Jul 20

10

Let’s peel back the Robertson onion some more, Part III

Posted by Joyce Clark on July 10, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale election 2020 • Glendale finances • Glendale's Fire Union | Tagged With: Bryce Alexander, City of Glendale, Councilmember Clark, local fire union, local police unions, Mayor Weiers, Michelle Robertson, Primary Election Aug 4th, union release time positions | 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.

In my previous blog I’ve described the various groups that have coalesced supporting the candidacies of Michelle Robertson and Bryce Alexander. Why? It seems to be an “anyone but the current leadership” kind of moment where these groups are encouraging voters to support a rock, a clown or a zero rather than leadership that brought the city off the cliff of possible bankruptcy.

What is the union’s beef in this election cycle? Arick O’Hara is the Glendale chapter President of the International Fire Fighters Union (IAFF). Justin Harris is the President of the Glendale Law Enforcement Association (GLEA) and Julie Pendergast is the President of the Glendale chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). All of them are leading the charge to unseat Mayor Weiers and/or me. There is no polite way to say that they hate us, have declared war and will use whatever is necessary to get rid of us.

Did you know that you, the taxpayer, pay union representatives to conduct union business during their working hours instead of paying them for their duties as a firefighter or police officer? It’s called union “release time.” What other cities in the Valley pay for union release time? Only Phoenix. No other city, not Scottsdale, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Peoria or Surprise pay employees to conduct union activities during that employee’s work day. If you think they are not heavily involved in Glendale’s election activities, you are mistaken. Even though such election activities are in violation of the federal Hatch Act.

Every two years the city negotiates a renewal of an agreement on the pay and benefits for all public safety employees (commonly known as “represented employees”). When the previous agreement (2017) was negotiated and accepted, it included two union release positions for the fire union and two union release positions for police unions, one for GLEA and one for the FOP.

Think about this. You, the taxpayer, pay for union representatives to negotiate enhanced fire and police pay and benefits agreements with the City, which is, in essence, you. So you’re paying both sides of the table. You’re paying city employees to negotiate on your behalf and to protect your interest as a taxpayer and you’re paying for union representatives to negotiate for their union members getting the best pay and benefits possible for their membership – at your expense.

Subsequent to the agreement accepted two years ago, there was a rash of school shootings. Council wanted to make sure every high school in Glendale had a school resource officer. A few schools did have a resource officer and paid for the position. Others did not and chose to use their school funding for things other than a school resource officer. So the city council stepped up to the plate and with each high school’s approval placed a resource officer on each high school campus, paid for by the City of Glendale.

The funding had to come from somewhere else as the yearly budget and its expenditures had already been approved by council several months earlier. Council decided to eliminate one taxpayer funded fire union release position and one police union release position leaving each union with one release time position. No one lost their job. With each release position there were also extra hours of release time. The cost of each release position and the extra dedicated hours is in the $200,000 to $250,000 range per representative. Four union release positions and additional hours came to between $750,000 to a million dollars a year.

Each union went ballistic. How dare the city eliminate a release time position! A release position in fire was eliminated and the person occupying that position, Tony Butch, left and went to another city. FOP President Julie Pendergast’s release time position was eliminated. Julie remains in a non-patrol position within the department and has never forgotten or forgiven the loss of her use of release time.

There is more to this story. Here are the real funding numbers for each department for the past 5 years:

Fire Department

Fiscal Year 2017 actual budget $43,637,282.00
Fiscal Year 2018 actual budget $46,472,394.00
Fiscal Year 2019 actual budget $49,866.189.00
Fiscal Year 2020 budget estimate $52,127,595.00
Fiscal Year 2021 budget request $53, 501,963.00

In 5 years the Fire Department budget increased by nearly $10 million dollars or about 20% a year, far above any annual inflation rate.

Police Department

Fiscal Year 2017 actual budget $87,206,875.00
Fiscal Year 2018 actual budget $91,831,365.00
Fiscal Year 2019 actual budget $98,529,310.00
Fiscal Year 2020 budget estimate $102,471,164.00
Fiscal Year 2021 budget request $104,742,510.00

In 5 years the Police Department budget increased by $17 million dollars or about 5% a year, again greater than the yearly inflation rate.

In addition, the Fire Department, in this year’s budget alone, received additional, one-time, supplemental funding of $411,000 and the Police Department received $100,000 in supplemental funding.

One final fact to consider is that both Glendale firefighters and police officers rank among the top three paid agencies in the Valley. And oh, by the way Glendale firefighters work 52 hours compared to every other agency in the Valley that works 56 hours.

Here’s something else to think about. Fire and Police are the largest consumers of the city’s General Fund operating budget coming in between 65% and 70% annually. This council can always give them more money but when is enough, enough? More money to Public Safety means less money for every other city department funded by the General Fund. What are you willing to cut to increase Public Safety’s insatiable appetite for funding? Parks, Libraries, City Court, Community Services to the underserved and Transportation, including our streets repair program, all compete for the same funding as Public Safety. Each year’s budget is a balancing act by city council through prioritization to fund as many departmental needs as possible. Clearly this council has been generous to both departments over the past 5 years.

Why go after the mayor or me for the elimination of union release positions? We are running opposed and Councilmembers Hugh and Malnar have no opposition. They would have taken out these councilmembers as well if the opportunity existed. It is a given that they would support anyone running against any of us. If any opposition was talking and breathing, that was good enough reason for the unions to support them.

Their goal is to get rid of the mayor, or me, hoping that there will no longer be council majority support for decisions not to their liking.

What is disappointing is that the police unions have joined the fire union is this political warfare. They should heed this warning: the fire union will stab you in the back if it is in their best interest. They come first. Police unions, you are a distant second and you know this. A stunning question to ask is why would the police unions support Democrat candidates whose presidential nominee has finally come out in favor of ‘defunding the police’?

If they succeed they will acquire political influence with the installation of Robertson and Alexander, willing to grant the fire union its agenda. Glendale could repeat the debacle of Ed Beasley and a fire union influenced administration, plunging the city into debt once again. After all, who will Robertson and Alexander owe if they win? Both are relative unknowns and neither has historically been part of community leadership or been involved in Glendale’s affairs by serving on a city board or commission and has no real working knowledge of Glendale’s affairs.

