WHERE THE MONEY CAME FROM: Let's Ask What Other Campaigns Hizzoner John Giles Helped-to-Fund
Nice to see Managing Editor of The Mesa Tribune Tom Scanlon taking an interest in at least one fight he reported on mid-week May 19th. Scanlon scoured required public record filings for recent political action campaign contributions and donations in the mayor's well-funded fight against opposition to an NDO that two city councilmembers voted not in favor Nay.
What caught the eye of your MesaZona blogger was the image used for his Top Story headline: District 2 Mesa City Council representative Jill Spilsbury wiping away tears.
How did she get there in the featured screen-grab - or for that matter on the Mesa City Council - after in the first place getting elected last year?
QUESTION: Who hand-selected Spilsbury to un-seat the incumbent District 2 Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker, frequently referred to as the mayor's "chief nemesis"
That's another back story for another day, if Tom Scanlon wants to look into it
During his reelection campaign last year, Giles was heavily supported by Mesa developers and other businesses. He received contributions of $282,906, spending $186,651 to leave a balance of $97,737.
Accustomed to receiving checks, Giles wrote one for $5,000 March 11, the same day Mesa Loves Everyone was formed, according to its filing with the city. It listed its political function by checking the box for “Ballot Measure Expenditures.”
According to the group’s Statement of Organization, its chairman is Dale Crogan, president of United Mesa Fire Fighters.
> Mesa Loves Everyone’s financial disclosure shows it paid $5,000 each to Phoenix law firm Ballard Spahr LLP and Shipley Strategies. . .
This time it's for filing 'expressions of interest' by not one but two well-known persons in the new election campaign for the office of mayor when Giles ran un-opposed for his first elected term. Personal Injury/Accident Law attorney John Giles was propelled back into public service after 14 years in private practice as "the hand-picked successor" to fill the vacancy left by former Mayor Scott Smith in 2014, who resigned to seek a higher office as the Governor of the State of Arizona. Unfortunately, those plans were dashed by fellow Republican Doug Ducey who declared at his 2020 State of The State Address "NO MORE TAXES - NOT ON MY WATCH!" Residents of Mesa and people who read this blog now know that Mayor John Giles wants to raise your taxes and increase fees-and-charges for sales transaction and utility use The former personal injury/accidental law attorney got a new mission and a new job in 2014 - Giles is no longer "an ambulance-chaser". He considers himself as the chief cheerleader and salesman for the City of Mesa. What he makes 'on-the-side" we don't know until the required Financial Disclosure paperwork gets filed with the City Clerk. __________________________________________________________
Here's the story from East Valley Tribune (note the choice of words: "chief nemesis" to describe Jeremy Whittaker), and the choice of words "also gunning for Giles' job"attached to Verl Farnsworth) Storm clouds are gathering in the Mesa mayor race
"Mesa City Councilman Jeremy Whittaker has expressed interest in mounting a potential mayoral bid – elevating himself from Mayor John Giles’ chief nemesis to a 2020 election opponent.
Irked by the emergence of a Giles ally as a possible challenger in his council district, Whittaker filed a statement of interest for mayor job.
The statements of interest, required by a new state law, qualify candidates to collect the signatures of registered voters to get their names on the ballot.
Also gunning for Giles’ job, is Verl Farnsworth, an outspoken council critic who failed in 2018 to unseat council member Dave Luna, a frequent Giles ally. He too filed a statement of interest for the mayoral position. . ."
2 Here's a Fund-Raiser put on by The Mesa Chamber of Commerce and a group called Arizona Strategies NOTE THE RSVP NOTE THE HOST COMMITTEE ___________________________________________________ Back to the story from EVT Jim Walsh --
"Giles did not mention Whittaker as a potential challenger, but he said he did not think his campaign contributions would translate into an uncontested election. He faced only write-in candidates in 2016.
“I think when you do things in this job, some people will take issue with it. I am expecting a contested election,’’ Giles said."
"Whittaker said it was Giles’ recruitment of Julie Spilsbury, a Mesa mother and volunteer in the Mesa Public Schools, to run against him in his district which prompted him to consider a mayoral campaign.
“Julie is just a puppet for the mayor and the establishment,’’
Whittaker said, describing Spilsbury as well-connected with the upper echelon of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints even if she is a political novice.
3 City Manager Chris Brady's reaction to some tough questions from District 2 Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker
Looks like all those Pie-In-The-Sky schemes pushed by Mesa City Manager Chris Brady and the city's Office of Management & Budget during the past four years in that big beautiful "Grab-Bag-of-Goodies" for everybody that tricked Mesa taxpayers to go into more debt in the November 2018 ballot proposals are getting a heavy dose of REALITY . . . Better late than never
The second half of last Thursday's City Council Session featured the City Manager Chris Brady who was hired and took over the job in 2005 from Mike Hutchinson. Mayors and City Council members - who are elected - might come-and-go in successive 2-year or 4-year terms (or not) or resign early. City managers typically stay a long time. As the City of Mesa's Chief Executive Officer, the financial and administrative governance of the city is in his hands and on his watch for more than 15 years. Brady is an alumnus of Brigham Young University like so many salaried and elected officials inside City Hall _________________________________________________________________________
The second half of the Study Session is a robust discussion that's really the aftermath of the intense informed analytical Issues raised in the budget approval hearings last year by District 2 Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker, who wagedandwon an uphill campaign challenged by the hand-picked candidate endorsed by the mayor to maintain "business as usual" - Whittaker definitely created waves in 2019. Wavesthat gather more force out of his 2018 district election win. ____________________________________________________________________
Low Voter Turnout Is Not An Accident - in fact that is what entrenched and generations-old Political Machines are counting on when they can deliver a bloc of votes. In one Mesa City Council race in District 2 there was a good example of that when one inexperienced candidate was hand-selected by Mayor John Giles - and doused with thousands of dollars in disclosures made in required Campaign Financial Statements - to unseat the incumbent Jeremy Whittaker.
That was the closest contest for the Mesa City Council. ____________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment