Archive for the 'Phoenix' Category
October 14th, 2009, 10:57 am by Le Templar
 Mark Flatten/Tribune file If Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox think they can just ignore the new investigative writer for the Goldwater Institute, then they have forgotten who Mark Flatten is. Especially Wilcox, as Flatten seems to clearly prove she used her political connections to land and keep a lucrative restaurant contract at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and she violated federal rules while doing so.
Unlike Gordon and Wilcox, I haven’t forgotten Flatten. He was one of the best investigative journalists in the state during his years with the East Valley Tribune, and possibly one of Arizona’s best ever. He’s methodical, relentless and has amazing organizational skills. And he never allows an investigative report to be published until he’s sure he has covered all of the angles.
But given the uncertain future of the Tribune, Flatten decided this summer to strike out on a new venture. In an evolution from the traditional model of political think tanks, the Goldwater Institute hired Flatten to continue pursuing his craft which includes following the ethical tenets of journalism. But many Arizona journalists have wondered if Flatten really would have the freedom to objectively pursue a story to its logical conclusion, or would the Goldwater Institute subtly (or overtly) coerce Flatten’s writing to fit the institute’s libertarian outlook.
I think there’s some evidence for both points of view in Flatten’s first report for the institute — a detailed looked at the process of providing access to Sky Harbor concessions contracts for minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses. Goldwater Institute was an early advocate for a proposed state law that would end race-based preferences in government contracts and other policies. Flatten makes clear the proposed law, which the Legislature has asked state voters to consider in November 2010, played some role in inspiring his report.
But Flatten’s investigative work also shines through, especially when it comes to Wilcox. In a nutshell, Flatten reports Wilcox got a sweetheart deal to gain 30 percent ownership of a Chili’s restaurant at Sky Harbor. The master airport contractor who owns 70 percent of the restaurant used the fact that Wilcox is a Hispanic woman to help the contractor meet Phoenix’s minority-ownership rules. In return, Wilcox didn’t have put any money into the business for her 30 percent and she doesn’t have any clearly defined role in operating the restaurant, both of which are a violation of rules from the Federal Aviation Administration, Flatten reported.
Wilcox flat-out refused to answer any questions from Flatten, claiming he was delving into a private business matter. Huh? Wilcox is making money from a taxpayer-funded airport that’s heavily regulated by various governments, and she’s an long-time elected public servant. But she wants to claim privacy? Ridiculous.
Gordon and most administrators at the airport refused substantive interviews with Flatten as well. That might possibly might make more sense, as the Goldwater Institute has been suing that city in a separate, high-profile case. To Gordon’s credit, he gave definite, if brief, answers when Flatten tracked him down for a walking hallway interview. (”No. No, sir,” was about Gordon had to say.)
But Flatten refused to allow those closed doors to stop him. He dug through contracts, email and thousands of other public records to get the story. The great thing about the Internet is some of the most important records are posted with links embedded right into the Goldwater Institute report. So we don’t just have to take Flatten’s word on what he found, we can read the evidence for ourselves.
We continue to miss Flatten here at the Tribune. But it’s great to see that he’s still serving the public by uncovering flaws and undue political influence in government.
Posted in: Election issues • Journalism • Libertarian values • Maricopa County • Phoenix • Public records • Goldwater Institute • Mary Rose Wilcox • Phil Gordon • Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport | 5 Comments »
January 24th, 2009, 6:05 am by Le Templar
 
RANDY PULLEN AND LISA JAMES
Today’s election for the next leader of the Arizona Republican Party is a repeat of two years ago, as the state convention will again features Valley residents Randy Pullen and Lisa James as the contenders. And just as two years ago, the match-up is widely viewed as a showdown between supporters of Sen. John McCain (which James more or less represents) and the rather strong anti-McCain crowd (of which Pullen used to be a prominent leader).
Pullen narrowly won the internal election for state Republican chairman in 2006 and then publicly tangled with McCain (and fellow Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl) over immigration reform. That led to fund raising for the state party to dry up substantially, forcing Pullen to make some peace overtures to McCain and his supporters. Pullen’s efforts to make nice got more frantic after McCain became the Republican nominee for president early in 2008.
But it wasn’t enough to keep Pullen from again facing James, whom he defeated by only four votes in 2006. As the official insider, Pullen can pull on a lot of the state party machinery for support such as endorsements from various county and legislative district chairmen.
