Phoenix elections open thread

As the polls prepare to close in the mayoral and council elections, I'll open up for comments.

 

Comments

[phxSUNSfan]

It looks like a November runoff election between Stanton and Gullett. Gullett, a seasoned lobbyist, should be defeated rather easily by Stanton. This will be the first runoff election "in at least 60 years" for the Phoenix Mayoral:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/08/30/20110830phoenix-mayor-race-stanton-gullet-runoff.html

[phxSUNSfan]

Phoenix voters rejected a gas station in a residential neighborhood and passed Prop 1, renewing the City's budget control:

"Proposition 1 passed easily. The issue commonly known as 'home rule' is sent to voters for approval every four years. Its renewal allows Phoenix to spend whatever money the city earns in grants, taxes and fees. Phoenix voters have approved it eight times since 1981."

Jon, there is a Washington (state) connection:

"The vote bars the residential land from being rezoned for commercial, and it stops the property owner, Virgil Morgan, from selling his land to QuikTrip. Morgan, who lives in Everett, Wash., did not return phone calls seeking comment."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/08/30/20110830phoenix-quiktrip-rejected-voters.html#ixzz1WZnRyTu0

[Jacob Hughes]

Here's the vote breakdown, as of 8 pm:

ANNA BRENNAN 4,580 5.00%
WES GULLETT 18,973 20.73%
CLAUDE MATTOX 11,195 12.23%
PEGGY NEELY 11,624 12.70%
GREG STANTON 34,514 37.70%
JENNIFER WRIGHT 10,241 11.19%
Write-In* 419 0.46%

http://www.phoenix.gov/election/results.html

[Rogue Columnist]

Once again, the Firefighters bet on the wrong horse. How the mighty have fallen.

[Rogue Columnist]

At this point, Stanton should be uncomfortable. Gullett will pick up Neely and the Tea Party woman's voters, and at least half of Mattox's. This red herring about the city budget, the demonizing of public employees and crap like that baffles me when Phoenix is facing serious issues, but people are stupid.

[phxSUNSfan]

Even if Gullett picked up half of Mattox's supporters and all of Neely's he would not have won this election nor surpassed Stanton's total. For a November election more of the City's Democratic supporters (Latinos in general) should make an appearance at the polls. I'm not sure Gullett can now mount a serious challenge.

The city budget isn't a red herring, it was due for renewal. If the City lost control over its budget a State mandated budget plan would be enforced.

[Jacob Hughes]

Stanton must have figured that he'd face Gullett in the runoff; he pounded Gullett for his lobbying ties in the weeks leading up to the election. It should be an interesting race.

[Rogue Columnist]

pSf, I don't mean Home Rule, which is critical. I refer to the meme of horrific waste and overspending at City Hall, mimicking the right's national talking points. It's code to cut spending on infrastructure and economic development, especially in the core.

As for Latino voters, from your mouth to God's ear. I've been waiting for them to show up my whole life.

[phxSUNSfan]

I apologize Jon, I misunderstood your point...that was Jennifer Wright's platform and I'm glad she and Neely were shown the door.

[eclecticdog]

As usual the Tea Party candidate just sees it as a lost battle, but the war is still to be won. Glad to see a land banker got kicked in the teeth.

[Rogue Columnist]

Here's the Republic story:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2011/08/30/20110830phoenix-mayor-race-stanton-gullet-runoff.html

Who is pulling Gullett's strings? Stanton would be a fool to assume he's a shoe-in.

[Rogue Columnist]

And somewhat OT, Commerce Authority chief Don Cardon, gets a $1 million compensation package:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2011/08/30/20110830commerce-authority-oks-leaders-pay.html

Phoenix needs its own economic development strategy.

[PhxDowntowner]

I'm curious to understand where people think Stanton's going to pick up the remaining 12% from.

From Mattox's voters? Not enough.
From Neely's voters? Nope.
From Wright's voters? Double Nope.

[Happs]

Low voter turnout is the forgotten issue in this election. Although improved from four years ago, 15% turnout is abysmal.

[azrebel]

Jon, demonizing of public employees comes from stories like yours about Cardon. Hendershott wants another $21 million for his troubles. Those are the only type of stories that we are bombarded with on almost a daily basis. The small communities in AZ hire town managers then two years into their contracts fire them and send them on their way with $250,000, $500,000. It makes those of us who spent our careers in the private sector feel like schmucks. I currently have three family members who retired from public service at 50 with monthly retirement of $5,000 and great medical coverage. I retired at 60 with a retirement income of ZERO $$$ and medical coverage through my wife's job. Notice the difference. I saved my pennies for a rainy day, but Lord, what if I hadn't?

P.S. Concerning the mayor's race. Choice A - lobbyist Choice B - career politician. What did my Dad tell me about the difference between shit and Shinola????

[Joanna]

Any chance the Democratic Party will make an organized effort to get Stanton elected?

