Jeremy Whittaker's Election Campaign for Mesa City Council District 2 Gets More Attention

Just yesterday, this article written by Walter Olson, appeared with the following headline [image inserted from another source]
Council candidate menaced for using city’s logo on yard signs
"The city of Mesa, Arizona, has threatened suit against a local businessman, Jeremy Whittaker, who is running for city council in opposition to a longtime city employee who enjoys endorsements from several current elected city officials. His offense? His lawn signs and campaign literature include a single-color version of the city’s logo …as a handy way of identifying the office for which he is running.” It has demanded he surrender all his campaign materials bearing the logo, but he’s not planning to give in."
 [Paul Alan Levy, CL&P via Mike Masnick, TechDirt]

Filed under: Arizona, politics, trademarks

 

Readers of this blog will note that this episode is more than just about "yard signs".
Reporter Walter Olson uses the words "threatened" and "menaced" in his headline for a very brief article supposedly about yard signs - if you, dear readers, choose to dig a little deeper, it's more about how politics are run by a political machine here in Mesa where incumbents recruit and choose who they want to assume their seats on the Mesa City Council - it's a way to hold onto power and control municipal government by a majority-minority 6% who have dominated City Hall for over a hundred years whether they get elected, get appointed or get hired.

Interestingly enough, local media has shied away from any mention at all of either this episode or any angle on this episode whatsoever, while a respected national news organization The Washington Post joined by two tech industry publications, Ars Technica and Techdirt have chosen to focus on rights to free speech and using trademark law to suppress participation in the political process. [see previous posts on this blog site]

 

image from mesaaz.gov

In the election campaign mentioned, Jeremy Whittaker is seeking to represent District 2 where Alex Finter, the incumbent, has held sway for two terms - the maximum time permitted to serve.

The way it has gone here in Mesa for years with incumbents attempting to control who gets their seat on the city council is that those who have held office call and recruit who they want to succeed them. With Alex Finter, he is also running the election campaign for his chosen candidate in a field of three that Jeremy Whittaker has entered.

With Mesa mayor John Giles, who was called to fill in for ex-mayor Scott Smith who resigned from office to run a failed election bid governor, both those guys called and recruited Jerry Lewis to campaign for a city council seat for District 3 available with the retirement of long-popular Dennis Kavanagh. On the same day Lewis announced his candidacy, both politicians immediately and simultaneously endorsed who they selected . . . if that's not a political fix your MesaZona blogger doesn't know what is!

Some people might remember Jerry Lewis as the guy who had fellow Mormon Russell Pearce removed from office by launching a recall election for the blatant bigotry, prejudice and discrimination against Mexicans contained in SB1070. There seemed to be a fissure among Mormons about the embarrassment caused by one practitioner of their LDS faith. Jerry Lewis ran a single-issue campaign to get elected to a two-year term in the Arizona State Legislature.
The person who ran his campaign for re-election [that he lost] none other than John Giles who was co-chairman of that campaign.

With that being said, it may be a good thing that Jeremy Whittaker has chosen to enter the wonderful world of politics here in Mesa.
 

He knows exactly what he's up against.
 

We will see how this develops - whether it's people power who get a candidate elected or that old and tired Political Machine that has a history to turn out the votes for who they want.

. . . here's wishing everyone well

 

 

 

 

Members of the City Council, the mayor and six guys, are "part-time employees" - in a city of over 465,000 people. They all also hold "outside jobs" at the same time.

 

 

Scorching Hot Here + High Toxic Ozone Pollution + It's Flooding All over the World. Texas. Germany. India. France. Belgium.

Published on Jun 2, 2016

We've got major flooding happening in Texas Germany France India Belgium & Italy is in danger of flooding. In the USA, Texas is facing big problems with Mother Nature expected to rain through Sunday. The Brazos River near Austin is at record heights & the weather is acting weird. Plus, we've got another tropical storm forming in the Gulf of Mexico.

So Take the THORnews Weird Weather Watch up a notch.

These are strange days, indeed.

