Today I received via snail mail an 8 1/2” X 11” mailer from the Arizona Free Enterprise Organization. Below are pictures of the front and back sides of the mailer.
Presumably it was mailed to all registered voters in the Yucca district of Glendale. That is the district Councilmember Chavira represents. It also is the district that is home to Jobing.com Arena and the proposed Tohono O’odham casino, two perpetually hot topics. They sent a similar mailing on Councilmember Sherwood of the Sahuaro district. While councilmembers Martinez and Knaack are retiring and will not run again, Sherwood is up for reelection in 2016. This is the majority coalition these days.
Although Chavira does not stand for reelection until 2016 it looks like he is going to have a tough time politically for the next two years. It couldn’t happen to a nicer fella. Let’s hope he’s a one term councilmember. Chavira voted in favor of the arena management deal that requires the city to pay $15 million dollars annually. He also supports raising Glendale’s property tax rate by 2% and removing the sunset provision that would have ended the temporary sales tax increase in 2017. His decisions demonstrate that he is comfortable with raising taxes or keeping them high to satisfy the monetary needs of Jobing.com Arena at taxpayer expense. All of this from a guy who ran a campaign with considerable financial support from the fire unions and Councilmember Alvarez. I bet she’s biting nails because she supported him. To date he has not supported her on any major issue she espouses. He ran promising fiscal responsibility. That promise didn’t last long.
I really didn’t know anything about the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) until I googled them. I did know that they had joined with Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett in a suit about campaign funding. It went all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled in AFEC’s favor. Here’s the link if you are interested: http://www.azfree.org/ . They describe themselves as, “The Arizona Free Enterprise Club was founded in 2005 as a free market, pro-growth advocacy group dedicated to Arizona issues and politics. Our mission is to promote policies and candidates that encourage economic prosperity and limited government for all businesses and taxpayers. The Club is a 501(C)(4) and is not affiliated with any other group or organization.”
Stay tuned. It looks like the next several years are going to be very interesting in Glendale politically.
© Joyce Clark, 2014
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Joyce…
All you have to do is look at who’s Chairman of AFEC. He’s also on the board for the Goldwater Institute. Imagine that.
IIRC…. AFEC was also behind the robocall campaign against one of the earlier arena deals that GWI was fighting. It was speculated at the time that AFEC was serving as GWI’s political pit bull because they themselves were prohibited by their tax exempt status from any political activities.
All of that is true but the registered voters in the Yucca district will probably not be aware of the connection. It’s the same sort of stuff Chavira and his pals used against me.
Exactly what I thought too. I wonder if someone will get the word out about this group??
Hi Joyce,
I received the same mailer today except with Sherwood’s name in place of Chavira. I am in Sahuaro district so that makes sense.
Jay
Sammy’s ‘campaign’ promises were a complete sham, based on this flyer: http://s16.postimg.org/gs0tcxopx/Chavira_Flyer.jpg
The best quote, “Glendale has a great future, but not if the city makes bad deals, builds up long-term debt and continues to jeopardize our credit rating. Responsible government has to pay for its operations as it goes and can’t take taxpayer dollars for granted.”
I hope many more Yucca residents will be calling his office and soon.
Hey, isn’t 6/5/2012 (last headline) from before Chavira and Sherwood got elected?
Not a bad mailer, as far as slanted political junk mail goes. Wonder how much traction it’ll get.
Yes. As for traction, if past is any indicator, quite a bit.
“His decisions demonstrate that he is comfortable with raising taxes or keeping them high to satisfy the monetary needs of Jobing.com Arena at taxpayer expense.” Why leave out the debt payments on Camelback Ranch? Isn’t that also in, or rather next to, his district? I know he didn’t vote for it, but he has to realize that having that albatross in his district without a revenue generator next to it will reflect poorly upon him.
Hi Joyce – As you know, I have lived in the Yucca district for a long time. I have never received anything from Council member Chavira.