Religion In City Government Part 1: Mayors of Mesa 1883-2016 >

Don't know about anyone else, but your MesaZona blogger has never lived in a town or city where one single religion and its followers and adherents have controlled and dominated politics, government, education and the local economy for so many years.
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.

It is simply a political machine based on religion that has effectively made the other 70% of the public dis-engaged from civic life and government.
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?

The list is from Wikipedia

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–.