Anyone can run for any elected office as long as they meet the minimum qualifications such as being of a certain age and living in the jurisdiction to be represented. You, the voter, should expect more than that. What experience within the community do they possess? What do they plan to do to make your life better? Where do they stand on raising taxes? If Robertson and Alexander are not offering that kind of information perhaps they don’t deserve your vote. How long can they hide behind the buzz words we have heard ad nausea…like ‘transparency’? What the heck does that mean anyhow?

Glendale is the 7^th largest city in the state with the adoption of this fiscal year’s budget of $747 million dollars…nearly ¾ of a billion dollars. It is the country’s 88^th largest city out of nearly 20,000 incorporated cities in the United States. Glendale is no longer a small, ‘podunk’ city. It is a large suburban community reflecting the diversity of our country. You, the voter in Glendale, deserve to know each candidate’s position on a variety of issues that are important to you. Yet all Robertson and Alexander have offered is what’s wrong with Glendale. How about some positivity by sharing their vision and plans for Glendale and you? That’s not what you are getting from them.

Glendale deserves better than two liberal Democrats, whose seats were bought and paid for by the unions. Two politicians willing to sacrifice your needs for those of the unions.

Unfortunately that is politics.

Now you know who is backing Michelle Robertson and Bryce Alexander and their motives for doing so. It is important information that every voter in Glendale deserves to know.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2020}

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Jul 20

8

Let’s peel back the Robertson onion some more, Part II

Posted by Joyce Clark on July 8, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale election 2020 • Glendale finances • Glendale's Fire Union | Tagged With: cemetery group, City of Glendale, downtown dissidents, fire union, Glendale Primary Election Aug. 4th, past political losers, Save Glen Lakes | 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.

In my blog of June 23, 2020 entitled “Will the real Robertson please stand up?” I shared typical Facebook postings of Mayoral candidate Michelle Robertson now publicly available only to friends and family, I am told. They represent the causes and values in which she believes. Why wouldn’t she want everyone to see these? Why suddenly limit them only to friends and family? In this blog I will take a look at who is supporting and backing her candidacy and their likely motives for doing so. Even though Glendale elections are officially non–partisan, Michelle Robertson is a Democrat activist who reportedly reached out to local Democrat groups to ask them to help her “capture” the Mayor’s office.

Unions: It appears the largest backers are the ones with the most money and manpower to spend on her behalf and that would be…wait for it…the unions, with their bottomless bank accounts and deceptive attack ads. The list is the ‘Who’s Who’ of unions and most of them are from outside Glendale and they really have no interest in or connection to Glendale.

When I shared screen shots from her Facebook page one that was not included was this one. It demonstrates her long standing support of unions. Is that why you, an interested voter, can no longer see it?

Downtown dissidents: There are others who have decided to back Robertson, because they are angry with the current leadership of the City and have their own axes to grind. Let’s begin with the most visible representative of the downtown Glendale merchants, Cheryl Knappes. She represents a small coterie of merchants who continue to fight any changes to downtown, to the detriment of the entire downtown area and efforts to revitalize the area.

Save Glen Lakes: Another group that is unhappy with Glendale’s leadership is the ‘Save Glen Lakes’ group, one of whose leaders is Jane Bachman. The fact that the council had given approval to the city manager to sell the Glen Lakes property guaranteed their opposition. It had become a financial sinkhole at nearly a million dollars a year to maintain and operate and it needed very costly updates.

Past political losers: Then there is, for want of a better term, the political group. These are people who have run and lost, or who used to work for the city and lost their positions. The most currently visible among them is Mark Burdick, former Fire Chief, who never produced a balanced budget and ran against the mayor in the last election cycle and lost.

I must digress to show what happens when the fire union calls the shots. Our former City Manager, Ed Beasley (city manager from 2002 to 2012), was advised on major issues by our fire union. They were members of Beasley’s inner circle. Due to the influence of the Glendale fire union when Beasley left in 2012 Glendale was heavily in debt and teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Is this what we are to expect if Robertson is elected and controlled by Glendale’s fire union?

Burdick has made a formal endorsement of Robertson. Add to this mix former Councilmember Yvonne Knaack who has always been an ally of the fire unions because of their support in every one of her elections; and current Councilmember Bart Turner who has made no secret of his absolute disdain for the mayor and our city manager. He has also formally endorsed Robertson. Bruce Heatwole, former Councilmember, and close friend of Bart Turner, offered an endorsement as did Sammy Chavira, disgraced former Glendale Councilmember and a Phoenix firefighter.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and free expression of them. That the beauty of our system. They are free to support any candidate of their choosing but it is important for voters to to know the reason for their position/opinion causing their support of Robertson.That is how democracy works. There is a world of difference between supporting a candidate because you have the same positions or supporting a candidate to settle a grudge with his or her opponent. We all deserve better than that.

In my next blog we’ll take a closer look at the unions’ motivation for supporting Robertson and Alexander…and it ain’t pretty.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2020}

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Jul 20

7

Payback’s a b–ch

Posted by Joyce Clark on July 7, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale election 2020 • Glendale's Fire Union • Heroes Park • West Branch Library • Yucca district election 2020 | Tagged With: Bryce Alexander, City of Glendale, Councilmember Joyce Clark, Glendale Fire Union, Yucca district Primary Election Aug. 4th | 11 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.

Bryce Alexander

The first mailer on behalf of my opponent arrived in district mailboxes on July 6^th. Who paid for it? Guess. How about a specially created political action committee (PAC) called ‘First Responders for a Safe Glendale’ with major funding from the Phoenix Fire Fighters Local 493 Fire PAC? That would be a very good guess.

It should raise this question for every voter. Why is a Phoenix fire union PAC sending mailers out for a Glendale election? That one’s easy…because President Arick O’Hara of the Glendale fire union asked them to do so. This tactic is typical of every election in every jurisdiction in the state. By federal law, Glendale fire fighters are not supposed to conduct political activity in the city in which they work. To get around that pesky federal regulation the Glendale chapter asks all of the other local chapters to do the work and finance the effort instead. Whether it’s paying for and sending out a mailer such as this one; paying for and putting out campaign signs; or walking for their chosen candidate. ..that’s how they get around federal regulations.

