Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward slammed after calling Phoenix a 'hell hole'

Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward was harshly criticized for declaring the state's largest city a "hell hole."

Columnist E.J. Montini noted that 220,600 Republicans live in the "hell hole" of Phoenix in a new Arizona Republiccolumn blasting Ward.

Montini, a columnist for the newspaper since 1986, noted he has lived in Phoenix for 40 years.

"The internationally renowned Heard Museum is here. The Desert Botanical Garden. Encanto Park. Papago Park. South Mountain. Camelback Mountain. Piestewa Peak. Roosevelt Row. Heritage Square. St. Mary’s Basilica. Restaurants and bars and sports venues and theaters of every variety and size," he wrote. "Facts don’t matter to someone like Ward, who continues to spread the Big Lie and to spew divisive language, even if if insults 220,600 of her Republican brothers and sisters."

He then discussed one former resident of the city, World War II veteran John Ahearn.

"On June 6, 1944, D-Day, Ahearn was a 29-year-old tank commander. He landed on Utah Beach. He’d already served in combat in Sicily and North Africa as part of the 70th Tank Battalion. Fighting their way into the hedgerows, Ahearn’s company came upon American soldiers trapped in a minefield. He wouldn’t allow any of his men to go in after the wounded. He went in himself. During the rescue attempt, he stepped on a mine," he wrote.

He said Ahearn was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

"John Ahearn was an expert on hell holes, and was determined after the war to make his home someplace thriving, hopeful and welcoming. He lived out his life here. In Phoenix," he wrote.

Read the full column.