Maricopa County supervisor Thomas Galvin responds to political rival

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin defended himself on Friday against accusations that he’s helping libraries stock their shelves with inappropriate books for children.

The Republican official who is raising a young child said parents should be the ones who decide what their children have access to, not the government.

“It comes down to parental responsibility. That’s what conservative Republicans believe in. We make sure that our son, whether it’s a library book, whether it’s a TV show, whether it’s something on the internet, whether it’s screen time, it’s up to the parents to be responsible on the material that our son accesses,” Galvin said.

Galvin, who was appointed to the five-member county board in 2021 and elected the following year, has not officially announced his campaign for his first four-year term.

But former Republican state lawmaker Michell Ugenti-Rita announced her bid last week to challenge Galvin in next year’s primary. Last week, she accused Galvin of allowing libraries to promote books about sex and gender to kids that are not age-appropriate.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2023 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.