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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

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May 16

9

Compare and Contrast

Posted by Joyce Clark on May 9, 2016
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale finances  | Tagged With: , , , , , | No Comments yet, please leave one

PLEASE CHECK OUT THE VIDEO TO THE LEFT OF THIS COLUMN!

It has been 18 years and 143 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.

On May 10, 2016 it will be 2 months since I announced my decision to run for the Yucca district city council position. I’ve already discussed some of the stark differences between Sammy and I and will continue to discuss them further up until the Primary Election on August 30, 2016.

All of Sammy’s campaign financial filings from the time he began to run for the Yucca council seat up until December of 2015 (the last required filing) have been reviewed. If you ever want to  check out for yourself what money a candidate has received and from whom, try this link: http://www.glendaleaz.com/Clerk/PoliticalCommitteeCampaignFinanceReports.cfm . If this doesn’t work for you, go to www.glendaleaz.com, click on City Clerk from the left sidebar, then Political Committees on the left sidebar, then Campaign Finance Reports at the top of the page. Every political committee registered in Glendale must periodically file finance reports with the City Clerk’s office and all filings are public records.

As of January 1, 2016 Sammy had $16,671.14 cash on hand. $16, 250.00 of that total came from 3 sources:

UFCW99 (United Food Workers)         12/23/2015        $6250.00   maximum amount allowed

Arizona Pipe Trades 469                        12/28/2015        $5000.00

Mark Becker (Becker Billboards)         12/04/15             $5000.00

During the same span of time ( approximately 4 years) Sammy received contributions from a total of 12 Glendale residents. Only 2  contributions came from anyone in the Yucca district. That’s it. Make no mistake he received a lot of money from special interests…the unions, political consultants, attorneys, etc. But the support he received from people in the district he purports to represent has been virtually non existent.

Two of the contributions Sammy received (non-Glendale residents) were note worthy: Jacob Long (of the Long Trust) contributed $930. You might remember that the Long Trust successfully gained very recent city council approval for a Long Trust project, Stonehaven, within the Yucca district. Stonehaven is  a 1,161 home residential development with 43% of the lot sizes at 5, 500 square feet.  Yucca district residents from adjacent neighborhoods had asked the city council to table the project to allow for further opportunity to dialogue about the 5,500 square foot lots. Such an opportunity was not granted. During the city council meeting after Stonehaven’s approval Sammy extolled the virtues of this residential project. Hmmm…

The other interesting contribution is from Sammy’s buddy, Ruben Gallego, for $300. This just happens to be the same Ruben Gallego Sammy went to D.C. to see sworn in…on the taxpayers’ dime. Hmmm….I’m not an expert in campaign finance but it might have been possible that Sammy could have used some of the $16,000 in his campaign account for this trip as it seems there was clearly a political agenda for his trip. Or perhaps he could use some of this money to reimburse the city.

In contrast I have been accepting campaign contributions for a scant 2 months, since March 10, 2016.

thermometer w new numbers Ap 20 2016

$6000 raised…on our way to the goal of $20,000

In that brief span of time I have received 38 contributions totaling a little over $6,000;  29 of those contributions came from residents of Glendale and what is even more gratifying is that out of those 29 Glendale residents, 20 of them are Yucca district residents. My support is coming from residents of the Yucca district. They urged me to run and now they are contributing to my campaign.

Could the simple difference in Sammy’s and my sources of campaign funding be that I have a connection with the people of the Yucca district and had, over the years, represented them…their concerns on issues…solved their problems with local government…and gave them their voice with the city. If you wish to know who Sammy represents, just check out his campaign reports and look for the biggest donors.

© Joyce Clark, 2016

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

May 16

7

Buddies

Posted by Joyce Clark on May 7, 2016
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials  | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

It has been 18 years and 141 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.

By May 4, 2016 I had turned in my nominating petitions with far more validated voter signatures than required. It didn’t take long for the opposition to ask for copies of my petitions. I received this email from the City Clerk on May 6, 2016: “I am sending this information to you as part of our neutrality and transparency with candidates.  Mr. Allan Lira requested copies of your nomination petitions.”

This is nothing new. Almost every candidate will ask for copies of his/her opponent’s nominating petitions in the hope that they can prove that there are not enough valid signatures. If successful they can get rid of a potential opponent without ever having to run against him or her. Only occasionally does it prove successful. I’m afraid Mr. Lira won’t have any luck for we validated nearly 700 registered voter signatures before the petitions were submitted to the City Clerk.