God bless everyone,

T

THORnews T-Shirts can be ordered from the link below...http://thornews.bigcartel.com/

@newTHOR on twitterhttps://www.facebook.com/thornewsgo

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather...

Heavy rain and thunderstorms will spread over the Northeast, threatening outdoor activities on Sunday.
Storm systems will move swiftly from west to east across the northern tier of the nation through this weekend. That means the weather from one day to the next will vary significantly.
"The weekend will start rainy with showers pushing off the Atlantic coast during Friday night," according to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams.
Even though this first system is forecast to weaken upon crossing the Northeastern states, some locations can be hit with a drenching thunderstorm into Friday evening.
The best bet for a game of golf, a swim or soaking up some sunshine for New England and a large part of the mid-Atlantic will be during Saturday morning and afternoon.

There will still be a risk of a stray shower in southern Pennsylvania, northern Maryland and southern and central New Jersey on Saturday.
"The next round of showers and thunderstorms will overtake the region during the second half of the weekend," Abrams said.
Those with outdoor construction projects in much of West Virginia and southern and western Virginia may want to get an early start on Saturday. Downpours can spread over these states later in the day Saturday.
Downpours will expand northeastward over the rest of the mid-Atlantic during Saturday night and continue on Sunday. Rain will reach much of New England during Sunday.

Social Media's Place in Data-Smart Governance

Don't know about any else, but your MesaZona is getting BIG TIME TIRED of all the social media "selfie" and me-me-me's winging off the fingers of those who are elected to the public interests here in The New Urban DTMesa. The politicos inside City Hall think it's about themselves when it more rightfully should be about US - the people who live here.
Here's an extract from a recent article 
Cities can produce great value from social media, but only if they start talking a little bit less about themselves and start listening more to their residents.
Better, Faster, Cheaper

Social Media's Place in Data-Smart Governance

Cities are learning to mine this trove of information to predict the impact of future events and significantly improve operations.

by Stephen Goldsmith | May 18, 2016

 

". . . It's become common for public officials and city agencies to have active Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even Snapchat accounts through which they broadcast information and gather feedback. . .

But municipal use of social data shouldn't be limited to a communications team telling voters about city hall's daily accomplishments. . .

 

 

 

The town common holds a special place in the urban imagination.
It is the scene of civic life, the place where people congregate to exchange ideas. Today, these interactions largely occur online. Just as local government is responsible for cultivating the space of its physical town commons, so too should it cultivate and capitalize on the digital commons.
Public social media posts represent a data source ripe for analytics, one that governments can take advantage of to save time, money and even lives.

Craig Campbell, a research assistant at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School, contributed research and writing for this column.

Stephen Goldsmith  |  Contributor

---

stephen_goldsmith@harvard.edu  |  @goldsmithongov

 

 

 

"Tony Blair is like a gag reflex" - Jonathan Pie

Here we go again!

Published on Jun 3, 2016

According to his faith, Blair is definitely going to hell" says Jonathan Pie on his latest episode centred on Chilcot and the former PM.

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News: Scorching Heat + Dangerous To Health Ozone High Pollution

Year-in and year-out Maricopa County has failed to meet EPA guidelines for clean air . . . so we get so-called HPAs
High Pollution Advisories telling us there is dangerous and high pollution - well WTF does it come from? Fossil-fuel burning in factories and emissions from cars but let's produce, sell and finance more cars with internal combustion engines, let's build more suburban sprawl, let's build more highway infrastructure and spend millions doing that - why do anything to improve our air quality??

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is extending a High Pollution Advisory (HPA) through Saturday and Sunday, June 4-5 for ozone in Maricopa County and it's been extended to Monday and maybe the whole week - or maybe the whole summer! Who knows?
Due to a stagnant weather pattern and abundant sunlight, ozone levels are expected to accumulate enough to exceed the federal health standard for many days ahead 

