"Non-Partisan" Mesa Mayor John Giles is Getting Very Partisan

Why say that? Perhaps he smells "blood-in-the-water" facing a Latino demographic seismic shift in the political landscape here in Arizona, getting featured [and quoted word-for-word] in an article from the  New York Times on Friday 09 February with this: The image and words are alarming

“The Arizona Republican Party, they’re just slitting their own throats, . ."  - John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa
[Notice the use of the indefinite pronoun they, as if Giles is not of them, disclaiming any party loyalty]

WARNING ABOUT SYMBOL AND IMAGE WORDS USED: It's gory and may be upsetting in the  words by John Giles slitting their own throats
Why does the mayor use these strong words for his own party?
Does he believe it's "political-suicide" for Arizona Repubs to ride against the Trump Tidal-Wave? At the same time trying to find a political Life-Saver from Arizona Latinos who have mixed-feelings about him?
That's the question rising from the twisted turmoil.

Could Giles be Teeter-Tottering with fellow Arizona Mormon Republican politician Jeff Flake who's become the pariah of conservative activists who are Trump-skeptic Republicans? While at the same time going to the Trump White House to get federal financing for infrastructure here in Arizona - he can't have it both ways, but he chooses to step into into the microcosm of Arizona politics. . . that might be "The Achilles Heel" in John Giles' marathon public track record.

Your MesaZona blogger is glad that Mayor Mesa John Giles is getting more scrutiny from the national media no matter where the fault-lines fall. AZ Senator Jeff Flake, to his credit realized his re-election was in jeopardy - choosing to retire instead while waging his own campaign for life-after-office to restore an old brand of "caring conservatism" based on the previous Arizona conservative Republican Barry Goldwater platform that was defeated by Democrat Lyndon Johnson. Flake is now trying to enlist the support of the Latino demographic rising tide by support for "immigration reform" to undo the bad image from Maricopa County's conservative Repubs for SB1070 that turned Latinos against them.

Now they need them.

What alarms Giles is the real threat and high-probability from Martha McSally to take-over Flake's seat in the U.S. Senate - that's the way things are rolling in two directions with Latinos here in Arizona at the fulcrum. To his credit John Giles realizes that now he can't ignore Latino political clot - that could be "a lesson-learned" from the embarrassing recall-election when another conservative LDS Mesa Republican Russell Pearce,  champion of SB107- got removed from office.

(Notice symbols on McSally's outfit)

 

Back to the story from The New Times over the weekend:

Arizona G.O.P. Tiptoes Between a Trump-Loving Base and a Leery Wider Electorate

By JONATHAN MARTINFEB. 9, 2018

PHOENIX — Representative Martha McSally of Arizona worked hard to carve out a moderate profile since her election in 2014 to a border district seat that had been held for decades by paragons of centrism from both political parties.

But when she entered the Republican primary to succeed the retiring Senator Jeff Flake, Ms. McSally veered right. She gleefully describes her budding relationship with President Trump, a commander in chief she harshly criticized and may not have even voted for in 2016. Ms. McSally, the first female fighter pilot in the Air Force, recalled how at a West Wing meeting with Mr. Trump last year, she made the case for the A-10 Warthog by calling her old jet “a bad-ass airplane with a big gun on it.”

Ms. McSally represents the evolution of the Republican establishment’s handling of Mr. Trump, from wary detachment to warm embrace, and the delicate dance that Republican politicians face in 2018. Somehow, they must appeal to their Trump-besotted activist base without alienating the broader population of less partisan suburban voters and a growing minority population that has recoiled from the president’s policies and divisive messaging.

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In that sense, Arizona has become something of a microcosm of the country’s politics and could be ground zero in the fight for control of Congress in November. Hispanics make up a fast-growing 31 percent of the state’s population, and moderate whites have turned greater Phoenix into what one local political veteran described as effectively the country’s largest suburb.

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Teaser for another blog post:

 

Perhaps it's more than this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arizona has become something of a microcosm of the country’s politics and could be ground zero in the fight for control of Congress in November. Hispanics make up a fast-growing 31 percent of the state’s population, and moderate whites have turned greater Phoenix into what one local political veteran described as effectively the country’s largest suburb. . .

A race between Ms. McSally and Representative Kyrsten Sinema, a well-funded Democrat who has the blessing of her national party, may be the marquee open-seat Senate election in the country. . . and if for any reason another Senate seat [John McCain's] might become open, that would double the political wrangling for political dramas to be played-out here in Arizona

Here's John McCain shown with Martha McSally during a visit last year to the Arizona Cyber Warfare Range here in Mesa.