Even though this mailer is classified as an independent mailer not authorized by the candidate, don’t be fooled. Wink. Wink.

The fire union comes out of the closet and blatantly identifies Mr. Alexander as a Democrat in the mailer. There is nothing wrong with that except for the fact that Glendale’s elections are non-partisan. Up until now, a candidate has typically not been identified with a particular political party.

I think the fire fighters union would get an A+ in “creative writing” or in plain English, fudging on the truth… lying. It says on the mailer, “As a successful Glendale business owner, he’s created good paying jobs right here in our community.” That’s a hoot! Mr. Alexander opened an art gallery in downtown Glendale that lasted for maybe, a year. That’s how “successful” his business was. It bled red ink and created not one “good paying job right here in our community.”

The fire union then trashes our police officers by implying that they have been unable to “build respect and support between officers and all residents.” Residents from diverse groups, over the years, have expressed to me and to the department, their respect for our officers and have often thanked them for the job they do daily “to protect and to serve” all of us.

The fire union then turns to the use of those buzz words again of “transparency” and “ethics.” Remember what I said. This is a typical ploy used for a candidate who has no platform and nothing upon which to run.

The fire union claims he will work for, “city budgeting that values parks, libraries and our unique quality of life.” They might just as well have used the slogan, “truth, justice and the American way” for all of the meaning that their phrasing promises. I have been doing those things for years witnessed by my successes in getting Phase I of Heroes Park Library built; successfully ensuring that Heroes Park Lake will be built next year; ensuring that Heroes Park completion is in the city’s Capital Improvement Program; and successfully gaining approval for a 4 year, $10 million a year program to upgrade every park in our city.

The fire union claims that I “vote the party line at City Hall.” What party? Perhaps they are confused and are referring to the Independent Party? I don’t blindly vote for all things in the context of the fire union and what they want. I have supported parts of their agenda such as voting for advanced medical response units but I have never blindly supported all of their “gimmees.”

The fire union then claims I fired “Glendale’s independent government watchdog,” the city auditor. I have no authority to hire or fire anyone in Glendale government with the exception of the 4 direct reports to city council: the city manager, the city attorney, the city judge and the city clerk.

Lastly the fire union claims that I “rewarded political supporter with $5 million city contract.” There can be no response to this because it’s an outright lie. All contracts for more than $50,000 are awarded through a city Request for Proposal system administered by the city’s Procurement Division. When a contract is presented to this council for approval, I am the only councilmember to consistently vote against 5 year contracts because those contracts may last longer than council positions which are 4 years in length. I have said consistently that contracts should be 4 years or less and then put out for bid again. I have also opposed 5 year contracts for usual items and services that are not specialized. They should be put out to bid on a frequent schedule to insure the city is getting the best price possible.

I expected this election to be “no holds barred” for the fire union is desperate to get rid of the mayor and/or I. Why? I will be offering several future blogs in the coming days that may help you to understand why they are freaking out and throwing everything against the wall to see what will stick.

I’m not surprised by any of this for this is what the fire union is known for in every election. They fight dirty and try to smear the incumbent candidate especially if their chosen candidate is incredibly weak which happens to be the case with Alexander.

Just remember, the fire union is not pouring thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of manpower to back Alexander (and mayoral candidate Robertson) out of the goodness of their hearts. The fire union is racking up a lot of IOUs in backing Alexander and they will expect pay back.

Mr. Alexander, what are you willing to do to make good on those fire union IOUs?

Payback’s a bitch.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2020}

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Jul 20

6

A Personal View

Posted by Joyce Clark on July 6, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale Economic Development • Glendale elected officials • Glendale election 2020 • Glendale finances • Yucca district • Yucca district election 2020 | Tagged With: Bryce Alexander, City of Glendale, Councilmember Joyce Clark, Yucca district Primary Election Aug. 4th | 3 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.

For the past seven years I have blogged about Glendale issues…the good, the bad and the ugly. Whether on city council or off I do not plan to stop.

Cardinals Way Dedication

I am running for re election as your Yucca district councilmember because I love this city and I love its people. I love representing you and I am good at it. It is an honor and privilege to serve you. My experience as a councilmember has given me the advantage of understanding how to maneuver within the corridors of power to achieve objectives that benefit Glendale’s residents and especially Yucca district residents. I always do my homework and research on every issue that comes before council. Residents and staff alike acknowledge my strength in this area. I have always been accessible to all. I listen to all points of view and have been known to change my position as the result of a strong, well reasoned argument. I have always been mindful of my expenditures because the money I spend is yours, not mine.

This has been the strangest election campaign in history. Candidates have not been able to approach voters to meet and greet and share their personalities and positions on issues. This campaign has been all digital. That works well if all have internet access but that is not always the case and that is very concerning.

I have tried to figure out why my opponent, Bryce Alexander, is running. He has no experience in participating in the Glendale community. His background is that of a network architect. He dabbled briefly (for about a year) as a downtown Glendale art gallery owner and is currently an associate pastor at a local church.

On July 5^th on his website he finally posted what he is for and against. There are several problems with his list. First, it’s too little and too late. The very things he offers are the very things I have championed for years and for which I have a proven record. We seem to hold similar views and the only difference is that I have extensive experience and leadership in each of them.

