Header image alt text

Joyce Clark Unfiltered

For "the rest of the story"

Jan 24

22

Encinas responds to Council Campaign Financial Reports

Posted by Joyce Clark on January 22, 2024
Posted in Candidate campaign committee financial reports • City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale election 2024 • Yucca district  | Tagged With: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

On Sunday, January 21, I posted a blog about the first Glendale City Council Campaign Committee Financial Reports filed with the City Clerk on January 16th.

Today, Monday, January 22nd, Ms. Encinas emailed our neighbors copying my entire blog. Thank you, Ms. Encinas. The more people that get to read it, the more informed our community is. One of the blocks of information I provided was a review of Ms. Encinas’ Candidate Committee Financial Reports. Here is a copy of one of the report’s pages regarding contributions to her campaign.

Encinas

I made the following observation:

“Watch Encinas’ level of missing information in her reports. She fails to enter information that is required. Some of the contributors’ addresses and ALL job titles and employers are missing. These are glaring omissions of fact that are reporting requirements. If she can’t follow the state law for reporting requirements what else will she fail to report?”

Here is her response to our neighbors:

“Here is my response, I will bring unity not violence or hate ,but solutions and change for our yucca residents!  It was my first time filing and I think I did an amazing job, the titles will be updated but nothing was missing from my reporting. We have so much to do, here in Glendale ,and I can wait to speak with each one of you!”-Lupe Encinas 

I don’t think it was an “amazing job” and neither should you. The State crafted these reporting forms to make sure every candidate is as transparent as possible. It requires the job title and employer of every donation over $50 so that the public can learn what communities of interest are supporting a candidate. It requires cumulative totals of an individual’s campaign contributions as well as the Candidate ID Number. All of which are missing.

It’s not rocket science to fill out the reporting forms completely. When I ran for the office if a contributor had not supplied all the information required, I would call and ask for it.

This reporting form is required of every candidate running for public office in the State. There are many first-time filers who manage to do it right the first time.

Attention to detail is important, not just for reporting purposes. In one’s job as a Councilmember details are important. Especially when City Councilmembers are reviewing the annual city budget or reviewing the City Council workshop or voting agendas. By reviewing these items in detail, it provides a Councilmember the opportunity to reach out to appropriate staff if there are any questions about an item. 

Also please note that in Ms. Encinas’ report, she fails to put the Committee ID Number on any of her pages.  This is another necessary state requirement so that if the physical pages ever became comingled with another report, the correct pages could be easily identified and reassembled. She also fails to fill in the two right hand columns which ask for cumulative totals.

Again, more detail that was omitted from her campaign financial report.

Here is a page from incumbent Mayor Jerry Weiers’ report. It is done correctly and provides contrast to that which Ms. Encinas submitted.

Details do matter. Filing out forms correctly demonstrates a level of respect for the process of running for office. It can also forecast how a candidate will approach the job.

© Joyce Clark, 2024    

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Aug 16

12

Chavira joined by Burdick in flaunting the law

Posted by Joyce Clark on August 12, 2016
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale  | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

By now everyone knows that Sammy Chavira, my opponent, considers himself above the law. We’ve seen him get a Glendale traffic ticket; his Failure to Appear for his court hearing; the subsequent suspension of his driver’s license; and his hustling to pay his fines of hundreds of dollars only after the media asked him about it. It also appears that the truck that Sammy has been driving for several years is still registered to someone else…hmmm.

We know that Sammy stuffed mailboxes with a political piece without bothering to mail it. It’s just another violation…this time of U.S. Postal law. Anything placed in your mailbox is required to have postage and to have been mailed. Sammy doesn’t seem to care or once again, he thinks he’s above the law.

Sammy is supporting Mark Burdick in his run for mayor. They both have careers in the fire profession. But perhaps it’s also because of their lax attitudes toward laws and regulations.

Take a close look at the latest Burdick mailer. If you look carefully you will see there is no disclaimer or attribution as to the political committee that sent this mailer. No “Paid by Burdick for Mayor.” No “Paid by Revitalize Arizona with major funding provided by.” Nothing. It’s another violation…this time of Arizona law that governs political committees. It is required by law that there is such a disclaimer on a political mailing.

Return address has post office box but no "Paid by" as required by law

Return address has post office box but no “Paid by” as required by law

This is “inside baseball” information. Those of us who are candidates or working on a candidate’s campaign know what the rules of the game are. They are not difficult to follow. It is not expected that the voter would be aware of them. We know that we must place a disclaimer with a contact phone number on our campaign signs and that we must place a disclaimer on all of our campaign mailers.

If these men cannot follow the law in these situations, can we expect the same kind of behavior from them when they make major policy decisions for us? Leadership must include ethical behavior. Niccolo Machiavelli in his book, The Prince, said “the end justifies the means.” In his book he discusses the morality of political rules. He believed that the first priority of a leader is to protect his power at any cost. Chavira and Burdick seem to have adopted Machiavelli’s philosophy.