[soleri]

Azrebel, I'm going to disagree with you here. Most public employees are not self-dealing players who write their own retirement packages. Those that do are upper-echelon insiders. While it's worthy of our inspection and even scorn, it shouldn't be used as a cudgel against their lessers.

There is a problem now with the discrepancy in pay and benefits between public and private workers. The Tea Party solution is to bring everyone down to the level of peonage that "producers" feel is the common man's just desert. I'm aware how the narrative is a self-constructing slam dunk. First, impoverish the middle class, and then play class warfare with those public workers who haven't been pauperized.

I think we need to do a couple of things here. One is to stop bashing the middle class or its remnants. Two is to rewrite the social contract so labor is rewarded more than wealth manipulation. I'm amazed how the right-wing divide-and-conquer strategy works so well given our knowledge of their ruthlessness and nihilism. Granted, if you're in the private sector and you see the featherdown retirements of public workers, you'll feel resentment. I even see public-sector retirees who are Tea Partiers themselves! What is consistent here is the lack of honesty in our discourse and how we continually blame the wrong people.

At some point, public workers will have their pay and benefits rebalanced to approximate the private sector's. That said, unless we're genuinely conscious of the game being played here, we're not going to understand the true nature of our political economy. It works for the rich, not for us. Increasingly, it doesn't even work for the upper-middle class. The greed and rapacity at the top have changed the rules so virtually everyone south of 99% is a loser. This is the battle we have to fight. There's a lot of us, but despite that, we're still losing.

[azrebel]

I agree soleri.

However, my points: we ONLY hear the horror stories of the most flagrant offenders. And there sure are a bunch of them.

My family members were pretty low level public employees and look at their income. What does that say about the retirement of their superiors?

And like you say, 99% of us are battling over the crumbs left from the real thieves. So why beat ourselves up? It's what the real thieves want us to do. Stay distracted by the crumbs, while they run off with the whole cake.

[azrebel]

Is it a fitting testament to the current mayor, that a group of us were talking this morning and none of us knew who the current mayor of Phoenix is?? Has anyone filed a missing mayor report with Phoenix PD?

[phxSUNSfan]

AZreb, are u being sarcastic? Neo-cons call him "Filiberto" Gordon because they believe Phoenix is a sanctuary city; and its the liberal mayor's fault...

[eclecticdog]

Bet PG's girlfriend goes AWOL soon.

[Ricardo]

Soleri, you are absolutely right about the "plight" of the upper middle class. There is a tremendous amount of wealth being transferred from the upper middle class to the One Percenters in this Great Recession. Those who were frugal and grew comfortable retirement and solid investment accounts through hard work, opportunity and raw desire, and acquired equity on their homes, have been kicked in the teeth. This wealth has now been ravished in favor of the plutocrats and their Wall Street casino managers. What's left is at serious risk.

Certainly when viewed in relation to the tragedy of the poor crushed by the MSM popularized Republican austerity, and the vanishing of jobs, this transfer of upper middle class wealth to the super-rich pales in comparison, but it does point out the extent of the depravity of our leaders and the rich, and the magnitude of the current class divide.

As an aside Azrebel, the defined benefits retirement programs enjoyed by your ex-public employee relatives were designed precisely to protect the middle-class wealth created by American workers. By setting out the amount of a monthly retirement benefit, as SS does, wealth transfers through financial manipulation were tightly controlled, and funds paid into the plan by workers were protected. Funds paid into the plan had to be invested in sure, if low-yielding, plays, in order to guarantee future defined retirement payments. Obviously this was no fun for the financiers, so defined benefits plans have been vigorously opposed by American (and foreign) "producers". Needless to say, when even SS is in danger of being turned over to the rigged crap tables on Wall Street, defined benefits retirement programs are a thing of the past. What with all the worker and union bashing that has been the hallmark of this Great Recession, your relatives are likely to be the last generation subject to our envy. Sad, I would say, and further evidence of the drying up of the middle class.

[soleri]

http://www.salon.com/news/libertarianism/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/30/lind_libertariansim

[soleri]

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-19-982826-5

[Petro]

Ricardo, well said! and awesome Salon link, soleri, thank you.

[Rogue Columnist]

"Bird on Fire" should be a major publishing event. Don't expect it to be embraced by the REIC or even (publicly) the Morrison Institute types. But it's a superb book, written without local blinders, and shows why Phoenix's situation has worldwide ramifications.

[phxSUNSfan]

"Bird on Fire" should be an interesting read but I had to laugh at some of the description:

"Artist-activists refashioning a vibrant, livable inner city “thrilled advocates of the Creative City”—until the popular Friday artwalks became too creative and “the police showed up en masse, and on horseback” to intimidate participants."

I think he means that the city imposed a "tax" on street vendors; fortunately Stanton (and even Gullet, UGH) want to repeal that tax. Cops have never shown up en masse. You'll find more firefighters (a.k.a. eye candy) roaming about especially in the summer. Cops are there for pedestrian safety and they close off Roosevelt to car traffic. Hopefully, the rest of the book is more well researched and isn't overstated b.s.