My opponent is against police defunding. When the issue first surfaced weeks ago I immediately stated publicly that I would never support defunding the police and rather I will continue to defend the police. It’s taken him several weeks to get to the same position. One of our children is a retired law enforcement officer and as a Mom I have heard far too many horror stories of the dangers he faced. I support law enforcement…always have and always will.
My opponent is against new taxes. I have a proven record of no property tax increases for the past 4 years.
Bryce Alexander

That, and my reputation as a fiscal conservative, is my record.
My opponent says he is strong on crime prevention. Again, my record proves my position. I have always supported the funding of the Glendale Police Department resulting in an agency that ranks among the top 3 agencies in the Valley in terms of officers’ pay and benefit package.
My opponent supports neighborhood revitalization. I guess he’s forgotten or maybe he’s not aware of the fact that it was my work that created the city’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program. This program, during its lifespan, awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in neighborhood grants to upgrade some of our most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
My opponent says he is strong on parks and road infrastructure maintenance. It was my suggestion, adopted by the city council last year, to allocate ten million dollars a year for the next four years to upgrade existing parks and to add new amenities. My record of support for the residential street repair program is strong and has been appreciated.
My opponent claims to be strong on transparency and ethics in government. When you don’t have any issues to claim as yours, all politicians drag out these often used buzz words. They are platitudes. During my term, I have sent out 188 weekly E Newsletters; 6 semiannual district newsletters mailed to all 11,000 households in the district; posted innumerable times alerting residents to timely issues and shared my positions on current issues on Facebook, Twitter and NextDoor. I have also written this blog for seven years discussing Glendale’s issues. I am available via email, text or phone call. All of these means of contact are offered regularly.

So, that brings us back to why is he running?

I keep thinking about a statement he posted on Facebook on June 19, 2018 that stated, “I always get that special feeling when my name appears in print.”

Draw your own conclusion about such a statement.

If you conclude that Mr. Alexander is on an ego trip, you may be right.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2020}

^{FAIR USE NOTICE}

Jun 20

23

Will the real Michelle Robertson please stand up?

Posted by Joyce Clark on June 23, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale election 2020 | Tagged With: City of Glendale, Mayor Jerry Weiers, Mayoral candidate Michelle Robertson, mayoral election, Primary Election on Aug. 4th | 7 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.

We all, well most of us, use some form of social media. It could be Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. How do we use them? We post family and friends photos. We post about ideas or values we appreciate or admire. We use social media to update the world on our status. In other words, our use of social media reflects our personalities, what we value, and what we believe in. It is a reflection of ourselves.

Recently, an intrepid user of all social media sent me a series of screen shots captured from Mayoral candidate Michelle Robertson’s Facebook pages. Out of curiosity, I went to her Facebook pages to see these postings for myself. Amazingly, they were all gone. Not some of them, but all of them. Ms. Robertson, or perhaps her campaign team, seems to have carefully scrubbed (erased) any posting that did not reflect her current, carefully cultivated image as a moderate candidate for mayor of Glendale.

Now when you look at her Facebook postings from the past two years there are very few, perhaps as a few as a half dozen postings in each year. Those postings that kept are filled with unicorns and rainbows, puppies and babies…all very benign and extremely non-controversial…unless you hate unicorns or babies!

None of the Facebook screen shots sent to me was anywhere to be seen. So, I thought I’d peel back the onion a bit and share with you a sampling of the items Ms. Robertson deleted.

The first screen shot is from July, 2017 when she was a candidate for Maricopa County Superintendent of Public Instruction. Back when Robertsom was a Democrat activist she embraced a lot of Human Rights Campaign posts and it certainly looks from this post that she supported the Black Lives Matter movement.

The second screen shot is from July, 2017 and expresses her support for the LGBTQ community and the Resist movement.

This screen shot is from August, 2019 and clearly demonstrates her support for Elizabeth Warren as her preferred Democrat Presidential candidate. There’s no expression of support for Biden, the presumptive Democrat Presidential nominee.

I don’t have any issue with her positions but these are the ideas and values that are important to Michelle Robertson. You may agree with some of them, all of them or none of them. That is not the point.

The point is that these postings represent the real Robertson and you, the voter, have the right to know what causes and ideologies she supports and what her value system is. This is the real Robertson that was erased. Why? Did she think the real Michelle Robertson would not get enough votes? Did she fear that these kinds of posts and these positions and causes might alienate Glendale voters?

I don’t think Robertson gives Glendale enough credit for its diversity of thoughts and populations. Second, I can’t imagine running for an office while hiding the real me while pretending to be something that I’m not. I’m clearly the opposite. I write my blog so that my constituents can really know what I’m thinking on a variety of issues.

As I reviewed her current postings on her campaign page I noted that while she emphasized what she described as failings of our current mayor I didn’t see what she plans to do to make Glendale “good.” For that is her campaign tag line, “Good for Glendale.” It sounds great but exactly what makes her good for Glendale?

I didn’t see any positive action that she would employ should she be elected. What’s her platform? What does she want to accomplish for you? What does she intend to do to improve your quality of life?

What I did find on her Issues page were complaints about the current mayor and a sprinkling of aspirational goals without much meat on the bones. Here’s one example: “You can count on me to be engaged in working in partnership with our state and federal legislative delegations…” That’s dandy but the city employs a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. that lobbies for every possible dollar to which the city is entitled. Doesn’t she know that Mayor Weiers served in the Arizona State Legislature and as a result of that service he developed excellent working relationships, including our present delegation?

Other very generalized promises include restoring the city’s internal audit program. The only problem with her statement is that she ignores that the city has an internal audit committee that oversees the work of an independent auditing firm; ensuring city council transparency. In order to be fully transparent, I wonder how she plans to get around confidentially protected Executive Session material; and supporting light rail. Council abandoned the concept of light rail and used the savings generated for its beefed up Pavement Management Program,

Voters should pay attention to her lack of participation in and contributions to our community, Glendale. While she says she’s lived here for most of her adult life, she doesn’t appear to have volunteered for any service on a citizen board or commission. She is not a member of Kiwanis, the Salvation Army, the Chamber of Commerce or any other non-profit organization devoted to Glendale. I see no service to the community in her resume. I suppose she can claim any career work in the fields of social services and mental health but did these positions have any relationship to Glendale? If it did I would assume she would say so.

What about attendance at Glendale 101 University? It’s available free to any resident and provides in depth knowledge about the how and why of the operations of nearly every City of Glendale department. That would have been great preparation for someone considering a run for mayor of the city.

