Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.
I am really pleased to see the number of Glendale candidates that filed clean Candidate Committee Financial Reports. Their current reports do not show any major expenditures.
I don’t expect to see large contributions or expenditures until the 3rd or 4th reports filed later this election cycle. That is except for Mayor Weiers who had reported a massive amount of campaign contributions in his first filing.
Here are the candidates that filed appropriately and the cash they have on hand as of April 1, 2024:
Honor Roll for this reporting Period
- Mayor Jerry Weiers $219,409.79
- Vice Mayor Ian Hugh, Cactus district $ 29,278.60
- Lupe Conchas, Cactus candidate $ 11,481.90
- Councilmember Ray Malnar, Sahuaro district $ 2,131.47
- Dianna Guzman, Yucca candidate $ 6,572.49
I have not included mayoral candidate Jamie Aldama or Yucca candidate Encinas for both had errors in this period’s filing. I also did not include mayoral candidate Paul Boyer’s filing for he failed to turn in nominating petitions and is no longer a candidate for mayor.
At the bottom of the first page are the Summary Figures. Here it what it looks like.
(a) is a simple entry. You take the balance you had from the last reporting period and enter it here. (b) asks for the total amount of money collected during this reporting period. That goes in the first column. In the second column you add all the money you received prior to this reporting period plus the money received during this reporting period. (c) asks for the total amount of money spent during this reporting period. That goes in the first column. In the second column you add all the money you spent prior to this reporting period plus the money spent during this reporting period.(d) asks for the balance by subtracting what was spent this reporting period from what was received during this reporting period.
Simple? No? Well, not for some candidates. Lupe Encinas, Yucca candidate got nearly all of it wrong.
- Her starting balance is $1,650.38 and this is accurate.
- The second line is wrong according to her report. She said she received $688.07 this reporting period with just two contributions of $236.07 and $100 plus a personal loan of $350.00 (which, by the way, totals $686.07, not $688.07). Instead she filled in $3, 286.17. Where did this number even come from? The second column on that line is blank and should have reflected the money she received from the first reporting period plus money received from the current report reporting period.
- The third line is wrong as well. According to her report she spent $300 and $565.76 for a total of $915.76 not the $1,883.45 she reports in column 1. The second column which is blank should show what she had spent previously plus what she spent this reporting period.
- The third line is wrong also. Because her previous lines had the wrong information, this line results in the wrong balance.
Her current cash on hand for this current reporting period is $1,215.97. When and if her numbers are corrected this will prove to be wrong as well.
What’s even more unsettling is that she has a campaign treasurer, Jo Ellen Serey and between both reviewing the figures, both got it wrong. This is not rocket science. It’s a simple matter of paying attention to the details. How will Encinas perform during the council’s budget season discussions, usually lasting 3 months with intensive, detailed homework required? The last thing we all want to see is a repeat of her comment regarding my review of her first filing when she said she thought her report was “amazing.”
Aldama is a different matter. He has run before and has filed over 30 of these reports. On his second report of this cycle filed by the due date of April 15th, his Summary Figures were wrong. The following day he submitted an Amended Report and corrected those numbers. However, he still failed to include information on Schedule A(1), Monetary Contributions from Campaign Committees. On his first report of this cycle, he reported that his Council candidate committee (now terminated) had given his mayoral committee $16,197.12. He failed to include that on his current filing on Schedule A(1) under the column “Cumulative Amount this Election Cycle.”
He also failed to include information in his current filing on Schedule A(1)(a), Monetary Contributions from Political Action Committees. Again, on his first report of this campaign cycle, he reported that the UFCW PAC had donated $5,000, which was moved to his mayoral campaign committee. It, too, should have been carried forward on his latest campaign filing. These items would change “Election Cycle to Date” numbers on his currently submitted Financial Summary sheet.
His current cash on hand is $64,692.69.
I would suggest that these candidates consider hiring a professional to complete these reports so that accurate public information is provided.
© Joyce Clark, 2024
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