On the other hand, James has attracted endorsements from a number of elected officials including Senate President Bob Burns, House Speaker Kirk Adams, state Treasurer Dean Martin and incoming Secretary of State Ken Bennett.
James’ supporters saw new hope for an upset when Rob Haney, one of the best known McCain critics inside Republican meeting rooms, was denied the opportunity to keep his longtime post as chairman of legislative District 11 — Pullen’s home district. But Haney went out and got elected chairman of the Maricopa County Republican committee instead, a sign that the anti-McCain crowd isn’t ready to give way.
What’s really odd about today’s election at Phoenix’s Camelback High School is such contests for statewide leadership usually follow bad election nights for a political party. But Arizona Republicans fared pretty well in November, despite the state party’s lack of campaign funds.
It was Arizona Democrats who failed badly to meet their own expectations (and the predictions of many Republican insiders). But Ann Womack was uncontested when she was elected Maricopa County Democratic Party chairwoman in December, and current state chairman Don Bivens will face no opponent when his party gathers for its own convention today at the Wyndam Hotel in downtown Phoenix.
Posted in: Election issues • Phoenix • Arizona Democratic Party • Arizona Republican Party • Don Bivens • Lisa James • Randy Pullen | Post a Comment »
November 11th, 2008, 1:39 pm by Le Templar
MEMBERS OF THE DOBSON HIGH SCHOOL ROTC PROGRAM MARCHED TODAY IN MESA’S VETERANS DAY PARADE. (Photo by Tony D’Astoli/Tribune)
The organizers of Mesa’s Veterans Day Parade never have enjoyed the same level of support as their counterparts in Phoenix or Tempe — even when the city of Mesa picked up all of the costs of closing streets, providing traffic control and cleaning up afterward. After the city cut off public funding three years ago because of budget constraints, those organizers have struggled just to keep the event alive. This year, veterans groups were worried because they had raised enough private donations to pay for the parade, but not enough for advertising to invite the public to attend.
After watching today’s parade in downtown Mesa, I’d say those worries were overblown and patriotism is alive and well here. A good crowd filled in both sides of Center Street to clap, cheer and salute as veterans, high school bands and active military rolled by. You can watch a video and a photo slideshow
(Photo by Le Templar)
A high number of entries made for a long parade, another important sign of support. The only downside was large gaps appeared between groups several times, prompting some people to think the parade was over and wander away. Hopefully, organizers can recruit more volunteers next year to keep the parade closer together and lift up everyone’s interest in watching.
(Photo by Le Templar)
For more scenes from the parade, you can watch a Tribune video and a photo slideshow.
Posted in: Mesa • Phoenix • Tempe • Mesa • parade • Veterans Day | 2 Comments »
October 15th, 2008, 12:24 pm by Le Templar
MESA MAYOR SCOTT SMITH
When Scott Smith took the mayor’s office in July, he had a goodly amount of optimism about what he could accomplish. He had a new council to work with and, despite the city’s fiscal challenges, some real opportunities ranging from the Riverview/Waveyard region to what’s on the horizon for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The new council quickly agreed to a scaled-down version of a bond package and new property tax before city voters on Nov. 4. And he announced several promising changes in the business climate to launch his administration including expansion of Catepiller dealer Southwest Empire and a new Gaylord luxury resort.
What Smith couldn’t count on what the nationwide freeze in the credit markets in mid-September that put an even bigger brake on the national economy. Combined with already struggling Arizona situation, government tax revenues are taking a nose dive at state and local levels.
So Mesa’s on-going budget problems are going to move the forefront again, and likely will shape whatever legacy that Smith will leave the city. Tribune East Valley editor Patti Epler reported today that Police Chief George Gascon and other city department heads are sounding huge red alarms about coming budget cuts, and Smith only stoked the fire with his comments.
“We’re trying to get everybody in the mindset of not only where can we cut, but how do we do business and what services do we provide and where do we go from here,” Smith said. “We may have to make some basic changes in how we approach things. We need to at least start thinking that way. We don’t want to be caught off guard.”
Epler wasn’t able to learn any details about how big the budget cuts might be. But we can get a sense of what’s going on from neighboring Phoenix, where the City Council could be forced to shrink the general operating budget by more than 20 percent — after already making smaller spending reductions earlier this year.
