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.
This week an anonymous blog about Glendale surfaced claiming to provide “independent oversight.” It’s no more than an anonymous hit piece whose only use is to line the bottom of bird cages.
Let’s compare blogs. Mine has been up for six years and has nearly reached the half million mark of readers. You know who I am and what I do. When I started the blog in 2013, I had been defeated for reelection as councilmember. Four years later in 2017 I returned to city council. I have never made a secret of my biases. Sometimes I write an explanatory blog; sometimes I compliment someone or some initiative; and sometimes I go after an issue or a person. I have a track record and you know where I am coming from. I liberally use quotes with attribution to the author, publication and date. I use a lot of data and facts and often provide a link to or republish within my blog a copy of the material from which my citations are made.
The blog in question is anonymous, and the initial piece is written by “admin.” Now, who the heck is that? If he/she or they are so proud of their work why not disclose who the author(s) is or what group or person has initiated this blog? Anonymity is a sign of cowardice. For if you knew who the writer or group is you would know their biases. How can one be “independent” when his/her or their identity could reveal obvious biases?
As I have stated previously we are already in an election season. These days it seems a new season starts as soon as an election is over. This writer is obviously slanted toward defaming Glendale’s current mayor, up for reelection. Expect that there will be hit pieces on the city council candidates up for reelection in 2020.
I and others have some assumptions. Since the piece was written in defense of soon-to-be (as of July 1, 2019) former City Auditor Candace MacLeod many people are assuming that her city cronies may be behind this. That could include the most visible and notorious members of that group such as former Fire Chief Mark Burdick and former (very briefly) Assistant City Manager Julie Frisoni. If you remember, former Chief Burdick ran against incumbent Mayor Weiers in 2016.
There is also the assumption that at least one unhappy and disgruntled Glendale councilmember is feeding information to this anonymous person(s) or group. The reason for this particular assumption is that there is reference to 7 current, open positions on city boards and commissions. All of council is aware of the openings as we are periodically provided a list but it is not a fact that would be common knowledge. So who offered this seemingly insignificant detail to our anonymous writer(s) or group?
The writer(s) uses no quotes from any sources and quite frankly, misstates the essence of much of the unsupported material used. It would also help if the writer(s) were factually accurate. The writer(s) states that our current City Manager was “(hired Feb 1st 2015 to date).” Actually the Arizona Republic reports that the City Manager was hired in November of 2015. If the writer gets a simple fact such as this wrong, what else is wrong? Actually nearly everything but I simply don’t want to waste my time listing every inaccuracy or outright lie. There is so much that is exaggeration and misrepresentation of fact leading to incorrect conclusions that it would take a small book to identify everything. Now that’s a true waste of time.
While the writer(s) is at it, a simple spell check seems to be necessary. There are misspelled words such as “procurrment” (correct spelling is procurement) and “Manger” (correct spelling is Manager). I guess the writer(s) doesn’t see any value in spell check…so sad.
So, it is a piece of writing with inaccurate and misleading information and misspelled words… written anonymously. Under those standards it’s not even worthy of lining a bird cage. Perhaps it’s more fitting to use it as a puppy training aid as the stench coming from it would certainly encourage any puppy to use it.
© Joyce Clark, 2019
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Joyce, Thanks for placing this information in your blog. I agree with your comments about people that don’t have the courage to put their name on opinions that they want the public to see. Simply stated, it is a cowardly act. In my mind this is similar to the “dark money” in politics. Why do the dark money people want to hide behind a PAC or some other organization and spend millions of dollars to influence voters who never really know who is trying to impact their vote while I have to tell the world all about me when I sign a candidate petition or make a contribution.
Regarding your comment “Anonymity is a sign of cowardice”. I’d like to offer up another valid reason for the pubic’s consideration. Just maybe…they (this new blogger) needs to be “unknown” today, because they own/operate a business in the lovely city of Glendale, Arizona and they simply can’t afford the “City’s” retaliation that may follow. From my view/what I have seen/heard or know happened first hand in the downtown area, retaliation happens, and you might question it, to which I say, it raises its ugly head in many forms. I was going to list some, but… I do have a business downtown. So, for the record, I applaud your blog in which you share your opinions, thoughts, etc. especially as a current Council member in the City of Council. I only wish… I could do the same…… but, for reasons above, I have to pick and choose my words, very carefully. Now, back to this business of the upcoming 2020 election. It’s possible this new blog is the work of someone who is using the opportunity to score some points for a future political run OR, it could be instead, the one new Communication tool that works best to educate the Citizens of Glendale who in turn will cast votes in 2020 voters! I’m going with the latter. And, I do hope you will continue your rebuttals. It gives everyone more “data” and I think its safe to say we NEED all the data we can get in order to make educated and well informed decisions when going to the polls.
CK, Thanks for your commentary. From quite a few insider assumptions this “unknown blogger” does not own a business, in or outside of Glendale. It is also an assumption that this blog will be used strictly politically to advance the group’s designated candidates. This is an election season blog that will disappear after the 2020 election. You give them too much credit in believing their mission is to “educate” the public.
I own a business in Glendale as well. I certainly understand your concerns. I will say this for Joyce though – she and I have publicly sparred on issues but I 100% trust that she would have my back if anyone was going to retaliate against me for speaking up, and I know 100% that is not something she would do. Joyce and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum but we can, to quote her, “disagree without dislike.” If I felt someone at the city was not treating me fairly, I would have no problem asking Joyce (or others on the Council) to intercede, even though she and I often disagree. My grandfather taught me that you do the right thing regardless of the personal consequences. I’m not saying you should lose your business, but if people are not willing to speak up and out, and be counted, nothing will ever change. Mandela went to jail. Ghandi starved. My grandmother was forced to leave home at 15. Change comes at a price.
Thank you Lynda.
Well said Lynda, and I couldn’t agree more!
Joyce, in regards to writing as anonymous on a blog, how does one remain anonymous when commenting on your blog? Some folks use just their initials. I did not see that as an option when I began to comment. Just curious.
Jane, the only way I have seen is that when people have email accounts like gmail, yahoo, etc., they can set up multiple email addresses. Usually they set up one email account that is used strictly when they prefer to remain anonymous. If there are other ways perhaps someone will offer some ideas in this comment section.
Very true, not a fan of the anonymous content on the internet and bullying that goes along with it. Thanks Joyce
Joyce, I don’t disagree with your general assessment of the blog, and I also am not a fan of anonymity on the internet. However, I have regularly seen Board and Commission openings posted on the City of Glendale website for years. It was how I found my interest when I applied. It even appears the blog “admin” posted a link to the new city website intended to land on the Boards and Commission page, but the link was broken. I was able to find this information easily with a quick search on the new city website landing page, though. https://www.glendaleaz.com/cms/one.aspx?portalId=15209085&pageId=15331850
I would actually like to see Board and Commission openings given more publicity. I know some positions are more difficult to fill than others, and care needs to be taken with appointments, but as a committee member, I’m a little concerned about the number of CDAC openings.
Lisa,
I agree with much of your commentary. I think the city’s new website will make it easier for the public to find out about board and commission vacancies. Also the mayor and city council actively post information about openings regularly.