After a 10-month long legal battle, The Washington Free Beacon finally prevailed this week in its lawsuit to obtain divorce records from Ruben Gallego and his ex-wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. The Gallegos, who had the records sealed when they began the divorce in late 2016, fought the media outlet’s request to open their file, claiming there was personal financial information and information regarding their yet-unborn child in them. However, due to persistent rumors of domestic violence, great interest developed in releasing the file.
The records revealed that the couple avoided a trial by agreeing to terms of a Consent Decree. It stated, “The parties acknowledge and agree that there was no domestic violence during the marriage or that significant domestic violence did not occur.” The judge added to that portion, “The Parenting Plan shall include ‘A statement that there has been no significant history of domestic violence between the parties.’”
A family law attorney told The Arizona Sun Times regarding the language, “If it was a settlement agreement, that’s how people get around there actually being domestic violence that would impact a court’s decision with respect to the kids.”
The attorney described a case where a court found that a woman was raped by her ex-husband, but also found that there was no “substantial” domestic violence.
According to Black’s Law Dictionary, “significant” means “Substantial. Of importance.”
The paperwork also revealed that Ruben Gallego filed the petition to dissolve the marriage when his wife was “likely to give birth any day,” and asked the court to require her to pay his attorney’s fees.
Carolyn Wren, a senior advisor to Kari Lake, posted on X, “It is absolutely disgusting that someone who is running $40 million of television ads claiming to want to ‘protect women’s rights’ would serve his wife with divorce papers DAYS BEFORE SHE WAS GOING TO GIVE BIRTH and then demand that SHE pay HIS attorney fees.”
It is absolutely disgusting that someone who is running $40 million of television ads claiming to want to “protect women’s rights” would serve his wife with divorce papers DAYS BEFORE SHE WAS GOING TO GIVE BIRTH and then demand that SHE pay HIS attorney fees.… pic.twitter.com/OjZ8DZ4uXt
— Caroline Wren (@CarolineWren) October 17, 2024
Kate Gallego appeared to be blindsided by the divorce filing. In her response to his petition for dissolution, she said she was “without knowledge of information sufficient to form a belief” about his claim that the marriage was broken beyond repair, and denied it.
In the Gallegos’ initial pleadings filed in December 2016 asking the court to seal their file, they said it was necessary due to their status as high-profile politicians. They said since Kate Gallego wasn’t required by law to reveal her financial holdings, and since they didn’t want the public to know the parenting plan for their child, that they should be sealed.
Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Joseph Goldstein agreed and issued an order on December 21, 2016 sealing the file.
The Free Beacon filed its Motion to Unseal Court Records on January 17 earlier this year, citing various case law where officials’ divorce records were unsealed.
The Gallegos’ attorney filed an objection in February, asserting that details about their finances and child should not be released. The pleading said, “Seven years later, the Gallegos are alarmed to learn that a right-wing online publication run by those who oppose Rep. Gallego’s political views now seeks to dredge up and put on display the most intimate details of a difficult chapter in the family’s life. … These interests are not defeated by Free Beacon’s interest in attempting to embarrass the Gallegos with intimate details of the divorce and the family’s most personal parenting and financial matters.”
However, the Gallegos’ original Motion to Seal Court File and Record did not allege a single instance where someone had threatened the Gallegos or their child. Nor did their February response.
The Free Beacon replied back to the objection. “The great paradox of the Gallegos’ filing is the claim they are uniquely entitled to this unprecedented blanketed sealing because they are public figures and people might want to know the details of their divorce,” the media outlet said. “This is a stunning argument. The Gallegos’ status as public figures — not celebrities, but public officials actively and currently asking the public to trust them with the City’s and the Nation’s governance — weighs strongly against sealing. It is certainly no excuse for dropping a tarp on proceedings that would be open to public view for any other citizen.”
The media outlet concluded, “The Free Beacon, however, is skeptical that anything in the divorce file could threaten their physical safety. It is more likely that the Gallegos are using secrecy and sealing to protect their job safety in their positions of public trust as Mayor, Congressman, and aspiring United States Senator.”
Although much of the 235 pages of court proceedings were redacted, relating to finances and their child, there was some interesting information. The Gallegos listed three pieces of real estate, including two properties owned free and clear. On page 223, it said that the Gallegos rent out their “primary residence” and receive rental income.
Ruben Gallego was accused of living in Washington D.C. with his second wife, a D.C. lobbyist, not in Arizona, after he put down on paperwork that a home he owned there was his primary residence. Politico said the designation provided him with “a special mortgage rate afforded to military veterans.”
The divorce records revealed that one party was ordered to pay child support, but the names were redacted. The records also said, “Mother shall make day-to-day decisions for the Minor Child.” Since members of Congress earn $174,000 annually, and the mayor of Phoenix earns $88,000, it is likely that Ruben Gallego is paying his former spouse child support.
The paperwork revealed that the Gallegos are planning an elite education for their child. “Mother and Father will equally share the cost of college for the Minor Child not to exceed the current cost of a four-year private, Ivy League college.”
Kate Gallego at first requested spousal maintenance, but after Ruben Gallego objected, the final agreement did not include any.
Although the Gallegos claimed that Kate Gallego wasn’t required to provide financial disclosures similar to Ruben’s, her financial disclosures contained significant information. On page 222, there is a lengthy list of her investments.
In a joint statement released Thursday, the Gallegos attacked Lake for the litigation. “We demand an apology from Kari Lake for lying about our family and the circumstances of our divorce,” the statement said. “She will stop at nothing to score a cheap political point — even if it means endangering the privacy and well-being of our young son.”
However, Wren pointed out on X that it was an independent news outlet, not Lake, who filed the lawsuit demanding the documents, so the Gallegos are “falsely blaming” Lake.
Wren posted a list on X of high-profile cases where media outlets successfully sued to obtain the family law records of prominent politicians, including child custody disputes involving minor children.
In a series of posts, she pointed out the hypocrisy of the mainstream media eagerly going after the divorce records of Republican politicians, while attacking those who request the divorce records of Democratic politicians.
Sean Parnell, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Pennsylvania, responded to one of Wren’s posts, “During my senate run the media sued me to be at my custody hearing & then all they did was regurgitate false allegations that had zero corroborating evidence that were found to be false in a full hearing years prior,” he said. “The media only cares about children when it helps Democrats.”
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ruben Gallego” by Ruben Gallego. Photo “Kate Gallego” by Kate Gallego.
