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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

For "the rest of the story"

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.

City Council candidates never seem very interesting to the public as a Mayoral candidate or a Congressional candidate. I don’t know why because your city councilmember is the closest form of leadership to you, the public. These are the people who determine what your water bill is. When you have a problem with the city, these are the people you call. They determine city policies on virtually every aspect of your daily life and represent your city on a myriad of regional, state, and national committees.

Your choice of a city councilmember should be guided by someone who shares your values and who is responsive to your comments, questions, and concerns. If they can’t be bothered doing that as a candidate, I can assure you that they will not be responsive when elected.

Let’s look at the very first Candidate Financial Reports for those running and who is no longer running for council seats in Glendale. In general, none of the candidates have raised a lot of funding yet. Their campaigns start off slow as they hustle for signatures from registered voters for their nominating petitions. Once those petitions are turned in this March, they will be in full candidate mode as they start to raise money in earnest, order their campaign material and go to any groups’ meeting that they are invited to.

Patty Ortega expressed an interest in running for the Yucca Council seat last spring. Since then, she has changed her mind and is no longer interested.

The only uncontested city council race is that of incumbent Councilmember Ray Malnar, representing the Sahuaro District. It’s easy to see why. He’s doing a good job. He is sensitive to and responsive to his district residents. He is also even-handed in his policy discussions and decisions. Here’s what his financial report states. He started with $1,830.37 from his last campaign for Sahuaro district and loaned his committee $250.00. He has received $853.70 in campaign contributions. His expenses to date have been $954.21 leaving him with a balance of $1,729.86. His campaign contributors to date are:

  • Connie Kaiser
  • David Mitchell
  • Marion Malnar
  • Ron Kolb

He has received no Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions.

His major expenses are:

  • GoDaddy, $46.34 for a domain site
  • Wix, $267.87 for a web site

There are no rumors or speculation to report.

Incumbent Councilmember Ian Hugh also has a good record with his constituency. His policy decisions have been good for the city. He is one of the best and most responsive councilmembers. He is caring and will help his constituents out personally whenever possible. Here is his financial report. He starts with $23,753.74 from his last campaign for the Cactus District. He has raised $6,800.00 and has spent $843.14 to date leaving him with a balance of $29,710.60. He has received one maximum contribution of $6,550:

  • Louis Sands, owner of Sands Chevrolet

His other contribution:

  • Ron Kolb, Glendale business owner

He has received no PAC contributions. His expenses to date have been:

  • Costco, $650.57 for election announcement refreshments
  • Staples, $68.97 for petition copies and walking maps
  • Mail and More, $51.60 for petition copies and walking maps

There are no rumors or speculation to date.

A recent contender has surfaced to oppose Councilmember Hugh, Guadalupe “Lupe” Gonzalez, Jr. He pulled a packet and filed a Statement of Organization last week. Consequently, there is no Candidate Financial report available. According to his filing he is the Organizing Manager for a non-profit organization, ONE Campaign, devoted to fighting poverty and disease throughout the world. He is also running for the Alhambra Elementary School Board.

Diana Guzman is a candidate for the Yucca Council seat. She has raised $5,304.84 with $1.602.71 coming from a state legislative senate campaign committee. She has loaned her committee $3,102.13. She spent $1,602.64 leaving her with a balance of $3,702.20.

She has no contributors who have given the maximum amount of $6,550.00. She has received no PAC contributions. Here are her contributors:

  • Ernie Guzman, relative
  • Jane Breakiron, Behavioral Health

Her expenses to date include:

  • Vista Print, $98.27 for business cards
  • Office Max, $64.73 for petition copies
  • Hondo’s Screen Printing, $390.20 for ?
  • Next Day Flyers, $171.11 for pull up sign
  • Phoenix Print Shop, $651.60 for flyers
  • Hondo’s Screen Printing, $168.00 for shirts
  • Plotters Doctors, $52.13 for laminate map

Rumor and/or speculation to date is that I am supporting Diana. This is true. I encouraged her to run and am endorsing her wholeheartedly. She is smart, compassionate and shares our values and goals for the Yucca District and the City of Glendale.

Guadalupe “Lupe” Encinas is also running for the Yucca District Council seat. She has raised $2,618.07and has loaned her committee $1,270.70. She spent $967.69 leaving her with a balance of $1,650.36.