By this time in 2009, Mesa’s city government could look a lot different, and be a lot smaller, than it is now.
Posted in: Arizona government • Mesa • Phoenix • economic meltdown • Mesa • Phoenix • Scott Smith | 8 Comments »
July 16th, 2008, 2:34 pm by Le Templar
Politicker.com is an up-and-coming political news Web site based in New Jersey that has a goal of establishing a local presence in all 50 states. It has been running an Arizona-oriented site for a few months. Now, it has posted a list of top 50 “insider” power players. The list is clearly designed to boost Web traffic (Yep, they suckered me in) rather give a clear picture of who can out-muscle whom, since Politicker intentionally excluded all elected officials and former governors from consideration.
A couple of quick thoughts about the list:
* Lobbyist Kevin DeMenna landing at No. 3 probably is over-inflation because he had a shockingly successful legislative session this year, including passage of the Decades Theme Park near Eloy.
* The brief and uninformative descriptions for a number of insiders on the list imply that the people behind Politicker don’t really know them, but someone Politicker trusts said these people belong on a top 50 list. (Full disclosure: I had not heard of about a dozen of the 50 people on the list, so I couldn’t evaluate whether they are a good fit.)
* Congratulations to Howard Fischer at Capitol Media Services as the only working journalist to make the list at No. 24. But Politicker couldn’t find a photo of him? Fischer works in the media. He owns his own camera and sells pictures to newspapers every day. Just ask him for one, for goodness sake!
* How does Jordan Rose come in at No. 32, but husband Jason Rose doesn’t make the list at all? Does that imply that Jason is all flash and no substance? Couldn’t be.
* Only one Democratic blogger on the list (Michael Bryan from Blog for Arizona at No. 45) seems odd since Arizona Democrats have been more active on the Internet, from what I’ve seen. Two Republican-oriented sites, Espressopundit and Sonoran Alliance, are on the list. My personal choice for another Democrat blogger would have been Ted Prezelski at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion.
* Who else is missing? There’s no one from the Phoenix firefighters union, which in fact is the most influential union in the state. Past union president Billy Shields would have been an obvious choice. And Cathi Herrod from the Center for Arizona Policy certainly belongs on the list, if only because the proposed state amendment to ban gay marriage is the single legislative referendum to be approved by lawmakers and go to voters this year.
Who would be in your list of Arizona’s most powerful political insiders?
Posted in: Arizona government • Phoenix | 3 Comments »
May 8th, 2008, 6:12 pm by Le Templar
Sen. John McCain (left), President Bush and Cindy McCain (as found at talkradionews.com)
Tribune writer Paul Giblin is reporting that President Bush will be in Phoenix May 27 at a high-roller fund raiser to bring in money for John McCain’s presidential bid and several related groups including the Republican National Committee and state GOP parties in Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
But not the Arizona Republican Party.
That’s odd because McCain’s home state party apparently could use some help. The Arizona GOP raised only $214,599 through Jan. 31 (the last report available) for state causes and had only $2,594 in cash on hand. Federal reports show the state party had raised $934,051 to support federal candidates as of March 31, and had $129,552 in cash left.
By comparison, the state Democratic Party had raised $934,906 though Jan. 31 for state causes (although it was $289,302 in debt because of additional spending). On the federal side, the Democratic Party had raised a whopping $2.2 million (and spent nearly all of it).
Arizona Republican Party spokesman Tony Reinhard said the local hosts don’t need Bush’s help because McCain will handily defeat the Democrat nominee in November.
“Arizona isn’t in play,” Reinhard said. “We understood that Arizona would be a donor state to help those other states where the race will be more competitive.”
Reinhard said Arizona being snubbed has nothing to do with the fact that McCain and state Republican Party chairman Randy Pullen really, really, really don’t like each other. Pullen has had some rough criticism for Bush and other Republican leaders in the past for being too soft on immigration enforcement.
Pullen’s stance has played well with many grassroots Republicans but has turned off power players who round up the heavy donors. The state party is hoping to overcome that problem Friday night with a major fund-raising dinner and a successful state convention on Saturday, both in Mesa.