I bring these violations to your attention for it is discouraging to those of us who do follow the rules. At some point these men will flaunt the law once too often and karma will occur. For now, you, the voter, have the right to know when candidates who are asking for your vote don’t follow the simplest of rules.

© Joyce Clark, 2016

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Apr 16

29

If firemen support a candidate, run

Posted by Joyce Clark on April 29, 2016
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale finances  | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | No Comments yet, please leave one

In the latest edition of the Glendale Star there is a Letter to the Editor by Bobby Gonzalo. Here is the link: http://www.glendalestar.com/opinion/article_f1487ca8-0bbc-11e6-af6a-8bae75c29b1e.html

Since many of you do not get the Star I am offering the letter to you in its entirety.

If firemen support a candidate, run

“The fire department seems to spend a lot of money on candidates every election, but look at the results.

Gary Sherwood was heavily supported by the firemen and look what a catastrophe, as he was recalled. Sam Chavira is a fireman and what has he done except create chaos and spend money as if it were monopoly money. City Manager Brenda Fischer, whose husband is some sort of fireman in Las Vegas, caused a divide in the council and disrupted the city, and who supported her, Chief Mark Burdick, the rest of the fire department, Chavira and, of course, the man that interviewed her before the process even started, Sherwood.

“I talked to a fireman before Sherwood was recalled and his comment was that we need to keep him because he is for supporting and giving money to the fire department. So, they want to give money to themselves, but the heck with our roads, the heck with our recreation programs, the heck with our libraries.

“Don’t support their candidates unless you are absolutely sure they want to help everyone. It is like three people being in a desert with a little water; you need to dole it out proportionately so that everyone survives. Don’t vote for Burdick or Chavira. They are not good for Glendale. Vote for Jerry Weiers and Joyce Clark. They are here to help everyone, not just a select few.”

Bob Gonzalo

 

Feb 15

28

Just for fun…#1

Posted by Joyce Clark on February 28, 2015
Posted in City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials  | Tagged With: , , , | 1 Comment

Just for fun: From Saturday, February 28, 2015 through Saturday, March 7, 2015 this first photo poll will be up on this site.

Let’s see how well you know the Glendale City Council. Each week I will ask you to pick out one of Glendale’s elected officials. No fair referencing other material for your answer. Go with your gut.

Here is the first. One of these gentlemen is the Mayor of Glendale, Jerry Weiers. Can you pick him out of this photo lineup? Please choose Photo #1, Photo #2 or Photo #3. Place a check mark next to your choice in the poll to the left of this article.

thU6J3SWGU 2

Photo #1

MayorWEIERS 3

Photo #2

thNS3ET9C0 2

Photo #3

© Joyce Clark, 2015

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Apr 13

3

Darrin Pastor…too good to be true?

Posted by Joyce Clark on April 3, 2013
Posted in Glendale elected officials • Jobing.com arena  | Tagged With: , , , | 3 Comments

Image2

Darrin Pastor

I, just as many did, listened to the Darrin Pastor interview on Roc and Manuch, NBC Sports Radio, 1060AM on April 4, 2013.  I wish him well but as a tried and true skeptic, the jury is still out.  Let’s take a closer look at some take-aways from that interview.

 

 

Six months of due diligence

calendarPastor claimed that he has done six months of due diligence. That due diligence should have included finding out what the City of Glendale’s expectations are. This is the start of April and going back six months puts him in October, 2012. I was a councilmember until January 15, 2013, and I never heard of him until his press release of several days ago. He certainly wasn’t talking to anyone in the city. That place is like a sieve. If he had talked to anyone, it would have become common knowledge around City Hall.

Why does any deal take so long?

This must be naiveté on Pastor’s part although he is a very intelligent businessman. It comes as a bit of a surprise to hear that statement from him. Surely he’s done hundreds of deals using legal counsel and should know that lawyers tend to make everything take twice as long. He also claimed that he is using lawyers with municipal experience. So it certainly shouldn’t be a surprise to realize that working with a municipality is slow and cumbersome. It isn’t as if any one prospective deal took the entire four years that the Coyotes have been ownerless. Over those four years there has been a succession of bridesmaids but never the bride. We are all painfully familiar with the list . None of them took longer than 12-18 months before biting the dust.

Glendale is where the team is going to stay

jobing.com arena

Jobing.com Arena

We have heard that from every prospective buyer of the team. The question should be, not is the team going to stay in Glendale?… but how long will you keep the team in Glendale? There should be a ten year or better commitment before an opt-out clause is executed. That indicates a commitment to build the team and build a solid fan base. If the opt-out clause is five years or less, whoever buys the team will take the money and run…somewhere else. Better yet, would be to get an assessment from each of these would-be buyers of his estimate of how much time he feels is necessary to turn the team around and become profitable. Realistically, no prospective owner wants to commit “sports suicide” and pour money down a rat hole. Each one of them (you would think) has developed a strategy to turn the team around and become profitable.