We wondered who Mr. Lira is and why would he be asking for copies of my petitions. One of our group found this. Mr. Allan Lira is on Linked In and here is the information he provides:

Allan Lira                                                                                                                       Data analyst at Gallego for Phoenix                                                                    Location: Glendale, Arizona        Industry: Political Organization

  1. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99
  2. Gallego for Arizona
  3. Marquez for Arizona

His listed previous work experience:

Organizer

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99

November 2014 – January 2015 (3 months)

Data Analyst/Team Lead

Gallego for Arizona

September 2014 – November 2014 (3 months)

Campaign Manager

Marquez for Arizona

January 2014 – August 2014 (8 months)

Data Analyst/Field Organizer

Gallego for Phoenix

June 2013 – November 2013 (6 months)

It appears that Mr. Lira currently works for Ruben Gallego as a data analyst at Gallego for Phoenix.  Ruben Gallego assumed office as Arizona’s 7th district U.S. Representative on January 3, 2015.

Thanks to the Arizona Republic we are all keenly aware of Sammy Chavira’s travel on your dime—taxpayer money. One of those infamous trips was for $2,075 to go back to Washington, D.C. to see his good buddy…wait for it… Rueben Gallego sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives.

Arizona Republic March 4, 2016

Arizona Republic
March 4, 2016

 

It’s interesting to see how the links within Sammy’s web interconnect. Sammy spent your money to see Gallego sworn in. Sammy’s questionable travel expenses were exposed by the Arizona Republic and include the Gallego trip. Here is the link to Paul Giblin’s front page story of March 4, 2016 about Sammy’s travel: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2016/03/04/glendale-councilman-sammy-chavira-charges-24k-trips-3-years-taxpayers/78857734/ .

Sammy is now getting assistance from the very same good buddy, Gallego, in his current run for the Yucca district city council position. Could it be because Sammy is in trouble, politically…and his friend Ruben Gallego is trying to save him?

Special interests have a long history of influencing political outcomes. Union influence is one of those long standing components. The fire union, for years, has been able to manipulate election outcomes in urban areas, notably Phoenix, Glendale and several other cities in the Metro Valley. Do you believe the Food Workers Union should join the fire union in determining your councilmembers in Glendale? Across this country voters in droves are rejecting candidates under the influence of big donor, special interest money. Perhaps Glendale voters will do the same.

Just something for the voters of the Yucca district to consider…

 

© Joyce Clark, 2016

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Apr 16

21

E is for Ethics… Part 1

Posted by Joyce Clark on April 21, 2016
Posted in City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale elected officials • Glendale finances  | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

There is no more important position in the City of Glendale. All 7 city councilmembers, which includes the position of Mayor, create and decide on all policy and all local laws for the city. City council decides all kinds of policies and enacts all kinds of laws. For example, when your garbage is picked up and how many times a week; what city projects are funded and which are rejected; or the speed limits within our city.

But there is far more to being a councilmember. A councilmember is not only a leader of the community.  He or she is a symbol of our value system. Each is charged with being above reproach and is considered to be an example of and an emissary of our community.

My platform consists of 5 “E’s. Over the next week or so I will flesh out each “E.” The first of these is

Ethics. Ethics is standards of right and wrong that tell us what we ought to do in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. For example, it is unethical to steal, murder, or commit fraud. Ethics embodies honesty, compassion and loyalty. It motivates us to act based upon the concepts of right and wrong. It is a moral philosophy.

I am running to bring ethics, including honesty and integrity, back to the Yucca district city council position. The current holder of the position seems to have misplaced his ethical compass. Witness the recent media stories that cite his abuse Chavira and luggage 1of taxpayers’ dollars and trust by using taxpayer money for nearly $25,000 of highly questionable trips. Despite the laxity of city policy, it does generally require that councilmembers’ trips are to be done for city business. Most people agree that it is unethical to go to Washington, D.C. using taxpayer dollars to see the Pope on a large screen TV. Despite the fig leaf of the councilmember’s claim that city business was done (for 5 minutes?) many Yucca citizens believe that he abused the taxpayers’ trust. There are also questions about frivolous expenses he incurred on these kinds of trips, such as a $420 dinner for his boss, the Phoenix Fire Chief.

The people of Glendale have every right to expect their public officials to be of the highest character. I pledge that as your councilmember I will make public every taxpayer dollar I spend. If the city cannot accommodate my intent then I will personally post all of my expenses on my blog site, www.joyceclarkunfiltered.com  for anyone to see at any time. It’s your money and you should know the who, what, where, why and when of my expenditures of taxpayer money as a councilmember.

When public officials, such as Mr. Chavira, not only waste taxpayer dollars on questionable expenses, but then refuses to disclose receipts for reimbursement, or votes in favor of issues belonging to some of his largest campaign contributors, he tarnishes what it means to be your councilmember and reduces his ability to ethically represent our district’s best interests.

When I learned of Mr. Chavira’s actions I was angry and dismayed for he had tarnished the reputation not just of the Yucca district elected position but he has now raised public distrust of all of Glendale’s elected officials. He has reinforced the public notion that all politicians are crooks and corrupt. The actions he committed in an instant will take much time to repair. He has lost the trust of the people who elected him to serve them.

© Joyce Clark, 2016

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go tohttp://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.