[soleri]

http://www.urbanplough.com/

I met Matthew Moore about a year or so ago when he was exhibiting his photographs at the Lisa Sette Gallery. His biography is interesting if improbable. It's a tribute to Scottsdale's art scene that they would entertain such subversive content inside their affluent bubble.

[Rogue Columnist]

Actually police and city inspectors did perform an over-the-top First Friday crackdown, surprising and outraging many, in the mid-2000s. It was a blunder and Fairbanks backed off somewhat

[phxSUNSfan]

Hardly a gestapo like force to "intimidate participants" while on horseback. Vendors were ticketed for not paying a fee. An uninformed, unknowing "outsider" would read that description of events and most likely assume that First Friday was then shuttered or ruined. Which is hardly the case as it has grown into one of the nation's largest monthly artwalks/events.

[Rogue Columnist]

I'm not talking about the 2008 affair. But no worries. Phoenicians will circle the wagons. "Everything's Fine!"

[phxSUNSfan]

Though this may seem trivial to some I think it's important; for First Fridays, everything is good although certain aspects of the affair but can be improved for the artists sake. For other Phoenix affairs, certainly not fine especially since the mayoral election winner is still to be decided.

[phxSUNSfan]

This isn't about the election, but the state was ordered to reinvest in the transit fund that it is to share with cities:

"Campbell said he will issue an injunction directing state Treasurer Doug Ducey to reinstate the deposit of Lottery proceeds into the transportation-assistance fund and then to distribute the dollars to cities, towns and counties. He set a Sept. 23 deadline for both sides to agree on the wording of an order, or, barring an agreement, to submit arguments outlining their position on such an injunction."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/09/02/20110902arizona-transit-program-air-violation.html#ixzz1WuCxFD5S

The article goes on to state that Arizona should have no trouble funding the transit program amid a budget surplus.

[soleri]

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779#[3]

[eclecticdog]

Couldn't help but see Sheriff Joke's visage on the Globe. Landed a cover story on his "investigation" into Obama's birth certificate. Will Obama be impeached? He should be, but not for that.

[Petro]

Thanks soleri, once again, for posting another fascinating and illuminating link.

[soleri]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/one-path-to-better-jobs-more-density-in-cities.html?_r=1

[cal Lash]

Talton Blog NO MAS
As the arch enemy of the Thunder bolt kid I deliver this message. Bill Bryson was and is a boring dude. If Iowa was such a great place for the Thunderbolt Kid why did he move to the dankness of England? Maybe to escape from the religious whackos? I may have been born upon the dark soil of a Iowa river bank but life was never like the Thunderbolt kids tale of happy bland mediocrity. For me it was cold, hungry and deadly until I landed in the great Sonoran desert of Sunnyslope. Home of horned toads and recovering tubercular’s. A place where the only green things were Mexican spotted lizards and Saguaros. The water quit north of the Arizona Canal.
The valley of the Sun was a great little spread out berg of less than 200,000 folks and if you fired your rifle no one noticed. The Slope still had mountain lions and deer, plenty of Jack rabbits and a ton of Chuckwallas. Selling tortoises, lizards, scorpions to locals and dough nut holes at the Walbash trailer court along with a paper route brought in more money than my dad was making working at a small grocery store.
Summer brought the lettuce fields, grapes and then the sweet potato sheds in the winter. If you were not sixteen you could not get a social security number but you could be 10 and work for cash. Puberty at twelve brought to ones attention the chicitas tan lindas swabbed in long colorful clothing under the grape vines and bent over in the lettuce fields. And at the end of the day we would jump fully clothed into the canal to cool off and make wet love. (Only pendejuo gringos didn’t cover their skin (500 skin cancers and counting at 71). Hitchhiking to Central and Jefferson or riding a bicycle got you to downtown Phoenix for the movies or to hang around the duce and watch a fight or two. Phoenix was a nice town in the 50’s. NO MAS.
Which brings me to today, the age of Urbanization, where to qualify as a real city the population must exceed 10 million? I will pass on being a slum dog millionaire living in a dung heap of bodies piled on top of each other 20 or more dizzy stories high. I would rather survive on the edge of the Mohave Desert as a hermit than congregate with the arm pit sweaty bodies that inhabit the downtown art walk. I have seen more outstanding “eye candy” in a lettuce field on a hot summer day than I have ever seen in downtown Phoenix art scene. Male field workers had great bodies before firemen existed. But if you are into pimpled up, tattooed under the influence weirdo’s the Roosevelt sidewalks is a go.
Consequently I have decided to pass on the “Urbanization” dialogue and spend my time reading (like a real man. Whatever that might be?) the diatribes of folks like Ed Abbey and Chuck Bowden. And when available toss in a Talton publication. (I also recommend eearth)
Mas Tarde, The Horned toad kid from a small hole in a large Sahuaro.