In the case of Mesa - now with almost 500,000 people living here - there appears to be a pattern of hand-selected, chosen and appointed members of the Latter Day Saints who "receive a calling" to run for elective office both locally and in Arizona State government that goes hand-in-hand with a long-established brotherhood of special-interest groups, as well as holdings in real estate and overlapping business interests. They all think it's their corner of The Kingdom, Deseret.
One of the missions of this blogsite is to encourage people to think and question and get involved in city government. Yours truly frequently goes to City Council meetings where very few members of the public ever show up or even watch live or televised. . . . the current mayor at one time called me a "Rabble-Rouser" to my face for writing and publishing information, comments, and opinions about City Hall and city government.
What's your take-away from that comment?
Are you one of the rabble the mayor doesn't to get roused?
For now just take a look at a long list of people who have held the seat of mayor here in the City of Mesa for over 133 years:
- Anyone you see not Mormon?
- How many women have been mayor?
| Alexander Findlay Macdonald | 1883–1885 |
| Alvin Franklin Stewart | 1885-86 |
| (Unknown name) | 1886-88 |
| William Johnson LeBaron | 1888–96 |
| James Turman | 1896-98 |
| David Tully LeBaron Jr. | 1898-99 |
| William A. Kimball | 1899-00 |
| Jedidiah Grant Peterson | 1900–02 |
| Charles M. Mullen | 1902-04 |
| John L. Waring | 1904-06 |
| Phil Metz | 1906-08 |
| John D. Loper | 1908 |
| Lionel Brand Johnson | 1908 |
| John H. Barnett | 1908-10 |
| Ralph Fleetwood Palmer | 1910–12 |
| John Taylor LeSueur | 1912–14 |
| Max Viault | 1914-16 |
| Paul Baxter Beville | 1916-18 |
| Dan H. Kleinman | 1918-22 |
| Robert Scott | 1922-24 |
| Jedidiah Grant Peterson | 1924–36 |
| Linford B. Werner | 1936-38 |
| George Nicholas Goodman | 1938-42 |
| John A. Hamblin | 1942-44 |
| Zeb Pearce | 1944-46 |
| George Nicholas Goodman | 1946-48 |
| Frank E. Bendick | 1948-50 |
| Oscar Virgil Crismon | 1950–52 |
| George Nicholas Goodman | 1952–56 |
| Richard G. Johnson Sr. | 1956–58 |
| Egbert J. Brown | 1958–66 |
| Jack Taylor | 1966–72 |
| Eldon W. Cooley | 1972–76 |
| Wayne C. Pomeroy | 1976–80 |
| Don W. Strauch | 1980–84 |
| Sumner "Al" Brooks | 1984–88 |
| Margaret "Peggy" Rubach | 1988–92 |
| William "Willie" Wong | 1992–96 |
| Wayne Brown | 1996–2000 |
| Keno L. Hawker | 2000–08 |
| Scott W. Smith | 2008–14 |
| Alex Finter | 2014 |
| John Giles | 2014–. |
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