Thursday, August 18, 2016

Follow The Money > Mesa City Council Election Campaigns 2016

Campaign Finance Reports are available online here
Current mayor John Giles is playing the hand he was dealt to get elected in 2014, apparently with no issues in front of the voters here according to his campaign website and oftentimes making public statements that "Everything is great".
It's a no-contest.
Three seats [half] up for grabs in Districts 1, 2 and 3.
What's it gonna be? More diversity or more of the same political machine that's controlled Mesa for generations?
There's a certain demographic group here, now after 135 years after Mesa's founding, less than 10% of the population, who have dominated and monopolized both elective and appointed offices inside City Hall and city government with just a few things in common, one of them being their religion that directly informs public service when they get elected by a system organized by LDS connections in meeting houses, stakes and wards. This is evident not only in local Mesa government but in Arizona state government as well, holding onto top positions in the state senate and state legislature.
Overwhelmingly they graduated from BYU in Provo, Utah, or through inter-marriage have "family connections" in religion and government, or make claims to office based on heritage of successive generations with extensive land holdings held in family or suburban land trusts and - most importantly - at the same time frequently tapping into a machine that delivers votes to chosen hand-selected candidates who usually say they got "a calling" [or a call from a crony] for public service whereby incumbents in elected office pass their positions on to those who get called time and time again. . . Call it "rigged" if you want with one minority group controlling what's supposed to be a democratic process. 
It is the reason why so many residents and voters here in Mesa choose not to get involved in city governance, rarely show up at public City Council sessions or citizen advisory board meetings and are effectively not engaged in government for the people.
While most conservatives condemn the so-called East coast "liberal elite" who attended Ivy League universities [Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, Princeton] those with other progressive political perspectives tend to not question the politics of a private religion-run university except in the public sphere where assertions of religion into politics has constitutionally-mandated limits for good reasons - a product of The Age of Enlightenment.
So, let's throw some light into the arena of politics here in Mesa - you, dear readers NEED TO DO THE WORK
  • Follow the money for contributions and expenditures
  • Are there some underlying business relationships?
  • Who gave what to who
  • Why are certain individuals and groups giving money to certain candidates
  • Keep an eye out for amounts over $100, $250, $500 or $1,000 and higher
  • What about PACs - political action committees?
Just  a couple of examples:
1. Why has a union of public employees - Firefighters - getting paid salaries and other benefits like insurance and pension/retirement costs [that have escalated by 35%] by the city, established a PAC that contributed $2500 to District 3 candidate Jerry Lewis?
2. Why has a suburban mall developer contributed over $6500 to the same candidate?
3. Looking back to the 2014 John Giles for Mayor campaign, why was over $25,000 paid to just one company for copies of campaign materials?

Candidates
The underlined links open in another window to access the reports provided by the Mesa City Clerk's office.
There are other links for City Council Election campaigns going back to 2008 if you want to trace donations and expenditures that might have influenced actions of City Councilmembers once they got elected.


Council District 1
Guinn for Mesa
Mark Freeman for District 1
Pat Gilbert for Mesa

Council District 2 
Jeremy Whittaker for Mesa
Shelly Allen for Mesa
Winn for Mesa City Council

Council District 3

Jerry Lewis for Mesa City Council
Ryan Winkle for Mesa Sparks for Mesa
Yarbrough for Mesa District 3

                                                                                                                          
This web page link at the start of this post is a public resource for general information. Use it for the intended purpose. 
Please be advised that The City of Mesa makes no warranty, representation or guaranty as to the content, sequence, accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any of the database information provided herein.
The reader expressly agrees that use of the data provided herein is at the reader's sole risk.
The City of Mesa explicitly disclaims any representations and warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
The City of Mesa shall assume no liability for: 1) any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the information provided regardless of how caused; or 2) any decision made or action taken or not taken by reader in reliance upon any information or data furnished hereunder.

           
       

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

MesaZona Reaches A Milestone

Thank you, dear readers, so much . . . up online for 18 months now.

Keep Climbing

Dealt a great hand? By who? ....So much left to do .... "Jobs = A Priority"
OK Got some data on this for the last two years?
Please take a look at the succession of flat-line top growth in the progression of mesas [ Spanish word for a table ] incorporated into the logo for the City of Mesa featured after the video.
Published on Dec 8, 2015
Views: 785 in over 9 months uploaded online on YouTube with 13 Likes
Mesa Mayor John Giles announces he is running for re-election, tricked-out in latex nylon cycling outfit shown riding alone uphill in a desert landscape

Your MesaZona blogger may be alone in making an observation that in the three different-color logo images they all start on an upward slope and are disconnected with gaps in the overlaps of the next 'mesa'.
Using an infographic interpretation, once a certain point is reached in each and every one there's an extended period of flat-line growth followed by downward-trending slopes coasting downhill . . . is that the stage we're in for John Giles first 2-year term in office where he can now succeed himself in a no-contest re-election



 

"Non-Partisan" Mesa Mayor John Giles Endorses Don Stapley

"Non-partisan" John Giles
makes an endorsement for fellow LDS conservative for seat in U.S. Congress vacated by Matt Salmon
Published on Jul 19, 2016
Views to date: 160
See why Mesa Mayor John Giles has endorsed Don Stapley in his campaign for Congress
 
Arizona PBS Congressional District 5 Debate
 
Published on Jul 7, 2016
Views:368
Republican candidates running to represent their party in the general election for Arizona’s Congressional District Five debate the issues important to the district. Candidates Justin Olson, Christine Jones and Don Stapley will participate in the debate.

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Arizona PBS Congressional District 1 Debate
Published on Jul 13, 2016
Views:170
Time:26:00
 
 
Join us as republican candidates running for Arizona’s first congressional district debate issues important to the district and the state. Candidates participating are former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, businessman Shawn Redd and former U.S. Air Force Officer Wendy Rogers

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