “cares more about the color of her curtains than the safety and prosperity of our great country.”

Three days later, Harris’ Arizona Police Association endorsed Gallego — whom Trump had called “a freaking loser” at his rally — over Lake. The endorsement is Gallego’s only one from a police association; five state and local police associations have endorsed Lake over Gallego.

After the press conference Tuesday, Harris provided New Times with his cell phone number and said he would chat about the Gallego endorsement later in the day, after his shift as a Glendale police sergeant. But he didn’t answer when New Times called, nor did he call back.

At least electorally, Gallego’s shift to the center seems to be working. With roughly a month until Election Day, Gallego is clobbering Lake in the polls, with one recent Fox News poll putting his lead over Lake at 14 points. The same poll had Trump beating Kamala Harris in the state by two percentage points.

But to police accountability groups, Gallego’s increasingly cozy relationship with police is both disappointing and unsurprising. It may help him win a Senate seat, but they say it’s not helping Gallego’s many constituents who have been the victims of police violence and discrimination.

"When candidates get endorsed by police unions,” said Viri Hernandez, the executive director of Poder In Action, “these are the same elected officials that become the barriers for police accountability.”