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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

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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.

May 23

21

Uniter, consensus builder, man of the people…really?

Posted by Joyce Clark on May 21, 2023
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale election 2024  | Tagged With: , , , | 1 Comment

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’m going to begin by relating facts. Facts do not lie although they can be manipulated to prove either side of an issue. Here are some of those stubborn facts:

  • Glendale’s population is between 253,000 and 256,000, depending on which site is used to obtain information.
  • The number of active voters in Glendale is 118,846 or 46% of the total population.
  • In the 2020 election (mayoral contest with higher voter totals), 37,761 people voted or 32% of all active voters in the city.
  • In the Ocotillo district there are about 12,000 registered voters.
  • Aldama captured a little over 1,200 votes or 15% of all the registered voters in the district.
  • The Cholla, Sahuaro and Barrell districts (generally north Glendale) account for 60% of the total votes cast and Cactus, Ocotillo and Yucca districts produce 40% of the votes cast.
  • A majority of voters (over 55%) are age 50 or older.
  • A voter turnout of 32% is slightly lower than many other valley cities. Less than 40% of all registered voters (or less than 20% of the total population) will decide who becomes the next mayor.

Glendale is not an anomaly and is typical of many cities. Less than half of Glendale’s residents vote. That is not surprising considering that many people are focused on making a living and paying the bills. If it’s not a NIMBY (not in my backyard) issue, they generally do not care about or focus on who is running the city. I remember polling done during one of my many election races when people were asked to identify the mayor from a list of names, only 3% could identify who was the Mayor of Glendale.

What do these facts signify? Aldama is going to have a very difficult race. It’s been demonstrated that he is not wildly popular in his own district, Ocotillo. It will be difficult for him to gather a majority of votes in the three northern districts.

In Aldama’s recent announcement, the Arizona Republic said, “Aldama then pointed out that in 2018, when he ran for reelection, Weiers endorsed his opponent, Emmanuel Allen.” That was 5 years ago. Is Aldama’s internal motive for running payback for Weiers’ previous endorsement of someone else? Does Aldama feel disrespected by Mayor Weiers?

Also, the Arizona Republic said that Aldama wants to find consensus among the city council and to unify the city. Let’s look at these public goals. He wants to become the great unifier. I defy anyone to find a city council where all 7 members agree. That is how democracy works. What Aldama does not say, as part of a minority on council, is that he wants his side to become the majority.

As for unification of the city, that’s just meaningless rhetoric. What does that really mean? Unification along racial, ethnic or income standards? All of these identifiers produce people who have had different experiences and knowledge which may not lend themselves to unification. Ask Aldama how he’s going to create unity between someone living in a million dollar home in north Glendale with someone living in a $250,000 home in south Glendale.

The Republic reported that, “Aldama also said he plans on holding one of the largest meetings with Glendale constituents…asking them for input…” If this were to happen, I suspect the attendees to be the usual, small group, current activist portion of the community each representing a specific issue.

As a representative form of government, councilmembers are elected by their district constituents to represent them…to lead. That’s what Aldama was elected to do. Sometimes council decisions are difficult. That’s when I turn to my constituents asking for their point of view on the issue. Perhaps his time would be better spent reaching out to his district constituents and asking them for their input so that he can truly represent them.

Lastly Aldama is quoted as saying, “…we’re going to start the healing and we’re going to bring respect back to the dais and we’re going to start to unite the community…” I ask what healing? Aldama’s hurt feelings? I ask what respect? Does Aldama feel disrespected? I certainly don’t and I suspect that is shared by most of the councilmembers. I ask what unity? On what basis? A majority of this council is unified and their decisions have brought about many positive results for Glendale.

Having sat on the dais with Councilmember Aldama for years and having observed his actions and listened to his rhetoric, Aldama will not be my choice for Mayor of Glendale.

© 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.

May 23

16

Aldama takes the plunge

Posted by Joyce Clark on May 16, 2023
Posted in City Council Actions • City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale election 2024  | Tagged With: , , , , | 1 Comment

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.

Today, May 16, 2023, Jamie Aldama announced his run for mayor of Glendale. He joins incumbent Mayor Jerry Weiers and another wanna-be, Paul Boyer making it a three-way contest.

I am not running again for the Yucca district council seat. More on who I will endorse later. When I complete this term in 2024, I will have served twenty-four years as a Glendale councilmember, off and on since 1992. I served from 1992-1996; then from 2000 -2012; and then again from 2016 to the present. Not running again allows me to speak my mind (more than I usually do!) about current Glendale politics and issues.

I will be blogging a lot about this upcoming election but for today, let’s review some history about Aldama’s previous runs for office. He was first elected in 2014, 9 years ago. In that election he literally squeaked by the incumbent, Councilmember Norma Alvarez.  He collected 1,221 votes and Alvarez had 1202 votes. Aldama won by 19 votes.

Aldama ran for his second term in 2018, against Emmanuel Allen and garnered 1,299 votes against Allen’s 784.  He increased his vote total by 78 votes in four years. His third run in 2022 was uncontested and Aldama picked up 1,788 votes. However, Bart Turner ran uncontested in the Barrell district and earned 5,152 votes and Lauren Tolmachoff ran uncontested in the Cholla district and garnered 8,380 votes.

There are about 12,000 registered voters in the Ocotillo district. Approximately 15% of the district’s registered voters voted for Aldama.  Turner came in with 25% of the approximately 20,000 registered voters in his district. Lauren Tolmachoff earned 33% of the approximately 25,000 voters in the Cholla district. Aldama doesn’t seem to have an impressive track record when one is ambitious enough to run for Mayor of all of Glendale.

In the Glendale Independent newspaper, Aldama is quoted as saying, “He says he has had his sights set on running for mayor for a while. ‘The plan to run for mayor has been in place since the inception of running (for councilmember in 2014) but really took hold about three years ago,’ he said. ‘It really took hold after my 2018 election where the division among the council was at its worst.’

It’s certainly no surprise to me. I always assumed that he would run for mayor. What is surprising is that he reneged on his pledge to Mayor Weiers that he would not be running against him.

Aldama has always impressed me as being calculating because of his mayoral ambitions and it has been demonstrated time and time again in his votes and the issues for which he chooses to advocate. They seem to be calculated to curry favor.

In his Glendale Independent announcement, he also stated that he was running “on a platform of uniting a leadership team on city council he calls ‘divided.’” The characterization of this city council may be perceived as correct but he fails to acknowledge that he along with 2 other councilmembers have created that division. Four of us, Mayor Weiers, Councilmembers Hugh, Malnar and I, as a majority, have voted time and time again to create a strong, healthy and vibrant community while Aldama, Turner and Tolmachoff have shown varying degrees of support.

There will be more to share in upcoming blogs on all kinds of political doings including those I mention in this blog. So, stay tuned. More is coming…a lot more…

© 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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