Central and west portions of the Valley will likely see increasing ozone levels in the coming days as the high pressure situates itself more directly over Arizona. 
Employers and Travel Reduction Program Transportation Coordinators are advised to activate their HPA Plans immediately.
ADEQ further recommends that the general public limit outdoor activity while the HPA is in effect, especially children and adults with respiratory problems.
Instead of dealing with the sources to reduce dangerous emissions into the air we all breathe, here's what your average [ the least likely to cause pollution except for having to drive in the sub-urban sprawl created by all those 'planners' ]Dick and Jane Doe is recommended to do:    
ADEQ, MCAQD and Valley Metro recommend residents and businesses use the following tips and resources to reduce ozone pollution and make the air healthier to breathe: 
• Drive as little as possible, carpool, use public transit, or telecommute.
• Re-fuel your vehicle after dark.
• Avoid waiting in long drive-thru lines, for example, at coffee shops, fast-food restaurants or banks – park your car and go inside.
• Visit valleymetro.org and ShareTheRide.com to plan a transit trip or seek a carpool or vanpool.
• Use low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) or water-based paints, stains, finishes and paint strippers and delay big painting projects.
• Make sure containers of household cleaners, garage and yard chemicals and other solvents are sealed properly to prevent vapors from evaporating into the air.
• Visit cleanairmakemore.com to learn more about reducing air pollution.

BACKGROUND: 
High Pollution Advisory or HPA: The highest level of an air pollutant may exceed the federal health standard.  
Ozone: Ground level ozone is formed by a chemical reaction that needs sunlight, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to form.
OK . . . "a chemical reaction" - created by what exactly?
  
CONTACTS: 
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) provides a daily forecast for air quality and issues HPAs or health watches when these conditions exist.
Please visit azdeq.gov/environ/air/ozone/ensemble.pdf or call (602) 771-2367 for tomorrow’s forecast or https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/AZDEQ/subscriber/new to receive air quality forecasts via email and/or text message.

CONTACT: Caroline Oppleman – (602) 540-8072 cell 

Here's all the double-talk

The Maricopa County Air Quality Department (MCAQD) is a regulatory agency whose goal is to ensure federal clean air standards are achieved and maintained for the residents and visitors of Maricopa County. How are they doin'???The department is governed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and follows air quality standards set forth by the federal Clean Air Act. The department offers air quality information and resources on its Clean Air Make More website: cleanairmakemore.com.
CONTACT: Bob Huhn – (602) 506-6713 desk/ (602) 526-7307 cell 

Valley Metro provides eco-friendly public transit options to residents of greater Phoenix and Maricopa County, including a clean-fuel bus fleet, low-emissions light rail, online carpool matching and bus trip mapping, and bicycle and telework assistance. Funding is provided by local, state and federal revenues; and administered by a board of 16 governments working to improve and regionalize the public transit system.
Please visit valleymetro.org to learn more. 
CONTACT: Seth Polansky – (602) 322-4492 desk  

Going Viral > Watch This Video Now [Compare with What Mainstream Media Reported]

Laney Sweet, widow of Daniel Shaver who was killed in a Mesa police officer-involved shooting back in January, uploaded this 17:20 video on March 29, 2016 more than two months ago.
For most members of the public this case flew under the radar screen with mainstream media reporting doing dribbles of "up-dates" as the legal proceedings progressed and moved slowly forward. Most recently [last week] instead of the entire police bodycam videos and audio transcripts getting made available - only a redacted and edited version was released for stated reasons [read other posts on this site or accounts in other media].
Police use of force, unjustified or not, is a contentious issue. It's gotten so out-of-hand here in Mesa that the police accepted responsibility for killing and shooting two dogs in a residents backyard after complaints by the owner and attention from media.
Fortunately, Laney Sweet has a good attorney.
Please note, dear readers, that today the mayor of Chicago released all police bodycam videos and audio transcripts for every officer-involved shooting in the last year. Failure to provide in a timely manner videos of a number of incidents created huge uproars in the public and in the media . . . this case continues to play out with Laney Sweet's video going viral attracting more than 253,000 views.
Officer Philip Brailsford was dismissed and fired from the Mesa Police Department.
The City of Mesa faces a multi-million dollar notice of claim from his family.
Looks like taxpayers [or the insurance company] will be asked to pay for alleged police misconduct while on-duty at the same time training and evaluation of office hiring practices gets more scrutiny 