She has no contributors who have given the maximum amount of $6,550.00. She has received no PAC contributions. Here are her contributors:

  • Lauren Tolmachoff, occupation not listed, incumbent Glendale Councilmember, Cholla District
  • Luiz Guzman, occupation not listed
  • Craig Jennings, occupation not listed
  • Grant and Dana Hickman, occupation not listed
  • Glenn and Audry Hickman, occupation not listed
  • Yvonne Knaack, occupation not listed, former Glendale Councilmember
  • Bart Turner, occupation not listed, incumbent Glendale Councilmember, Barrell District
  • Natalie Stahl, occupation not listed, Chair of Encinas Campaign Committee
  • David Serey, occupation not listed, husband of Treasurer of Encinas Campaign Committee

Her expenses to date have been:

  • GoDaddy, $78.49 for email
  • La Art Printing, $889.90 for shirts, flyers and yard signs

Rumor and/or speculation include Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff encouraged her to run and is or will be, endorsing her. 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?

As you can see, these initial reports don’t contain a great deal of information and the next set of reports due March 2, 2024 won’t have much new information. Once these people have turned in their nominating petitions later in March, more information will be available.

In my next blog I will be discussing the current atmosphere of politics in Glendale. Watch for it. There will be some interesting dynamics to share.

© Joyce Clark, 2023     

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.

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.

You know it’s really political season when candidates file their first Candidate Committee Financial Report. These reports hit the Glendale City Clerk’s office on Tuesday, January 16, 2024. All of my information can be obtained on this city website:   https://docs.glendaleaz.com/WebLink/CustomSearch.aspx?SearchName=Elections&cr=1 .    Click on the type of report you wish to view and then click on the name of the candidate committee. Typically, there isn’t too much to see in these first reports. That’s because until these self-proposed candidates file their nominating petitions with registered voters’ signatures in early March they are not legally candidates until those nominating petitions are received by the Glendale City Clerk. The first step for any would-be candidate is to file a Statement of Organization which formally creates a Candidate Committee that can collect contributions and pay expenses. Here is a list of candidates to date and the positions they seek:

  • The current Mayor, Jerry Weiers, filed his Mayoral Candidate Committee on May 2, 2022. The filing lists Weiers as Chairperson of the committee and Michael W. Law as the Treasurer.
  • Paul Boyer filed his Mayoral Candidate Committee on February 2, 2023. His filing lists himself as Chairperson and Treasurer.
  • Current Councilmember Jamie Aldama filed his Mayoral Candidate Committee on May 16, 2023. His filing lists himself as Chairperson and Treasurer.
  • Patty Ortega filed her Yucca district Candidate Committee on February 27, 2023, and lists herself as Chairperson and Treasurer. She has since dropped out from the race and is no longer a candidate.
  • Lupe Encinas filed her Yucca district Candidate Committee on March 1, 2023, and lists her Chair as Natalie Stahl and her Treasurer as Jody Serey.
  • Diana Guzman filed her Yucca district Candidate Committee on September 5, 2023, and lists herself as Chair and Treasurer.
  • Current Councilmember Ray Malnar filed his Sahuaro district Candidate Committee on September 25, 2023. He lists himself as Chair and Treasurer. As of this date he is running unopposed.
  • Current Councilmember Ian Hugh filed his Cactus district Candidate Committee on January 16, 2024.  He lists himself as Chair and his wife, Sharon, as Treasurer. As of Tuesday, January 16, 2024, Jose Conchas has picked up a packet of information for running but has not filed a Statement of Organization.

This blog will focus on the Mayoral Candidates, how much money they have raised to date, who their large contributors are and what expenses they have incurred. The next blog will focus on the City Council candidates.

Mayor Jerry Weiers, the incumbent, is the gorilla in the room. He has raised $234,885.79 with $34,418.75 coming from his last election cycle. To date he has spent $24,907.33 leaving him with a hefty war chest of $209,978.45. Those contributors who gave the maximum amount of $6,550 are:

  • Louis Sands IV, CEO of Sands Chevrolet
  • Beverly Petty, CFO of Avanti Glass
  • Jerry Petty, CEO of Avanti Glass
  • Mark Meyer, Partner of AZ Organics
  • James Lamon, CEO, self-employed
  • Francis Tesmer, CEO of Rolf’s Global
  • Dustin Petty, COO of Avanti Window Products
  • John Crow, CEO of Century 21 Northwest
  • Maurice Tanner, CEO of M.R. Tanner
  • Julian Petty, Manager of Avanti Window Products
  • Jogn Zyadet, Construction, no employer listed
  • Rania Zyadet, homemaker
  • Ed Bailey, Maven Strategic Partners
  • Jerry Reinsdorf, CEO of Chicago White Sox

