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

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