Posted in: Phoenix • Presidential campaign | Post a Comment »
April 28th, 2008, 4:25 pm by Le Templar
The Tribune Editorial Board had an informal debate Friday about the story that Phoenix and the developer of CityNorth on Loop 101 want nearly $690,000 in legal fees from the Goldwater Institute. Goldwater, on the behalf of five small business owners, had sued to stop Phoenix from paying $97 million in subsidies for the $2 billion shopping/office center. But a Maricopa Superior Court judge has sided with Phoenix, saying the subsidy is legal. What follows is a summary of my argument about the legal fee issue, and Editorial Page Editor Bob Satnan responds.
Updated: Clint Bolick, the litigation director of the Goldwater Institute, reacted to our little debate and I’ve added his thoughts at the end.
Le Templar:
This request for legal fees is outrageous and clearly intended to punish the Goldwater Institute for daring to challenge Phoenix’s legal authority to award this crazy subsidy. Along with the developer’s own legal experts, Phoenix used an outside team of lawyers to fight this case, which naturally charged top dollar. While not poor, the Goldwater Institute doesn’t have near the resources of a major American city like Phoenix and shouldn’t be threatened with destitution for exercising its right to ask a judge to intervene on an issue that many other people, including the Tribune Editorial Board, have criticized. Governments should be able to recover legal fees from private citizens only when a lawsuit is blatantly frivolous. Granting these legal fees would send a chilling message that other people shouldn’t challenge government actions, even when it seems obvious such action is illegal or unconstitutional.
Bob Satnan:
When a municipality is sued, the damages don’t come from those who made the decision that sparked the suit; they come from taxpayers. In this case, a judge ruled that Phoenix officials did nothing wrong in relation to the CityNorth deal. The fact that the city recruited experts from outside the municipal legal department doesn’t matter; Phoenix sought the best people to argue the city’s case. And they argued it successfully.Requiring plaintiffs to repay reasonable municipal legal fees only sends a “chilling message” to those whose arguments aren’t strong enough to win. Governments are magnets for lawsuits because they are seen as cash cows – even though that cash comes from taxpayers and is intended to be used for the people’s business. When a municipality is exonerated on its day in court, the people deserve to be reimbursed. If an argument has merit, stand strong and seek justice. If not, be prepared to repay the people.
Clint Bolick:
Thanks to Bob and Le for a thoughtful exchange on attorneys’ fees. There are some people who make a living suing other people and/or government agencies, hoping to make a living off settlements, and I have no sympathy for them. But public interest law, as I see it, is quite different. Generally, we exist to take on cases based on principle, where no one has a sufficient financial stake in the outcome or sufficient resources to litigate. A classic case is eminent domain abuse. In most instances, the people whose land was taken could not afford to hire lawyers to argue whether the taking was for a public use — rather, they paid their attorneys fees from the compensation. Were it not for IJ taking the case, Randy Bailey would have lost his shop, because he could not have taken on the case on his own. So too the taxpayers who are challenging CityNorth could not possibly have the resources to challenge it either in the legislature or the courts without us.
IJ lost the opening round in the Bailey case, just as Goldwater lost the opening round in the CityNorth case. AZ is odd in that attorney fees are litigated at each level, rather than waiting for a final decision. That raises another relevant aspect of public interest law — typically, the cases are taken to change jurisprudence. In the cases that Goldwater selects, that is because jurisprudence has strayed from the original intent of the Constitution. Governments then keep pushing the bounds of power, as with eminent domain and retail subsidies, which will continue to erode constitutional guarantees unless someone stops them. Usually, the only entity that can push back is a public interest law firm — but more often than not, it will lose in the trial court, because the trial court must operate within the bounds of existing jurisprudence. In many instances, even losing cases shed useful sunshine on abuses of government power that are rectified through democratic processes — but only with the leverage of a lawsuit.
For those reasons, a straight-out loser-pays system would utterly destroy the ability of public interest firms to protect individual rights and restore constitutional boundaries to government power. The CityNorth case raises very important issues under the AZ Constitution. For only ten months of legal work on a single case, the fees sought by the City and the developer far exceed our entire litigation budget for an entire year. Given those economics, challenges of government power would almost never be filed if the public interest firm routinely has to pay if it loses.I hope these observations are useful. As always, we’re grateful to the Tribune for its steadfast support of freedom.
Posted in: Courts • Economic development • Phoenix | Post a Comment »
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