Return on investment

ROIMr. Pastor uses “banker-ese” terms. He labels the team as an “undervalued asset.” This gentleman (and his family) didn’t become successful because of pixie dust. He is a very astute businessman. If he is successful in purchasing the team using capital from family investments, there will most definitely be an expectation of profitability down the road. Again, the question becomes how long is that road?

Where is Beacon Sports?

Mr. Pastor said directly, “Beacon Sports is not involved.” His statement should be of concern and can be interpreted several different ways. Is Beacon not involved because Pastor has no interest in managing the arena and simply wants to pay rent as a tenant? Why isn’t Beacon involved as the city hired the company to vet and to negotiate with any prospective arena manager?

Got his homework today

homeworkMr. Pastor said that he received paperwork from the NHL today and would begin working on it immediately. Good for him. If that is the case, don’t expect any quick resolution. Plan to wait a month or two. He also said he had met with and talked to Mike Nealy but that he was talking to and dealing directly with Bill Daly. I expect Mr. Daly is talking to a lot of prospective owners these days.

Mr. Pastor looks good on paper and is saying the things we all want to hear these days. Shades of Matt Hulsizer. Hulsizer went very public and was obviously an avid hockey fan but his deal went south when the Goldwater Institute questioned the city’s sale of $100M worth of bonds whose proceeds would be paid to Hulsizer. The devil is in the details…of the deal.

Mr. Pastor meets Mr. Weires

Mr. Pastor in his meeting with Mayor Weiers today characterized at least twice, the mayor as “refreshing.” Glad they enjoyed meeting with one another. If Pastor really was politically savvy or had received advice from his municipally-wise lawyers, he would have introduced himself to all of the councilmembers, remembering that Mr. Weiers is just one vote of seven.

I wish all of the prospective buyers well and would like nothing more than for someone to succeed with a long term commitment. Call me jaded. I have been “around the block” quite a few times on this issue and have seen prospective owners come and go. To date there’s been a lot of public posturing, first by LeBlanc/Gosbee, now Pastor. It’s all sound and fury signifying nothing.

copyright

Feb 13

19

Cornfields rippling

Posted by Joyce Clark on February 19, 2013
Posted in City of Glendale  | Tagged With: , , , , | 5 Comments

Rumors are like ripples in a cornfield. They are ephemeral, but they do indicate which way the wind is blowing. This little gem of thought comes from the book Aliens Adored by Susan J. Palmer.
In the absence of fact rumors grow and develop a life of their own. It must be Newton’s or somebody’s law that when a vacuum is created it will quickly fill with rumor and speculation.

Skeete

Horatio Skeete

The newest…well as of this morning…rumor has it that Interim City Manager Skeete may be using Beacon Sports Capital, www.beaconsportscapital.com, as the City’s negotiator with any and all groups/individuals who wish to buy the Coyotes and secure the arena management contract.

Sherwood

Gary Sherwood

It was clear in the February 5 City Council workshop that Councilmember Gary Sherwood called for a negotiator but there was certainly no audible support offered by the other Councilmembers and there was absolutely no direction given by a majority of Council. If it turns out to be true, the use of Beacon Sports may have been an independent action by Interim City Manager Skeete, as there was a plea by CM Norma Alvarez to Mayor Weiers to relinquish his information about the many potential buyers with which he claimed personal contact.

Or perhaps direction may have been given in the less than transparent executive session following that workshop. Rather oddly, objection to executive session decision making has been a recurring theme championed of CM Norma Alvarez and the notion of transparency was a campaign platform for newly elected CMs Ian Hugh, Sammy Chavira and Gary Sherwood. Go figure.

If this latest speculation has indeed occurred where is the public announcement coupled with  revelation about the cost to the City for this new consultancy contract? As a former CM, I seem to remember the need for a vote to hire a consultant unless public direction at workshop is given. I also seem to remember Councilwoman Alvarez’ two years of railing about the City’s use of consultants. Where is her outrage now or was she missing from Council yet again?

Why Beacon Sports? A long standing rumor is that they were involved in the BeaconMoyes bankruptcy. If that is true then what was their role during the bankruptcy? The sports industry is a tightly knit community and there is more than one source out there suggesting that Jerry Reinsdorf’s son Michael, International Facilities Group (IFG) Managing Director, www.ifgroup.cc, may have suggested the use of Beacon Sports to either Mayor Weiers, Interim City Manager Skeete or City Attorney Tindall.

IFGIFG was hired by the City to manage the construction of Jobing.com arena. Beacon Sports was hired by the City to prepare a report issued on February, 2011 that provided a rationale for the Hulsizer deal and the City’s purchase of parking rights for $100M. It almost sounds incestuous, doesn’t it? Does Michael Reinsdorf’s suggestion to use Beacon Sports, which might have been acted upon, give Jerry Reinsdorf and John Kaites an inside track on purchasing the Coyotes?

If any of the above speculation turns out to be true, I ask you.. is this any way to run a circus…er…City?
Check back later today for more rumor mongering after I winnow through the sudden spate of opinions and secret whisperings.

copyright