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.
As the Yucca District Councilmember, I worked with Leandro Baldenegro, appointed to represent the Ocotillo District, for 8 months until I retired. During that time, we did not agree on every issue but neither of us harbored ill will toward the other. We had mutual respect for one another, and it remains to this day.
When Jamie Aldama resigned, according to the city charter, it became council’s responsibility to appoint a person to fill that seat until the next regular election in the Spring of 2026. There were many applicants that applied for the appointment. The council narrowed the long list down to five applicants. Each of them was interviewed and the majority chose Mr. Baldenegro. He was very impressive and innately understood the role of a councilmember. It was noticed that some councilmembers did not support his appointment because they had others in mind, presumably more sympathetic to their agendas and whom, they counted on to support those agendas.
Councilmember Baldenegro has since proven to be a hard-working and dedicated councilmember. He is smart and well-grounded. He is humble and caring. He believes in faith, family, friends and the people of his district. He has lived in the district his entire life and loves it. He genuinely wants to lift the people of his district up. He knows the district and he knows those who live there. He is not a typical politician pushing his own agenda.
He is committed to reaching out to the people of the district and soliciting their opinions on the issues that matter to them. In fact, he has a regular meeting for his constituents before every council workshop on alternate Tuesdays.. He truly listens to his constituents and is not afraid to change his stance when presented with sound, well-reasoned arguments, as seen with the Velma Teague Library decision. He had originally supported the move of the library because he believed a new library would offer more content and events to children and their families. It would also have offered the opportunity to become a high-tech library that would provide the tech tools of the 21st Century. He listened to his constituents. They are the ones who convinced him that the best option would be to keep the library in its present location. It is rare for an elected official to be willing to publicly change a position once declared. Councilmember Baldenegro was not afraid to do so.
Turner appears to be targeting Baldenegro not out of personal dislike but to create a new majority on the council. Turner already enjoys support from Councilmembers Tolmachoff and Conchas. Those three are desperately seeking to gain a fourth member of their coalition to become the new majority on council. If they should succeed, Glendale’s city council will become ‘woke’, similar to the disaster that California has become. God help us all.
Make no mistake. Turner and Conchas appear to be behind the recall movement targeting Councilmember Baldenegro. This recall effort against Baldenegro seems driven by political motives rather than genuine concern for the district. How dare Baldenegro have an opinion on the library and how dare he change his opinion. They will use this and other disinformation to try to defeat Baldenegro. It promises to get ugly.
They are courting the disaffected downtown crowd and the pro-Aldama crowd. Two members of the pro-Aldama faction to watch are Warren Wilfong and Rory Goree. I have always been friends with Warren Wilfong but he has an Achilles Heel. That is the poor performance of the Code Department. He is obsessed with that issue. If you do not share his view on this issue, he has no use for you. I’m sure he would love to run for the Ocotillo seat.
However, he has competition that appears to have the inside track with Turner and Conchas, Rory Goree. If you watch council voting meetings, Goree makes it a point to speak at every one. Why? Public comments are televised and Goree gets face time and greater recognition. Unfortunately, only about 11 people actually watch city council meetings. Oh well.
Conchas announced in his last week’s digital newsletter a press conference in support of the library issue and guess who is hosting it? If you said Rory Goree, you would be correct. I would not be surprised if Goree announced his support for the recall of Baldenegro and his candidacy for the Ocotillo district at this press conference. It is required that when a recall petition is circulated, an opposing candidate must be identified on the petition.
I urge Ocotillo residents to continue supporting Councilmember Baldenegro, who has demonstrated honesty and integrity. If the Turner-Conchas- pro Aldama- downtown disaffected factions desire change, they know full well that the next regularly scheduled election for the Ocotillo district councilmember will occur in the Spring of 2026, a year from now. Anyone interested in running will be able to pull a candidate packet this Winter. A recall election before the regular 2026 election is costly for all of Glendale’s taxpayers.
Ocotillo residents can stop this by simply not signing the recall petition. If the leaders of this insurrection do not obtain enough signatures, there will be no election until the regular one in the Spring of 2026 and Councilmember Baldenegro will continue to represent the Ocotillo district residents until then.
Shame on those pushing this costly and untimely recall for their political agendas over the interests of Glendale residents.
© Joyce Clark, 2025
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