Header image alt text

Joyce Clark Unfiltered

For "the rest of the story"

Apr 24

18

Second filing of Candidate Committee Financial Reports

Posted by Joyce Clark on April 18, 2024
Posted in Cactus District • Candidate campaign committee financial reports • City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale election 2024 • Yucca district  | Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments yet, please leave one

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.

 I am really pleased to see the number of Glendale candidates that filed clean Candidate Committee Financial Reports. Their current reports do not show any major expenditures.

I don’t expect to see large contributions or expenditures until the 3rd or 4th reports filed later this election cycle. That is except for Mayor Weiers who had reported a massive amount of campaign contributions in his first filing.

Here are the candidates that filed appropriately and the cash they have on hand as of April 1, 2024:  

                           Honor Roll for this reporting Period                                                                                                                         

  • Mayor Jerry Weiers                                            $219,409.79
  • Vice Mayor Ian Hugh, Cactus district                   $  29,278.60
  • Lupe Conchas, Cactus candidate                         $  11,481.90
  • Councilmember Ray Malnar, Sahuaro district        $    2,131.47
  • Dianna Guzman, Yucca candidate                        $    6,572.49

I have not included mayoral candidate Jamie Aldama or Yucca candidate Encinas for both had errors in this period’s filing. I also did not include mayoral candidate Paul Boyer’s filing for he failed to turn in nominating petitions and is no longer a candidate for mayor.

At the bottom of the first page are the Summary Figures. Here it what it looks like.

 (a) is a simple entry. You take the balance you had from the last reporting period and enter it here. (b) asks for the total amount of money collected during this reporting period. That goes in the first column. In the second column you add all the money you received prior to this reporting period plus the money received during this reporting period. (c) asks for the total amount of money spent during this reporting period. That goes in the first column. In the second column you add all the money you spent prior to this reporting period plus the money spent during this reporting period.(d) asks for the balance by subtracting what was spent this reporting period from what was received during this reporting period.

Simple? No? Well, not for some candidates. Lupe Encinas, Yucca candidate got nearly all of it wrong.

  • Her starting balance is $1,650.38 and this is accurate.
  • The second line is wrong according to her report. She said she received $688.07 this reporting period with just two contributions of $236.07 and $100 plus a personal loan of $350.00 (which, by the way, totals $686.07, not $688.07). Instead she filled in $3, 286.17. Where did this number even come from? The second column on that line is blank and should have reflected the money she received from the first reporting period plus money received from the current report reporting period.
  • The third line is wrong as well. According to her report she spent $300 and $565.76 for a total of $915.76 not the $1,883.45 she reports in column 1. The second column which is blank should show what she had spent previously plus what she spent this reporting period.
  • The third line is wrong also. Because her previous lines had the wrong information, this line results in the wrong balance.

Her current cash on hand for this current reporting period is $1,215.97. When and if her numbers are corrected this will prove to be wrong as well.

What’s even more unsettling is that she has a campaign treasurer, Jo Ellen Serey and between both reviewing the figures, both got it wrong. This is not rocket science. It’s a simple matter of paying attention to the details. How will Encinas perform during the council’s budget season discussions, usually lasting 3 months with intensive, detailed homework required? The last thing we all want to see is a repeat of her comment regarding my review of her first filing when she said she thought her report was “amazing.”

Aldama is a different matter. He has run before and has filed over 30 of these reports. On his second report of this cycle filed by the due date of April 15th, his Summary Figures were wrong. The following day he submitted an Amended Report and corrected those numbers. However, he still failed to include information on Schedule A(1), Monetary Contributions from Campaign Committees. On his first report of this cycle, he reported that his Council candidate committee (now terminated) had given his mayoral committee $16,197.12. He failed to include that on his current filing on Schedule A(1) under the column “Cumulative Amount this Election Cycle.”

He also failed to include information in his current filing on Schedule A(1)(a), Monetary Contributions from Political Action Committees. Again, on his first report of this campaign cycle, he reported that the UFCW PAC had donated $5,000, which was moved to his mayoral campaign committee. It, too, should have been carried forward on his latest campaign filing. These items would change “Election Cycle to Date” numbers on his currently submitted Financial Summary sheet.

His current cash on hand is $64,692.69.

I would suggest that these candidates consider hiring a professional to complete these reports so that accurate public information is provided.

© 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.

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.

Jan 24

19

The political season is finally upon us

Posted by Joyce Clark on January 19, 2024
Posted in Cactus District • Candidate campaign committee financial reports • City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Downtown Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale election 2024 • Ocotillo District • Primary Election August 2024 • Sahuaro District • Yucca district  | Tagged With: , , , , , , , , | No Comments yet, please leave one

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.