Griswold's New Tone

Interesting article from Gary Nelson regarding Griswold's new tone in the waning weeks of the Mesa Mayor's race. As we have pointed out here, Rex Griswold has gone on the offensive in the past few weeks in the mail and on the phone talking about Scott Smith and his background as a developer.

First, Griswold should thank Nelson for the article because its helping him get extra mileage out of his flyers and phone calls... well, I guess he should probably thank me as well since I have reposted them in their entirety. Here is one of the most interesting lines from the piece:

"Griswold said he has not accumulated a long list of high-profile endorsements because he wants to retain his appeal as an unencumbered political outsider."

Personally, I find that hard to believe. I would bet that he tried to get the endorsements of the other people and was not able to do so. Look at the endorsements on his site, he takes a great deal of effort to make sure you know the occupation or the background of each one of his endorsements. Do you really think that he was trying to shy away from a high-profile list? Why say that someone was Mesa's Man of the Year, if it doesn't really matter about their profile?

I think that Tom Freestone hit the nail on the head. Based on the first election and the endorsements of late, you have to assume that the momentum is going for Smith. Griswold needs people to know that he is out there and to do so, he is trying to reinvent himself as this outsider. I guess if it worked for Smith before, Griswold figures it can work for him now.

He goes on to say that he was brought on "to reform." The he points to the hire of a new City Manager and Police Chief as his types of reforms. Did he do those all by himself? Did he even take a leadership role on either of these efforts? I'd be interested to see if anyone else gives him credit for those two events. I've also heard from several people that the building codes still need a lot of work, so I wonder why he is taking credit for that as well.

It would be interesting to see who Griswold considers among the "insiders" of Mesa. It would be especially interesting to hear on how he intends to work with those folks if he were to get elected. The problem with election races is when they heat up, the heat is on you as well. When he turns up the negatives attention on Smith, he can't help but put more emphasis on his accomplishments (or lack thereof).

New LDS Temple in Gilbert

It looks like the LDS church is looking to build another temple in Gilbert. And for once, I have to agree with Blake Herzog, what will Mesa have left? I read that this is part of the plan that will bring 4 temples to Arizona, which is impressive because some whole nations that only have one.

Now, I remember as a kid going down to the temple area to see all of the Christmas lights and all the festivities. I also remember all of the shops being decorated and Mesa making all of downtown a winter wonderland. That has since stopped, but you could always count on the temple to be decorated. They also do the Easter Paegent which brings a lot of people to downtown as well.

Bringing people downtown meant more people in the area, spending money in stores, and hanging out downtown. There are a lot of family owned businesses in the area that are frequented a lot by temple goers including places like Pomeroy's which caters to clothing for mormon missionaries.

When there is a new place to go with easier freeway access and newer surroundings, where do you think people are going to go? What will happen to the Mesa temple? Will this impact the move to have light rail come to the temple area? Will this impact the revitalization plans in the area? Will people still invest in the area or are they going to let this one go and move down to the nicer one down the way?

Obviously, the LDS church can do what they want, but will it do to Mesa.

Big Time Transit Hike

Looks like I'm not the only one with questions about the wisdom of raising a big tax for transit in the middle of a bad economy. A few people in the Tribune's letters to the editor have said the same thing. This is the line that really gets to the heart of the issue:

"Advocates for a new transportation plan are thinking decades into the future. But they are looking to raise taxes on people who are worrying about paying their bills next month."

Thirty years is a long time to push some of the local sales taxes nearly as high as 10%. The question you have to ask is: How does that impact the short term economy and how does it impact us long term?

Is now really the time for more taxes?

From reading the Arizona Republic, you'd think we are in the middle of a bustling economy instead of a multi-billion dollar statewide deficit right now. On the front page today is a story about a planned $42 billion dollar transportation plan that looks to raise its money from a 1 cent sales tax increase. The gov's plan for increased taxes includes several billion for more transit, according to the pie chart I saw in the paper today.

Then on the opinion page, you have the Republic opining on the need for $1.4 billion more in bonding for the universities to build more buildings. This is why Michael Crow is getting paid so much? To build even more buildings? The guy has three campuses, don't you think he ould probably do okay with what he has already?

This is the kind of spending that you expect to see when things are looking up, people are spending a lot of money and the economy is booming. Instead, the folks are pitching these like they are "economic stimulus proposals." I understand that transportation and infrastucture helps boost the overall economy, but why so much so fast?

Its like people are lining up to raise our taxes by outrageous amounts - during the time that we can least afford to pay them.

Early Voting taking off again

Nearly 12,000 people have already made up their mind when it comes to the Election in Mesa. From what I remember, this is about the same pace as last time around, which is pretty impressive considering there are fewer city council races. Are these just the people that vote no matter what? Or are people being motivated to turn in their ballots?

During the March election, we continued to see steady influx of ballots over the next couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see if it happens the same way this time around. As the candidates fight for every last vote, I imagine things will start heating up even more.

Democrat Activists for Rex Griswold

Well, I think we finally know who was doing the polling in Mesa. After what I heard today, it certainly must be Rex Griswold, and its my guess that he found out that he is pretty far behind.

