Divorce records for Ruben and Kate Gallego unsealed under court order

PHOENIX – The divorce records for U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running for Senate this year, and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego were unsealed Thursday per a court order.

The former Arizona power couple divorced in 2017 and had the records sealed. But state courts ruled that the documents were public record after the Washington Free Beacon sued for access to them.

After getting the records following a 10-month court battle, the conservative online newspaper published a story detailing that Kate Gallego appeared to be blindsided when her husband filed for divorce in December 2016 while she was close to giving birth to their son. She was a member of the Phoenix City Council at the time.

The Arizona Supreme Court denied the Gallegos’ motion to keep the records sealed on Wednesday after an appeals court upheld a ruling to release them.

Addresses and details about spousal maintenance are among the things redacted in the documents released Thursday, which can be found on the Yavapai County Superior Court website along with filings from the Free Beacon lawsuit.

What do divorce records say about end of Gallegos’ marriage?

The documents released Thursday contain more than 400 pages of court records.

Yavapai County judge John Napper, who ordered the case unsealed, predicted after reviewing the file that “everyone’s going to be rather deflated.” He called it “one of the most garden variety divorce files I have ever seen.”

According to the petition for dissolution of marriage filed on Dec. 15, 2016, the marriage was “irretrievably broken” with “no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.” There were no claims of infidelity or domestic violence.

While both parties were ordered to undergo parenting classes, that is standard in Arizona for all parents who ask the court to rule on custody issues in divorce, annulment and separation proceedings, according to the state court system’s website.

Why did Gallegos want to keep divorce records sealed?

The Gallegos had gone to great lengths to keep the records private. Ruben Gallego filed the petition for divorce in Yavapai County, 100 miles from Phoenix and where neither has ever lived, and asked a judge to take the rare step of sealing the entire case file.

The Democratic Senate hopeful told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos on Wednesday, before the Supreme Court ruling, that he wanted the records to remain sealed to protect their child. He also said his Republican opponent, Kari Lake, who cheered on the lawsuit, “will say anything” and “hurt anybody” to gain power.

“We have a son who did not choose to run for office but we need to protect him and his privacy and that’s all we’ve been asking this whole time,” he said. “Kari Lake and her allies know that because the judge told them there’s nothing there and yet they continue to attack.”

Lake had accused her opponent, a Marine veteran, of fighting to keep his divorce records private because he was hiding something.

Earlier Wednesday, Lake suggested to KTAR News’ The Mike Broomhead Show there was “damning information about him” in the documents.

Caroline Wren, a senior Lake adviser, issued a statement Thursday saying the campaign found “the revelations from the divorce records to be shocking, especially considering Ruben Gallego is spending millions on advertising claiming to want to protect women, yet he served his unsuspecting wife with divorce papers when she was days away from giving birth.”

In a joint statement Thursday, the Gallegos blasted Lake for hyping the divorce.

“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.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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