She appears to have no legislative experience. Her only experience seems to be within the Cartwright School system. I’m not sure that would prepare anyone to take the reins of a city of 250,000 people. Her career is exclusively in education, largely as a kindergarten teacher. Her first campaign for office was for an education position because she said that was her passion. Now, suddenly, she is passionate about a Mayor’s position that has no authority over the school districts within our city? The decisions made regarding your children’s education is made by your school district’s board, not by the city.

She appears to be what many would call a “perpetual candidate.” Two years ago she ran for the Maricopa County Superintendent of Public Instruction. She lost. Well, that didn’t work out so well, so why not take a shot at running for Mayor?

There are those who seek recognition and adulation as a public figure. It makes them warm and fuzzy all over and provides validation of their self worth. Is that part of her persona? We don’t know because she has only chosen to offer platitudes, not substance. She is a ghost candidate.

Your reason to vote for her should be grounded in truths. What can you learn from her social media? Has she shared her plan for Glendale? Do you even know what her plan is? Do you value her previous experience in contributing to Glendale? For she seems to have none. Do you know where she wants to take Glendale? What exactly, makes her good for Glendale?

What she is against is irrelevant.

Ask yourself, what does she stand for? Do you share her values?

She doesn’t deserve your vote if you can’t answer those questions.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2020}

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May 20

10

It’s just politics folks, Part III

Posted by Joyce Clark on May 10, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale election 2020 • Yucca district election 2020 | Tagged With: 2020, Bryce Alexander, City of Glendale, Councilmember Joyce Clark, Mayor Weiers, Michelle Robertson, petition signatures, Primary Election Aug. 4 | No Comments yet, please leave one

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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.

In the last blog of this series I have to throw Mayor Weiers’ opponent, Michelle Robertson, into the mix. The minimum number of signatures needed to become a mayoral candidate is 1,267. She submitted a little over 2,300 signatures.

The County Recorder invalidated a substantial number of them. I don’t know exactly how many but it was a bunch. In addition, approximately half of dozen of Robertson’s circulators presumably admitted to Robertson’s attorneys that they had done some creative writing and had filled out sheets with bogus information. Her defense team, once they knew that Weiers’ attorney was preparing to call these circulators as witnesses, agreed those signatures were no good and withdrew them. When the dust settled Ms. Robertson had only 57 more signatures than the minimum of 1267 needed.

The same convicted felon that collected 43 signatures for Bryce Alexander also collected signatures for Ms. Robertson. I believe he collected in the neighborhood of 65 to 70 signatures. Invalidation of him as a circulator was as important to the Weiers campaign as it was to mine. Again, I remind you neither Weiers nor I prevailed on getting the convicted felon’s petition sheets invalidated as the judges ruled he had all of his civil rights restored and was a valid circulator.

The same paid circulator, the convicted felon, worked for both campaigns and signed the back of these 2 petition sheets. The yellow highlighting and notations are mine. I erased the photos and ask you to figure out which one is Robertson’s and which one is Alexander’s. They are eerily similar, aren’t they?

Another paid circulator signed the back of these two petition sheets. Which is Robertson’s and which is Alexander’s? They seem to be identical.

I bring all of these anomalies up for a reason. There are questionable practices being performed by some petition gathering companies and in turn, by the candidates themselves who knowingly submit questionable signatures.

When a local candidate for office turns in petition sheets to the city’s clerk, the only function of the city clerk is to certify that enough signatures have been turned in. The clerk’s office does not validate signatures. Most candidates don’t know this and therefore, don’t check their opponent’s signatures for the required number of signatures as valid. Some of us do. I did.

When a candidate believes the opponent does not have enough valid signatures the only recourse is to file a suit in Superior Court. That is the mechanism that requires the county recorder’s office to check and to validate or invalidate signatures. But it is more complicated than that. The candidate challenging signatures for validity must list every sheet number, line number and reason for challenge for each signature being questioned. The county recorder does not and will not check every signature. It will only check signatures identified by the complainant. I found somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 signatures I believed to be invalid. The county recorder agreed that 43 of those were invalid.

Another aspect of collecting signatures is the use of petition signature gathering companies. A few are reliable and honest but there are others that are not. The unreliable ones will hire any warm body willing to do the work and often do not check backgrounds. That’s how we get convicted felons going door to door to collect signatures…amid the most unusual event in our country’s history…a pandemic. I doubt that the paid circulators wore masks, gloves or social distanced when going door to door, offering the same pen for people to use when signing the petition. How many signers were put at risk? We’ll never know.

The less reputable petition companies do not validate the signatures that are collected. Why would they? In today’s market, a candidate must pay from $1.00 to $3.00 per signature. If the company had to strike invalid signatures before submitting them to the candidate, it would eat into their billing to the candidate. Some candidates have paid for sheets that are garbage…filled with invalid signatures.

The petition signature gathering process has been corrupt for years by practices such as these. That is why we see 40 or 50 challenges in court per election cycle. These practices are not conducive to good government. Filing and defending suits in court for suspected petition wrong doing are expensive and clog the courts diminishing their ability to deal with legitimate cases.

Alexander and Robertson used paid circulators to go door to door during the worst pandemic this country has ever experienced. To pursue their goals of getting on the ballot they were willing to put the public’s health during CoVid 19 at risk.

Particular to my challenge is the fact that Mr. Alexander never took the stand on his behalf to swear that he was, in fact, the circulator of the challenged petitions. He can state publicly, now that the challenge has been decided, that he did circulate those petitions. How can you believe that what he may say now is not just political expediency? One can say anything when one doesn’t have to swear to it in court. There will always be this little, grey cloud of doubt hanging over him. It should cause everyone to consider his ethics.

Mr. Alexander has this quote as a part of his banner on his Facebook page, “I am a champion of truth. I hate lies. That means I tick people off when they repeat political lies.”

Oh really?

You should judge Mr. Alexander’s declaration in the light of his quest to get on the ballot…any way possible.

P.S. On May 7th the City of Phoenix announced that for its November, 2020 election it will require candidates to use online petition signature gathering. See here:https://patch.com/arizona/phoenix/city-phoenix-launches-new-online-candidate-nomination-petition-process . Will this action remove some of the corrupt practices currently in place?