I have had a couple of people tell me that they got an interesting phone call from some Democrat supporting Rex Griswold talking about how he is the "independent voice." I thought it was a curious strategy for conservative Mesa, and I became even more confused when I heard the actual message that has been posted on Rex Griswold watch. Listen for yourself:

I have to assume that this call is intended for Democrats in Mesa. I don't know how many Democrat activists there are in Mesa, but hey, that's besides the point. What is interesting is two times in a row, the caller proceeds to call Griswold "independent," as if that would help her get over the fact that its an activist using her credentials as a Democrat to call on behalf of a Republican. Do you think Griswold told her that the Police and Fire Unions were behind Smith?

She then proceeds to invoke the names of Matt Salmon and Russell Pearce as the "political power brokers" behind Smith (perhaps Smith should pay Griswold's campaign for the free publicity). She non-chalantly adds, "And the same people who have been running city government for years."

Like who? Does he mean Claudia Walters? If that's what his campaign is going for, wouldn't Rex Griswold be among the same people who have been running the government for years? Also, is he trying to insinuate that Smith is more "republicany" than Griswold is, and thus, the lesser of two evils?

I don't know if any of this is working, but clearly Griswold is behind and he knows it. He has taken the risky approach to go after Smith as the "insider" while trying to paint himself as an "outsider." This is the same guy who has sat at every council meeting for the past 5 years and been a leader on nothing.

He prides himself on answering his own phone, yet very little changed under his watch. Does he mean to say that these problems only recently started - no one ever called him on his cell phone about all of this?

Will this risky strategy work? I have my doubts. Besides, what does it do over the longrun? He has now pretty much called everyone endorsing Smith (including the majority of the new council) a bunch of political power brokers and good ol' boys. What's that going to do to a working relationship?

I would much rather he try to prove to the electorate on why he is the best candidate instead of focusing all of his time trying to trick fringe elements into supporting him.

Higgins and Austin go head to head

The two candidates for District 5, Dina Higgins and Phil Austin debated the issues last night at Red Mountain High School. Every vote is going to count in this race - especially with the large undervote this time around.

From the comments, it sort of appears to be a passionate approach versus a measured approach to problems. Higgins appears to advocate calling people out, making the hard decisions, and taking action. Austin appears to advocate for bringing people together, building a consensus approach, and talking about the way things ought to be instead of how they sometimes are.

It will be interesting to see which approach appeals to the voters the most.

Tragic Falcon Field Crash

For the second time this month, a small plane has crashed near Falcon Field. Unfortunately, this time, 3 people had their lives tragically cut short. The pilot made a last minute heroic effort to save lives by avoiding the nearby shopping center (I assume the Wal-Mart) and took the plane down in the nearby orange groves. This is truly a tragic event and my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the three individuals who passed away.

Airplanes can dangerous, but so can cars. We don't always read about the people who die each day across the valley from car accidents. Let's hope that people understand this tragic event for what it is - an accident, and they avoid trying to make any drastic decisions. Falcon Field must continue to be a functioning general aviation airport.

Republic Endorses Scott Smith and Phil Ausin

So, did anyone else see that the Arizona Republic endorsed Scott Smith and Phil Austin today? I saw it in the Mesa Republic section, but I am completely unable to find it online.

ETA: Here is the Republic's Endorsement of Smith. Here is the Republic's Endorsement of Austin.

The new AZCentral looks pretty, but it has made it harder to find things. In fact, I think they just barely brought the Mesa campaign section back online and its only been hastily edited to reflect the remaining races.

All of that aside, the Arizona Republic did a very nice write up of why they are supporting Smith in the May Election. After they endorsed Walters in the primary, I think its only logical for them to pick Smith in the run-off for three reasons:

1. Walters picked Smith. If he is good enough for her, he is good enough for them. Its sort of a transference thing.

2. Its good to pick a winner. After picking the person who lost last time around, they are smart to pick the person who is most likely to win especially since they are sticking with Austin in the D5 race.

3. Smith is the only one who has made any sort of effort to continue to hone his message. Griswold is still talking about the same old stuff that he talked about last time around, what would motivate them to change their mind?

Overall, it was a pretty good write up in favor of Smith talking about his ability to build coalitions and bring change. Much to the chagrin of Rex "We don't need no stinkin' endorsements" Griswold, Smith has been able to get a lot of mileage out of the endorsments from Walters, Richins, Finter, Kavanaugh and the others.

As for Phil Austin's endorsement, I don't know how much of this one was him actually deserving it and how much of it was the Republic not wanting to look foolish by switching their endorsement. It would have been awkward for them to say, "We had no idea that Higgins was going to work so hard, so yeah, we like her chances better."

So, instead, they stuck with the experience angle and made sure to say enough nice things about Higgins so that they could go back to her later if they had to. In the end, I think that this race is still too close to call. I haven't heard much about what is going on, but I didn't really hear much last time either. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.

Future of Gateway Airport

Mesa, Phoenix, Queen Creek, Gilbert and the Gila River Indian Community met to discuss the infrastructure needs of Gateway Airport. They also have made passenger service their highest priority over their current push for cargo service.

While the airport may not be self sufficient as of yet, its important that the cities continue their support of the ongoing development. However, it does make you wonder why neither Chandler nor any city in Pinal County is involved.

It will be interesting to see how these different moving parts come together over the next few months. I have heard many people talk about how this area is the future of Mesa and a real opportunity to make something different. It truly is one of the last great opportunities for economic, residential, and commercial development in our fair city. Let's hope that we are able to get it right.