Maricopa County Supervisor Debbie Lesko is being accused of lying when she claimed that she was only recently made aware of sexually explicit books available to young children through the County’s libraries.
Local activist Merissa Hamilton, accused Lesko of being less than honest following a presentation by County Manager Jen Pokorski on June 25th about the Parental Choice pilot program, launched May 1st at Queen Creek Library. The program allows parents to restrict their child’s access to certain books. The program, set to expand countywide, will also remove juvenile sexual health books from children’s sections.
“Thank you, Mr. Chair,” stated Lesko. “I want to thank the constituents that have come forward in the past and pointed out specific books that were sexually explicit that were located in the children’s section. I was unaware of that until you brought it up, and as you can see, all of the board members are… think this is serious, and we are taking actions that we consulted our lawyers to make sure we’re not violating any First Amendment rights, but I do think that it is very good step, and thank you, Manager Pokorski, for your leadership on this, because I just do not agree that we should allow sexually explicit books to be available to young children.”
🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥 @DebbieLesko just lied again!
She stated she didn't know there were s$xually explicit books in the children's section of Maricopa County libraries
THIS IS FALSE!
I told her several times last year at Meet & Greets these books were in their libraries
— Merissa Hamilton 🗳 ⛽ 🗽🔥 (@merissahamilton) June 25, 2025
Hamilton quickly challenged Lesko’s claim, posting on X.com, “Debbie Lesko just lied again! She stated she didn’t know there were s$xually (sic) explicit books in the children’s section of Maricopa County libraries THIS IS FALSE! I told her several times last year at Meet & Greets these books were in their libraries I also testified to this and sent her a list of the explicit books in Maricopa County.” Hamilton added, “She said she opposes the books being accessible to children, but she’s known this the entire time she’s been a Supervisor.”
“There is testimony at every BOS meeting that these books are in the kids’ section of the library She’s remote at a lot of meetings, but that’s no excuse,” Hamilton concluded.
Why is explicit content banned online—but allowed in our libraries?
Read my Op-Ed calling on state leaders to protect kids from sexually explicit content in public libraries—just like they already do on the internet.
***IMPORTANT NOTE*** I submitted several photos from actual…
— Mark Stewart Maricopa County Supervisor District 1 (@MarkStewart_AZ) June 26, 2025
Supervisor Mark Stewart also weighed in, sharing on X.com his opinion piece in the Arizona Republic along with explicit images, “Why is explicit content banned online—but allowed in our libraries? Read my Op-Ed calling on state leaders to protect kids from sexually explicit content in public libraries—just like they already do on the internet. IMPORTANT NOTE I submitted several photos from actual children’s books as examples, but they were too graphic for publication. If the media is unable to include the images, why should children have access to them in our libraries? I will continue working to protect Arizona children. I hope you will join me in this important cause!”
During the March 26th Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Lesko engaged in a back-and-forth with resident Leslie Shepherd who testified about the explicit books in children’s sections. Shepard went so far as to show the supervisors one of the books, It’s Perfectly Normal, while urging the supervisors to order an audit and update policies about the books.