^{© Joyce Clark, 2019}

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May 20

9

It’s just politics folks, Part II

Posted by Joyce Clark on May 9, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale election 2020 • Yucca district • Yucca district election 2020 | Tagged With: City of Glendale, petition signature sheets, Yucca district election 2020 | 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.

Let’s begin with a story. It is Tuesday, March 17^th, St. Patrick’s Day. It also happens to be the Democrat Presidential Preference Election Day. CoVid 19 is in full force so many voters that day chose to drop of their mail in ballots at a polling location. One of the polling locations was the Westside Church of God on Bethany Home Road just east of 83^rd Avenue.

One of the favorite haunts of paid petition circulators is any place that is hosting an event or where people visit on a regular basis, such as a grocery store. For the same amount of time and effort they can maximize the number of signatures they can collect.

At least one was standing at the Westside Church of God location on March 17^th. When people showed up to vote or to drop off their mail in ballots they were asked to sign one and/or both of two petitions. One petition was for a candidate for a local school board and the other petition was…wait for it…for my opponent. Many people signed that day. Here are the two petitions with a total of 20 challenged signatures that were the subject of my court challenge.

I contended in court that Mr. Alexander, although he signed the backs of the petitions, did not collect the signatures or witness the signatures. In fact, Mr. Alexander appears to have signed the backs of those two petitions. I think it is fair to say it is his signature when compared to his signature on the Candidate Statement of Interest form presented here.

We were able to make contact with several of the petition signers. To protect their privacy, I will not refer to them by their names. For the sake of brevity I am offering the relevant portions of only 2 of the 3 witnesses’ telephonic testimonies from an official transcript. I have never met them and do not know them. They agreed to testify of their own volition when asked to do so by my attorney.

I personally think their testimonies would have been more compelling if they had been able to appear in court in person. That was not able to happen because of CoVid 19 and proved to be disadvantageous to us.

Clark Attorney (CA): “…You’re a Glendale resident; are you not?”

Witness #1 (W1): “Yes, I am.”

CA: “…do you recall signing a petition sheet for a candidate for the – for a Glendale Council race?”

W1: “Yes.”

CA: “Do you remember the name of that individual?”

W1: “No, I do not.”

CA: “…was it for a council race?”

W1: “Yes, it was for city council.”

CA: “Did you sign more than one petition for a city council race?”

W1: “No, not for the city – I just signed one for city council. There was another one that I signed for, that was for a school board; I believe it was.”

CA: “Were you sent a petition sheet with your signature on it?”

W1: “Yes.”

CA: “Did you review that petition sheet?”

W1: “Yes. I did.”

CA: “Did that appear to be the petition sheet that you signed?”

W1: “Yes, it was.”

CA: “Did that petition sheet – did it have a photo of an individual on the upper left corner?’

W1: “Yes, it did.”

CA: “Was the person whose photo was on that petition sheet, was he the one you signed for?”

W1: “No.”

CA: “Now, in terms of the person who you saw on the petition sheet that was sent to you, that bore your signature, do you ever remember seeing that individual at that time?”

W1: “No at all.”

****************

Clark Attorney (CA): “Do you recall signing a candidate petition sheet for a candidate for Glendale City Council?”

Witness #2 (W2): “I do recall.”

CA: “When was that approximately?”

W2: “I think St. Patrick’s Day, so it was the 17^th.”

CA: “…have you seen a copy, since that time, of the petition sheet you signed?”

W2: “I have, yes.”

CA: “Did you recognize your signature on that petition sheet?”

W2: “Yes, I did.”

CA: “And on that petition sheet did you see a photo of a man in the upper left corner, for where the candidate goes?”

W2: “Yes.”

CA: “Do you ever recall seeing that man before?”

W2: “No, I don’t.”

CA: “In terms of who was present when you signed on St. Patrick’s Day, I take it that means that that man was not present?”

W2: “Yeah.”

CA: “So, in other words you’re certain that he was not the circulator?”

W2: “Yes, I am.”

The Superior Court judge in her oral ruling at the end of the hearing that day stated, “The Court also has heard the testimony of the three people who testified here at this hearing. They indicated they were qualified electors. They indicated that they did sign the petition, and the Court does find that their testimony fails to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the circulator improperly verified these signatures, and so those 20 signatures at issue, the Court finds to be valid.”

The only question that needs to be asked and answered is, why didn’t Mr. Alexander testify on his behalf that he did circulate and witness those signatures? It would have put to rest all speculation about his being the circulator or not.

I suspect, although I cannot prove, it was because Mr. Alexander’s attorneys did not know exactly what my witnesses would say and in not knowing, they advised him not to appear that day in case he was called upon to answer questions that he would not have been able to answer truthfully.

There is one more element to this tale of petitions and petition circulators and that will be the subject of my third and final blog on this issue.

*Please accept my apology if the graphics do not appear lined up correctly. No matter what adjustments I make it doesn’t seem to help the situation.

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May 20

8

It’s just politics folks, Part I

Posted by Joyce Clark on May 8, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale election 2020 • Yucca district • Yucca district election 2020 | Tagged With: Bryce Alexander, City of Glendale, invalid petition sheets, Joyce Clark, petition challenge, Primary Election on August 4, Superior Court, Supreme Court, Yucca district city council race | 5 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.

I am writing this particular blog on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. As of this date I had already challenged the validity of some nominating petition signatures of my presumptive opponent for the Yucca district city council position, Bryce Alexander, in Superior Court. I did not win the case and so, I appealed to the state Supreme Court. It has not yet been decided and I may not know their decision for several more days. Whether I win or lose at the Supreme Court level, once the decision is made I will post this blog.

I want to share the under belly, the nefarious side of signature gathering for nominating petitions. There are as many petition gathering companies in Arizona as the number of fingers on both of your hands. Some are very reputable…and some not so much.

I, along with many candidates throughout this state, work hard going door to door collecting the needed signatures. You can usually tell when a candidate has done so because the signatures will reflect people who all live on the same street. For example, I went door to door on several streets so I have an entire sheets that have signatures from people who live on those streets.