These Political Action Committees (PACs) have contributed:

  • Republic Services, Inc. PAC
  • Cemex Inc. Employees PAC
  • Valley Partnership Action Committee
  • Southwest Gas AZ PAC
  • Pinnacle West PAC
  • Salt River Project PAC
  • Surprise Firefighters PAC

His largest expenses to date have been:

  • Bilstein Consulting, $14,465.00 for petition signature gathering
  • NextGen, LLC, $6,000.00 for opposition research
  • Grassroots Partners, $1,742.14 for website and business cards

The only rumor or speculation that has come to my attention is that Mayor Weiers may receive endorsements from Public Safety organizations. The other is that he is not done raising money for his campaign and we can expect to see his war chest grow.

Next up is Paul Boyer, Mayoral candidate. He has raised $26,432.36 with $2,357.12 coming from his last election cycle for state senator. To date he has spent $9,528.48 leaving him with a balance of $16,761.41. No contributor gave the maximum amount although some have come close. Here are some of his largest contributors:

  • Elaine Scruggs, Retired, former Mayor of Glendale
  • Yvonne and David Knaack, retired, former Glendale City Councilmember
  • Charles and Lorraine Zomak, downtown Glendale business owners
  • Mark Burdick, Fire Chief, Arizona Fire & Medical Authority, former mayoral candidate
  • Andrew Kunasek, Principal, Arizona Strategies
  • Robert and Janeen Knockenhauer, requested information not provided
  • Jane Short, requested information not provided
  • Gary Sherwood, Consultant for ?
  • Tom Cole, Former Fire Union, current Glendale Planning Commission member
  • Al and Nancy Lennox, retired
  • Gerald and Susan Bernstein, retired
  • Bruce Heatwole, retired
  • Tom Shannon, Fire Chief, City of Scottsdale
  • Mario Diaz, Govt. Relations, Mario E. Diaz & Associates
  • Mike Gardner, Consultant, Policy 48
  • Patrick Cantelme, Retired, former Fire Union President
  • Robert Heidt, former President & CEO, Glendale Chamber
  • Coit Burner, Owner, Bears & More, downtown Glendale
  • Ed Bailey, Managing Partner, VCP Funding

No contributions have been received from Political Action Committees.

His largest expenditures to date have been:

  • BW Creative Agency, $4,000.00 for website
  • Campaign Sidekick, $2,475.00 for voter and walk lists
  • 923 Consulting, $1,500.00 for consulting

Rumors and/or speculation that have come to my attention are that those who have worked with him professionally don’t like him very much. As you will see, he and Aldama seemed to have split the downtown Glendale support between them. Someone who attended an event in the Cholla district relayed that Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff introduced Paul Boyer “as the next Mayor of Glendale.” As of this date she has not endorsed Mayor Weiers. FYI: Boyer couldn’t even get the date right for submission of his financial report, using “2/16/2024” instead of 1/16/2024.

Finally, current Councilmember Jamie Aldama, Mayoral Candidate. He has raised $83,668.12 with $16,197.12 coming from his last election cycle. To date he has spent $18,975.43 leaving him with a balance of $64,692.69.

There is one contribution of the maximum ($6,550) by Brian Gallimore, Construction, WSP. Some of his more notable contributors are:

  • Robert Heidt, former President & CEO, Glendale Chamber
  • Richard Vangelisti, Real Estate Investment, downtown Glendale
  • Carlos Arellano, Self-Employed ?
  • Maria Brunner, former Chair of Glendale Chamber
  • Guillermo Gonzalez, Operator, Gonzalez Asphalt
  • Ron Short, Retired, Glendale Historical Society
  • Alice Roach, Retired
  • Haithern Haddad, Owner, Best Quality Construction
  • Bill Scheel, Self-Employed ?
  • Rudy and Soledad Molina, Self-Employed?

He received one Political Action Committee contribution from the UFCW PAC.

His greatest expenses to date have been:

  • $8,000.00 for consulting
  • $7,036.00 for consulting

Rumors and/or speculation that have come to my attention are just who will claim the support of those downtown shop owners that have a history of being disgruntled with anything the city does? Everyone is wondering just when Aldama will resign as Councilmember to officially run for Mayor. Word is he seems to be relying on two communities of interest to finance his campaign—the Hispanic community and the construction community. Beyond those two groups his support base is pretty thin.

Next up—a look at council candidates campaign committee filings.

© Joyce Clark, 2023     

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.

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