Daniel Shaver - 'Body Cam Footage'

Published on Mar 29, 2016

On 3.14.16 I met with the County Attorney Bill Montgomery, after I was informed just hours beforehand on the phone that they had previously decided, without consulting me, to offer (former) Officer Philip Brailsford a plea deal of negligent homicide, reduced down from second degree murder. I had not been given the opportunity to even view the body cam footage, nor had my (now former) attorneys. Once we got a meeting with the CA, I quickly realized that by watching the footage I was going to be silenced. I was told what I could and could not say. Ultimately, I was not allowed to watch the video. The CA made it very clear to me he would not allow the evidence/footage to be released publicly. Last Friday Bill Montgomery and the defense attorney filed a motion in court to seal the body cam footage from being released. We must demand that it be made public and get this plea deal stopped. #JusticeForDaniel #DanielShaver #FreeTheFootage #ReleaseTheBodyCam #PhilipBrailsford #BillMontgomery #MesaPD

*Please excuse a few spelling errors in the video, I couldn't correct them once it uploaded.*

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Let's Get Mesa On This Map! Re/Participatory Budgeting

Your MesaZona blogger has been going on and on for days now in multiple posts about ghe City of Mesa budgets for FY2015/16 and FY2016/17. The reason?
Very few members of the public ever comment at meetings - they are simple not engaged or choose not to participate in our democracy. Admittedly it takes time and considerable effort to even find out what's on the agendas . . . people are frequently boggled - or even understand - budget terms or bother to find out about slick-and-quick proposals.

Exactly why and what this article from Next City has to say [extracts only here/read original]

Participatory Budgeting Reaches Historically Disenfranchised Neighbors

By Oscar Perry Abello | June 1, 2016

“Does anybody know why this process is so important? . . . Participatory budgeting allows communities to have a direct say in how resources get deployed in their own neighborhoods. From 2014 to 2015, more than 70,000 residents in 46 jurisdictions across the United States and Canada directly decided how their cities and districts should spend nearly $50 million in public funds through participatory budgeting.

[Blogger's Note: some of the same questions asked on this blog]

Does anybody know what capital budget means?”

. . . It’s an important concept, . . and Oscar Abello hits it right on the head

to begin to re-establish a culture of democracy and citizenship among their constituents, especially with constituents that have historically been disenfranchised from the political process.

READ THAT AGAIN

“We found a correlation between doing outreach with community-based organizations and increased participation of low-income and people of color at the vote,” says Carolin Hagelskamp, one of the report co-authors. In many cases, she says, engaging community-based organizations often starts with inviting them to be part of the jurisdiction-wide steering committee.
“A lot really starts with who is in that steering committee,” says Hagelskamp. “For the most part it’s the steering committee that sets the goals and the rules and also monitors throughout how things are going and are they achieving their goals.”

Person-to-person outreach also helps bring out historically disenfranchised groups. “Talking to people on the street, coffee shops, fast food restaurants, laundromats, barbershops, churches, community centers, street corners, schools, wherever people hang out a little bit,” Hagelskamp adds.
The trend lines are looking up. Jurisdictions that started out doing well when it comes to low-income voter turnout or black voter turnout are keeping up their performance along those lines, while jurisdictions that weren’t doing well are learning from others and improving their performance. . .
Hispanic or Latino outreach remains a weak point, however. Sixty-eight percent of communities under-represented their census level of Hispanic or Latino populations when it came to voter demographics in participatory budgeting.
Another upcoming project: indicators to determine who is really benefiting from any given participatory budgeting project. “We’re working on equity indicators for each of the projects that win, looking for who are they serving,” Hagelskamp says.

But perhaps the most important impact, that cultivating of democracy and citizenship, remains something that can’t be captured by any indicator. “Some people call it participatory budgeting becoming institutionalized, or say participatory budgeting is building civic infrastructure,” says Hagelskamp. “Officials use it to learn about their communities, and residents are starting to learn how they can use the process to advocate or voice opinions about certain things, even if they don’t get funded.”