I started to collect signatures immediately after I filed to run last winter. I had already gathered the minimum number of signatures needed to file when Covid 19 hit. Just like any other candidate I wanted to obtain the maximum number of signatures (which is usually double the minimum amount required). Then I would have a cushion in case any signatures were declared invalid for any reason.

I did use a petition gathering company for those extra signatures. I used a person I know to be reputable and honest, especially since the person has a relative who was elected and had served in local, political office. This person knew the importance of and valued the need to obtain valid signatures. Before giving me the signatures collected, that company went through each sheet and verified the signatures and struck all those that were invalid. Being careful, I did my own verification after I received the petition sheets. I knew the signatures that I turned into our city clerk were indeed valid.

There are some petition companies out there that don’t necessarily operate in this fashion. They will hire anyone. In some instances, the petition signature gatherers may have a criminal history including felonies. These companies claim to do background checks. However if they are doing so, they are doing a lousy job of it. I am certainly not accusing but I suspect Mr. Alexander (and Michelle Robertson, a presumptive mayoral opponent) used such a company and you will understand the basis of my speculation shortly.

The minimum number of valid petition signatures required for nomination in the Yucca district is 160. Mr. Alexander turned in 210 leaving him a cushion of 50 signatures should any of his signatures be challenged. My challenge at the Superior Court consisted of some of Mr. Alexander’s petition signatures as invalid and I contended that only 134 of his signatures were valid. That was well below the 160 signatures required to get on the ballot.

The County Recorder agreed with me in part and did invalidate 42 of Mr. Alexander’s signatures leaving him with a maximum number of 168 signatures – only 8 over the minimum required to become a candidate.

The balance of my challenge would be decided by a Superior Court judge and my challenge was twofold: I contended in my suit that while Mr. Alexander signed the backs of two petition sheets (totaling 20 signatures) as the circulator, he did not witness those signatures and he was not the circulator of those sheets. On the back of a petition sheet the signer is attesting to the fact that he or she was the circulator and witnessed the signatures. When a person signs as having collected and witnesses those signatures and in fact, did not do so, those signatures are struck from the total count of signatures.

We were able to secure 3 witnesses, all Yucca district residents, who had signed the Alexander petitions and testified in court that it was not Mr. Alexander who asked them to sign the sheets and that they had never seen him before. I did not know any of the witnesses. They were not friends, acquaintances or supporters. They were principled strangers who wanted to do the right thing.

Mr. Alexander did not appear in court. He did not get on the stand and swear on the bible that he circulated those petition sheets and witnessed their signatures. Why didn’t he? The Superior Court judge ruled that the witnesses’ testimonies were not “clear and convincing” and validated those 20 signatures.

The other basis of my challenge was that 43 signatures should be declared as invalid because they were obtained by a convicted felon who had not had all of his civil rights restored thereby disqualifying him from being a petition circulator. On this issue the judge ruled that his civil rights had been restored and therefore his signature collection was also valid. This was a more of a technical issue and rested on the interpretation of previous Arizona Supreme Court decisions which apparently the Superior Court judge did not consider important enough to shape her ruling.

That is why I sit here today as I write this, waiting to hear the decision of my appeal by the Supreme Court. Bryce Alexander may end up on the ballot as a candidate for the Yucca district council seat by the skin of his teeth…8 signatures over the minimum required for nomination.

However, I want to bring up something Bryce Alexander wrote on his Facebook page on April 29^th:

“Update: I have received notification that the incumbent has filed a notice to appeal the ruling that the petitions signed by voters was valid.

I do not yet know the basis for the appeal, nor do I wish to speculate on the motivation of Joyce Clark to drag this out at this time. Time will reveal and clarify her intentions.”

Mr. Alexander cannot possibly be as ignorant or uninterested in his fate as he portrays himself to be in this post. He had two attorneys from a very pricey law firm representing him in Superior Court. It would have been a dereliction of their duty to not inform their client of the action and my basis for challenging the validity of his nominating petition signatures. By the way, I wonder who paid those high priced attorneys? And how much was their fee?

For the record, my campaign is paying my attorney’s fees. Unfortunately, we won’t know the answers about his campaign finances until after July 15, 2020, when the next campaign filings are due. Early ballots will have already been mailed out to voters and the Primary occurs two weeks later on August 4, 2020. So much for a timely full disclosure. Perhaps Mr. Alexander will be willing to share that information on his Facebook page.

Of course he knew my motivation in that I was challenging on the basis that he did not personally circulate those two sheets and that a convicted felon who may or may not have had his civil rights restored circulated his petitions. He just didn’t want to reveal the basis for my challenge as doing so might raise some questions among his followers.

Anyone who knows me even remotely knows that I can be feisty and sometimes I have “a take no prisoners attitude.” If I had been challenged as not being the circulator after I signed the back of sheets attesting that I had, I would have been incredibly angry. I would have marched right into that courtroom, taken the stand, sworn on the Holy Bible to tell the truth and then testified that I did, in fact, circulate and sign the backs of those petitions. Yet, Mr. Alexander did not. Again, why not?

It is now late Thursday afternoon and I just learned that I lost the appeal before the state Supreme Court. I do not have the details yet. I suppose those details are irrelevant. I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed.

In my next blog on this topic, I will be sharing some of the petition sheets Mr. Alexander submitted and some that Ms. Robertson submitted. Once the petition sheets are submitted to the City Clerk, they are a public record. There’s more to this story because not all petition sheets are created equally.

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Apr 20

26

A second look at Love’s travel stop

Posted by Joyce Clark on April 26, 2020
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale Economic Development • Glendale elected officials • Glendale zoning issues • Yucca district | Tagged With: application for a Love's travel stop, City of Glendale, comparison to Love's at Buckeye, Yucca district | 12 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 May 7, 2020, the Planning Commission will hear and will either approve or reject an applicant’s proposal to put a Love’s travel stop at the intersection of the Loop 303 and Bethany Home Road. I posted a blog on March 7, 2020, entitled A look at the Love’s site location. This blog is a follow up based upon additional information provided by the applicant.

