Former college track-star and personal injury/accident law attorney John Giles, who first rode into the un-elected office of mayor on the tail-winds of a vacancy created by the resignation of former Mayor Smith back in 2014, is now seeking a 2nd term in his own right - not as the chosen 'hand-picked" successor to get anointed by the generations-old Political Machine, but it sure likes that replay all over again.
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John Giles raises record $250K for Mesa's mayoral race.
How much competition will he face?
Published 1:09 p.m. MT Jan. 23, 2020 | Updated 3:28 p.m. MT Jan. 23, 2020
Giles said he anticipated a contested election, so his team got to work on fundraising.
“Mesa’s a big city, so to put on a city-wide campaign and to get the message out to the number of people that we have in Mesa, that requires a fair amount of funds,” he said.
> Details of Giles’s fundraising
Giles raised $231,020 from individual donations over $50 and $18,241 from political action committees between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, according to his campaign finance report filed in mid-January.
His campaign committee had $1,482 when the campaign finance reporting period began."
BLOGGER NOTE: Readers of this blog can access and view all the public documents, and required financial disclosure statements and campaign information mesaaz.gov
Office of The City Clerk
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> Details of Giles’s fundraising
This fund-raiser is from 2018 when Giles was in-office, half-way through his first term.
Please Note: Members of the Host Committee
Karen Taylor Robson, Jeff Barney, Lori & Jeff Branford, Craig & David Krumwiede, Amy & Sean Lake, Jordan Rose, Dea McDonald, Shirley & Tony Wall ....
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Developers,
attorneys and
real estate investors dominated the individual donations, which is common although not without criticism in municipal races. Of the more than 60 people who donated between $1,000 and $6,450, the vast majority listed those occupation.
The 14 donations from political action committees included $4,000 from Mesa’s Commercial Metals Company PAC, $3,000 from the Scottsdale-based homebuilder Taylor Morrison Building Strong Business PAC, $2,941 from Salt River Project PAC and $2,000 from Boeing PAC, which has a facility in Mesa
Council members Jen Duff and David Luna, and the wife of Vice Mayor Mark Freeman also donated to Giles' campaign.
Giles, an attorney who previously served on the City Council, said he has no political aspirations beyond serving one more mayoral term.
“This is my dream job. This is my hometown, and there’s nothing that I would rather do then spend my full time and energy and what talents and skills I might have in order to promote Mesa," the Mesa native said.
Giles said he expects to spend all the campaign money, explaining that Congressional campaigns spend “in the ballpark of what I’m raising.”
> Competitors for the mayoral seat?
Giles has faced little competition in his previous two mayoral races, but this year may be different.
“There’s always rumors and social media is always full of folks that are quick to take issue with anything that you’re doing,” Giles said. “I anticipated that there would be opposition.”
Whittaker, who is up for reelection for his District 2 City Council seat, said he is “going back and forth” on whether to run for mayor or council.
“I’m weighing the options,” he said, but added that a lot depends on the “Yes on Affordable Utilities” ballot measure he is leading.
Whittaker wants to amend the city charter to limit how much money city leaders can take from the city's utility service to use for general fund expenditures. Other city leaders say this would be devastating to the city’s operating budget.
Farnsworth said he has begun collecting signatures. He is a retired business owner in the construction industry and unsuccessfully ran for council against David Luna in 2018. Whittaker chaired that campaign.
Farnsworth has been a vocal opponent of Mesa’s partnership with ASU for a downtown building and a frequent critic at council meetings. His platform centers around frugality and responsible spending, openness and transparency, debt elimination and public safety.
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Why did that city-owned $25-Million "Land-Auction Deal" on the pristine desert site purchased for $4 million in 1998 really matter to someone like Verl Farnsworth, now an elder member of The Farnsworth Family who developed of lot of residential real estate here in Mesa for more than four decades?
It might have been the traditional value-issue of "Promises Made Are Promises Kept" for him. For the City of Mesa it's a wind-fall $21-Million profit to pay-off some major debt . . .
For what? Residents of Red Mountain Park, a large and long-establish adjacent subdivision, have strongly and actively objected to "the deal" made on 132-acre neighboring land in northeast Mesa.
They expected a park made in a promise by the city in the original intent.
Did the city listen to residents? NO. That action speaks the truth to what the current City Administration pays only "lip-service" to:"The Mesa City Council believes that its people, not leaders, are what makes a City great and actively works to encourage citizen participation in the decision-making process. Whether it is through neighborhood meetings, advisory boards and committees, telephone calls and letters, or email, the Mesa City Council sets policies based on the input and needs of its citizens." [click or tap here ]
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How other 2020 races in Mesa are shaping up
Along with the mayor's race, three of six council seats will be up for grabs this year.Here's a look at who has filed statements of interest so far:
District 1: Mark Freeman may run for a second term.
District 2: Whittaker and Julie Spilsbury.
District 3: Francisco Heredia, who was appointed to the council in 2017 and won election to complete the term in 2018, Jacob Martinez and Christopher Bown
Have a story about Mesa or Gilbert?
Reach the reporter at
Alison.Steinbach@arizonarepublic.com
or at 602-444-4282.
Follow her on Twitter @alisteinbach.
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