Morrison Institute For Public Policy
Professor Emeritus of Political Science
Arizona State University
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Image Insert by Blogger: Mesa taxpayers REJECTED a $200,000,000 privately-financed public relations campaign in 2016 to finance a satellite ASU proposed to take over Downtown Mesa. Shown is the current mayor John Giles in a stunt with the ASU mascot Sparking from SOTC2014
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> The article starts off in the first three paragraphs:
"Mesa, Arizona: a place with wide streets and narrow minds. Or so goes a once popular saying about this traditionally laid-back, conservative community that came into official existence in 1883 as a Mormon town of 300 people. The wide streets came straight from a plan designed by church leader Joseph Smith for Mormon settlements. No accounting for the narrow minds. . . "
Whoopsie! Did the political science professor not know of Mesa-native Russell Pearce and the notorious SB1070 ???????????
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Image caption from the article:Does this look like a conservative city to you?
The banners on the lamp post say Downtown Mesa. The 12-story building: Mesa Bank
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"Now a booming city of 450,000 residents – only 13% of whom are Mormons – located within commuting distance of Phoenix, Mesa is still widely regarded as a conservative stronghold, especially in state and national elections. A recent finding that it is the most conservative big city in the US, however, is a bit more startling and a bit misleading.
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| This is Mesa |
What does ‘most conservative’ mean?
Mesa’s “most conservative” label is found in a recent study * by two political scientists, Chris Tausanovitch of UCLA and Christopher Warshaw of MIT, who examined the policy preferences of people in 51 cities with populations larger than 250,000 and explored how they matched up with a range of policies actually pursued by their municipal governments.
> . . . and ends like this in the last two paragraphs:
"Looking at the city over time, however, it seems fair to say that as the city has grown it has actually become less ideological (in this case less conservative) and more pragmatic. It has acquired many of the problems and policies found in big cities with more liberal populations and political leaders.
Mesa is still a Republican city, as it has long been, but moderate Republicans have replaced conservative ones in leadership roles. Who knows, with more growth and diversity and a more mobilized Hispanic population, it might even become more open to the Democratic Party."
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* Abstract
Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens
. . . These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.
Representation in Municipal Government
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Citation:
Tausanovitch, Chris, and Christopher Warshaw.
Representation in Municipal Government.
American Political Science Review, 2014.
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The Mesa story continues:
Over the past several years, Mesa has in fact been led by a set of relatively moderate Republicans who, in the effort to bring life to the growing but somewhat sleepy bedroom community, have often been doing many of the same things implemented by Democratic mayors and council people in their more liberal leaning cities. . .
Conservatism may be evident in several policy areas, but much of what has been happening in Mesa has not been well received by people on the far right.
MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN
Scott Smith, Mesa Mayor from 2009 to 2014 provided much of the momentum for change. Smith, one of several Mormon leaders in the community, shunned ideology and took a pragmatic approach to the city’s problems, trying to build a culture of innovation. He rolled out several high-profile developmental programs. Smith had the backing of other council members, groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, and a city staff that, as Smith saw it, did not just think outside the box but threw the box away.
>
In 2014 City Manager Chris Brady was the recipient of a prestigious award from the Arizona City/County Management Association.
In their citation the judges highlighted not only the extension of the light rail but also the recruitment of five liberal arts colleges* and the building of spring training facilities for the Chicago Cubs.
Scott Smith, however, lost out in his bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 2014. He came in second in a contest where he stood out as by far the most moderate of several candidates, too moderate to win the nomination in the view of political observers.
Most citizens, for their part, have been more than willing to help out by approving bonds for carefully chosen infrastructure projects.
Mesa voters have also regularly approved proposals that the city be given the home rule option to spend beyond the limits imposed by the state.
In 2006, Mesa voters rejected a measure suggested by the city council for a primary property tax to provide revenue for the municipality’s general operations.
At the same election, however, they approved the council’s recommendation for an increase in the local sales tax rate from 1.5 to 1.75 percent.
More recently, there has been some sentiment expressed in public forums for cutting the sales tax and turning to a less regressive property tax in an effort to secure a more stable revenue stream.
The MIT/UCLA study compares cities on a set of specific policies.
In this context, Mesa comes off as the most conservative big city in the nation."
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