Some people asked, why couldn’t the Love’s be sited on the east side of the Loop 303 and Bethany Home Road rather than on the west side of the Loop 303? The city possesses no magic wand that can order a land owner on the east side of the Loop 303 to accept a Love’s. Property owners are free to sell their land if they so choose and a developer has the right to accept or reject possible development as it sees fit. The city cannot mandate that the property owner on the east side of the Loop 303 accept the development of a Love’s.

Many objections to the proposed Love’s centered on the charge that it would bring crime to residential development one quarter of a mile away from the proposed location. I asked the applicant for crime statistics at a comparable Love’s. The applicant provided me crime statistics for the Love’s Travel Stop on 1610 S. Miller Road, Buckeye, Arizona. I will provide a summary of the data they provided below and where possible, include the exhibits they provided.

SUMMARY OF APPLICANT’S RESPONSE:

Five hundred and seventy-four (574) calls for service at Love’s were recorded by the Buckeye Police Department over a 5 year period. That averages approximately 115 calls per year or approximately one call for service every 3 days. 65 different categories were provided from 911 Hang Ups to Welfare Checks. I have listed below the top ten categories; total number of calls over the 5 year period; average number of calls per year and the percentage of the total call volume for each listed:

Type of Call # Call Over 5 years Average per year Percentage of total 5 year call volume

Accident 64 13 11.5%

Theft 41 8 7.4%

Traffic Stop 35 7 6.10%

Welfare Check 33 6.6 5.75%

Agency Assist 31 6.2 5.40%

Citizen Assist 29 5.8 5.05%

911 Hang Up 23 4.6 4.01%

Trespassing 23 4.6 4.01%

Business Check 22 4.4 3.83%

Suspicious Activity 20 4 3.48%

Unwanted Guest 20 4 3.48%

Suspicious Veh. 16 3.2 2.79%

Of the 574 total calls for service over the 5 year period, less than 25 calls were violent in nature. Of these, 9 were assaults (1.8 calls per year) and 8 were drug related (1.6 calls per year). Below is the complete listing of all crime categories (65) statistics covering a 5 year period provided by the Buckeye Police Department.

The applicant stated the following, “Love’s takes crime prevention and detection seriously. Accordingly, each employee receives training on how to identify and report illegal activity. Additionally, each employee is trained on how to detect and help victims of human trafficking. Love’s sees itself as a partner to local enforcement and therefore takes necessary steps to eliminate criminal activity.”

The applicant also submitted visual graphics depicting the Love’s proximity to the proposed location as well as comparing its proximity to residential at its Buckeye location. In case you cannot read the graphic, it is 1,355.2 feet from the nearest residences at the Buckeye location compared to 1,334.1 feet from residences at the proposed at the Loop 303/Bethany Home Road location. The Buckeye and Glendale locations are virtually identical with both being approximately one quarter mile away from the nearest residences.

The applicant also notes that at the Buckeye location there is also a Quik Trip Travel Stop immediately south of the Love’s location on S. Miller Road. The Quik Trip is 765 feet from the nearest residences.

Another factor for consideration is that there will be industrial/ warehousing/manufacturing buildings between the Love’s and the closest residences. The mass of those buildings may be 40 feet tall or taller and will act as a visual and noise buffer for the closest homes.

It appears that there are several facts that may make Love’s suitable for the proposed location. It is a quarter mile away from the nearest home. There is adequate buffering in terms of industrial buildings that will provide visual and noise buffering for residents. The Buckeye Love’s location seems to show that it does not produce greater crime for nearby residents. I would expect similar results to occur at the Glendale location.

I recognize that there are those who simply hate Love’s. It’s an emotional reaction. I cannot decide on the basis of emotion. Facts, in this case, are important. If any of the opponents have more factual information that has not been presented as of this date, then now is the time to present it.

I have provided all of the factual information that I have received. I will use it along with any other factual information provided to me to make my final decision. Part of that information will be to look at the Planning Commission’s decision and what factual information they used to arrive at their decision.

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Apr 20

12

It’s Easter

Posted by Joyce Clark on April 12, 2020
Posted in City of Glendale • National issues | Tagged With: City of Glendale, Covid-19, Easter, Jesus | 5 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.

Today is Easter Sunday. As a Catholic I watched mass from St Patrick’s Cathedral led by Archbishop Timothy Dolan. My first thought was this is different from any Easter during my lifetime. No family, no friends, as we continue to practice social distancing. My first reaction is think that this day is sad and different.

All my life Easter Sunday was marked by mass celebrating Christ risen after the third day. When I was a child it was always followed by a trip to my maternal Grandmother’s home for a grand midday Easter feast. Then we would go to my paternal Grandmother’s home for an evening repast. As grandchildren we looked forward to the bounties of goodies we received that day.

As a Mother and Grandmother the past remained with family coming to our home to gather and celebrate.

One of my favorite things to do was to get plastic eggs and to fill some of them with money and others with notes from the Easter Bunny reminding our children and later grandchildren, to improve some aspect of their behavior. Some eggs had money and others not. The difficulty level for finding the eggs was dependent upon the child’s age and ability. The older kids had to really search to find theirs. It was always a great day, filled with family.

This Easter, in the midst of the Covid-19, is not really sad and different. Instead it has provided an opportunity to reflect on the joy and celebration of the true meaning of the day. Jesus suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he arose again into Heaven. We celebrate that He died for our sins.

That’s what this day is meant to be. A celebration of His life and death…for us. Although I write this as a Catholic I am mindful that this season holds special meaning for my brothers and sisters of all faiths. We may recognize this season in different ways but we all share beliefs in some greater power than ourselves.

Covid-19 has forced us to abandon the commercial trappings of the day and to return to its true meaning. Many have or know of a friend or relative that has succumbed to this virus. It is certainly painful and sad for them. We must remember them, honor them and grieve for them. Know that on this day they are in the loving arms of your God.

As I sat on my back yard patio this morning I marveled at nature’s renewal at this time of year. My Orchid tree is in full bloom. The citrus trees are sagging with an abundance of fruit. The roses are in full bloom in brilliant reds and yellows. The trees are leafed out in a display of fresh, bright green foliage. Perhaps nature is meant to signal that Christ risen and in its own way, offers proof that this is a time for spiritual renewal for all of us.

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