MAYORAL copy.psd
Encore Conservative Club member David Winstanley reads an audience question at the club’s Mesa mayoral candidate forum last week as candidates, from left, Carey Davis, Scott Neely, Mark Freeman and Ryan Winkle listen. Candidate Scott Smith canceled his appearance due to illness.
The moderator allowed Ryan Smith to make a statement on behalf of Scott Smith. Ryan Smith said his father would work to make Mesa a place where kids could stay in their hometown and build a life.
He said his father took over as mayor at the start of the Great Recession and “got Mesa on the right path.” He is running to “finish the job.”

Four of the five Mesa mayoral candidates broke out their cowboy boots and met last week in the clubhouse of the 55-plus Encore at Eastmark community to answer residents’ questions about how they would lead the nation’s 36th largest city.

One candidate was missing from the event hosted by the Encore Conservative Club: former mayor and current fundraising leader Scott Smith canceled due to “significant illness,” his son Ryan Smith told attendees before the event. 

It was the first face-to-face meeting of candidates in a significant election that will usher in a new mayor for the first time in 10 years. The deadline to register to vote in the July 30 Primary is July 1. Registered voters can request an early ballot through July 19.

With 70 to 90 guests in the room, attendance was respectable but fell short of the 150-seat capacity.

The Encore Conservative Club was founded in 2022 and hosts regular meetings featuring guest speakers. Club member David Winstanley said meetings are intended to be “informative and educational.”

The Mesa Chamber of Commerce will host a mayoral forum May 14. Ryan Smith said his father would attend.

Though they expressed divergent views at times, the four candidates appeared to get along during the event. The emcee read audience questions drawn at random from a box, and each candidate gave a timed response.

Every candidate managed to hit a few applause lines. There were jokes and light-hearted moments, but also points of disagreement.

Multiple attendees described the event as “informative.” One woman remarked that she would have liked to have back and forth between the audience and candidates.

The forum format helped promote a cordial atmosphere while still provoking spontaneous remarks on local issues. Off-the-cuff responses provided a more candid view of candidates than what’s typically found on campaign websites.

Intros

Retired accountant Carey Davis touted his financial background and experience as a former mayor in California. He said Mesa needs to curb its spending to ensure financial sustainability.

“We have to dig into the numbers of city finance,” he said.

He also said Mesa needs to add police officers and better fund its public safety pension plans.

Councilman Mark Freeman described himself as a former firefighter and champion of public safety who works to “maintain the character of Mesa.”

He touted his knowledge of water resources as a farmer and member of local water boards.

He said his No. 1 priority as mayor would be education and workforce development.

Businessman Scott Neely positioned himself as a political outsider with a “street view” of Mesa who would bring change.

He said “good old boys” are running Mesa. “I believe in my heart of hearts we need new leadership.”

He said taxes are too high, and neighboring cities have become safer than Mesa.

Community development consultant Ryan Winkle described his work as a champion for small businesses.

He pledged to lead with transparency and involve residents in city government.

“You can be part of the decisions being made,” he said. “People have a right to choose their neighborhood’s future.”

The moderator allowed Ryan Smith to make a statement on behalf of Scott Smith. Ryan Smith said his father would work to make Mesa a place where kids could stay in their hometown and build a life.

He said his father took over as mayor at the start of the Great Recession and “got Mesa on the right path.” He is running to “finish the job.”

Conservative Credentials

City elections are officially nonpartisan.

But with many attendees belonging to the Encore Conservative Club, multiple questions probed candidates on conservative touchstones, and the candidates, likely sensing the audience, at times played up their conservative bona fides.

Davis said Mesa has “taken a left-leaning turn” and adopted “big government policies.” 

Neely agreed that Mesa City Council was “left-leaning.” He said tech giants like Google and Apple have “leaned on the city council.”

Neely concluded his response to a question about illegal immigrants in Mesa with an emphatic “America first. Period.”

Freeman said he “plays well in the sandbox” before stating, “I’m the most conservative person on the council.”

Freeman said he was disappointed in the Biden Administration’s handling of the border and said he was glad prosecutors will not retry George Kelly, the southern Arizona rancher put on trial this year for killing a Mexican national on his property.

“Mesa doesn’t harbor any illegal aliens,” Freeman said.

Winkle, whose wife described him as “the only Democrat in Mesa” in body cam footage of his 2017 DUI arrest in Tempe, emphasized a message of transparency in government and promoting self-reliance.

He said his leadership would “help people to realize their own future, because it’s their responsibility.” He said his No. 1 priority was helping residents create their own source of income.

“People aren’t saying ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ when I’m knocking on doors,” he said.

Homelessness

One questioner asked the candidates how Mesa should pay to operate the 72-room hotel it purchased on Main Street and Power Road to use as temporary housing for homeless seniors, families and disabled people. 

Mesa bought the hotel last year using federal aid dollars, but the city will be on the hook for operational costs when pandemic aid runs out.

Davis said the city should cut off funding to the shelter and that Mesa needs to shift the financial burden to nonprofit organizations.

Freeman said he did not support buying the hotel and preferred the city rely on leased hotel rooms. But he said the Off the Streets shelter program has been a “success story” and helped get people back into permanent housing.

Winkle also defended spending on the shelter.

“Remember the costs of people on the street,” he said. He added that the recipients of services included a lot of “moms parked in cars” and sleeping on couches.

“What are you going to do, arrest them?” he said.

Neely dismissed the Off the Streets program as a “hobo hotel” and said the city should not have purchased the Main Street property. He said shelters should have open layouts with cots and a soup kitchen.

“We can’t secure these rooms. People are using drugs,” he said.

Utility fund transfers

One attendee asked the candidates if they would reexamine Mesa’s annual transfer of funds from its city-owned utility enterprises into the general fund.

The transfers are a 70-year practice meant to offset revenue lost from the elimination of Mesa’s primary property tax and grocery sales tax. Critics, including some from the Encore Conservative Club, have charged recently that the practice burdens residents with higher utility rates.

Neely and Davis both said the transfers should be eliminated, and the city should cut utility rates and make due with less revenue.

“The city just needs to be run more efficiently” to make up the revenue, Davis said.

Freeman defended the transfers, saying that at least 25% of the utility transfers goes to public safety. He said the current system is better for taxpayers than a primary property tax.

“I’m willing to pay higher utility” than a property tax, he said.

Winkle said he would re-examine the utility transfers. “The problem with the transfers is they aren’t transparent enough,” he said.