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 December 10, 2025, Councilmember Lupe Conchas gave a TV interview on ABC with Adam Mintzer regarding his opposition to councilmember stipends. Here are some quotes from that TV story.
In 2022 an administrative policy was initiated giving councilmembers $900 per month for incidental costs and $450 monthly for car allowances. The allowances are intended to cover personal incidental expenses, including home-office costs, internet, technology, office supplies, incidental meals, mileage and repairs.
In August of 2025, Councilmember Lupe Conchas brought the issue to a council workshop and called the policy “a slush fund.” Yet at one time he had no objection to it and accepted the stipend for the first 6 months of his term. Then someone whispered in his ear that this might make for a good campaign issue.
His mentor, Councilmember Bart Turner, supports Conchas’ position. He characterizes the policy as a potential conflict with existing city expense systems. “There is no data to back this policy up,” Turner said. “Feels to me like it would be double dipping to take this…and for the record, I never have.” He may not have double-dipped, but he appears to have been very cavalier in his use of taxpayer dollars for his many trips.
A majority, four of the other six councilmembers and the mayor expressed support for maintaining the current policy during that August meeting.
Councilmember Ray Malnar defended the allowances, saying he spends significant money on home-office expenses. “We are being reimbursed for legitimate business expenses,” Malnar said. “I spend a lot of money on printers. I print a lot of things at home.”
Mayor Jerry Weiers said the numbers are justified for active councilmembers. “If you work for it. If you put in time. Your mileage…I find it entirely justifiable,” Weiers said.
Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff disagreed with characterizing the policy negatively. “I don’t think our residents expect us to behave like martyrs,” Tolmachoff said.
The City of Tempe has a $12,000 stipend for councilmembers’ cars and other expenses that don’t require them to submit receipts. So, Glendale is not the only city with such a policy.
A week later, December 17, 2025, the Phoenix New Times reported that the very same Councilmember, Lupe Conchas, directly asked the public in October 2025, to send him money through ApplePay and Zelle for his personal home repairs. He says he received $650 but he expects us to take his word for it.
People who give money directly to a politician, with no transparency as to who gave how much creates an appearance problem. It could also evade campaign finance requirements. Conchas admits that he did not think about a perception problem. He appears to be either very stupid or very arrogant. In essence, he used his official position to obtain money for personal use.
He did not consult with the City Attorney. Why? Perhaps because he knew that if he had the City Attorney would have advised against it whether it was legal to do so or not.
Then there is Councilmember Turner’s support of Conchas on this issue. I wrote a series of 4 blog posts on Turner’s fast and loose use of his City ProCard (city credit card). Turner talks about the need for data but often, after repeated staff requests, never supplied the requisite information or receipts to back up expenditures incurred on his many trips using city funds. Many of his trips to the same events attended by other councilmembers cost more than that of any other councilmember. He even asked the city to cover his Renaissance Weekend trips which were purely personal enrichment events.
Clearly, neither of these two councilmembers can legitimately question stipends when they appear to have financially sinned. Conchas deliberately used his elected position to solicit money from the public for personal expenses and Turner has a very questionable history with his use of the city ProCard.
A majority, five councilmembers, support and defend this policy, as do I. For 20 years of my 24 years of service as a councilmember, I paid personally for the very items the stipend covers. In my last 4 years of service, I was grateful that there was a stipend to cover the very expenses I had personally incurred and paid for over many years.
Why did these two men bring this forward? This is an election year. Conchas is supporting Rory Goree who is running against the incumbent, Councilmember Leandro Baldenegro. Turner, who has decided not to run again (perhaps because of his questionable use of the ProCard) has endorsed Lisa Baker. They need to help their chosen candidates and what better way than ginning this up an election issue. Just watch, both of these candidates will use stipends as a campaign issue. After all, if they were to run on their merit, both candidates lose.
© Joyce Clark, 2025
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