How do Phx’ lower property taxes = higher tax rate?

Taxpayers get creative trickery, mathematical magic

There’s more than a bit of sleight of hand passing as news in the local disseminator of left-wing skew pretending it’s still a newspaper. On the auction block again, the failing Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic’s days are numbered. Reporters have been replaced by ASU Cronkite J school students. Actual journalists are a mere memory. Editors took a forced hike when layoffs turned what was once a newsroom into skeletal remains. The newspaper, now a homeless vagrant, was recently forced to sell its downtown building and parking garage.

An example of the bizarre reporting emanating from this mess is a mind-boggling gem, topped with the hope-inducing headline, “Phoenix council to lower property tax rate.”  Puzzled readers have to remind themselves that the minority majority city council districts, that were put in place for the sole purpose they now serve, (read the bold type portion under the link) have succeeded in making the capitol of red state Arizona, a deep blue. The Democrat majority including the newly elected Dem mayor Kate Gallego, are obviously disinclined to return to taxpayers any of their own money. There must be more behind the headline.

Yep! 

The 25-year-old reporter, lacking any historic memory and obviously hustling to turn out agendized “news” to curry favor with those still able to pay her salary, lets the cat outta the bag with this reality:

“The city is projecting a $55 million surplus in its $1.4 billion general fund budget — extra money beyond what is needed to maintain current city services.

The average Phoenix resident will see a 3% increase in property taxes. The city’s property tax rate is decreasing, but rising property values will result in a higher tax bill.

About 70% of the surplus will go toward city employee salary increases and other compensation, which was negotiated with the city’s unions earlier this year, leaving less than $20 million for other investments.”

Fiscal trickery is nothing new for the City of Phoenix. As an example, in December 2009 we wrote $14.3 million was paid in “retention bonuses” to nearly 14,000 employees. This, as the City Council cut $270 million, or 22 percent, from Phoenix’s general-fund budget, including $156 million from programs and services in order to balance the city budget.  In 2010, under Democrat Mayor Phil Gordon, Phoenix imposed a 2% tax on food.

In 2012, problem-plagued, then-City Manager David Cavazos was gifted with a 33% raise, which amounted to an extra $78,000 a year boosting his base salary to $315,000 a year plus a $600 monthly car allowance, $35,000 a year in deferred compensation, and a $4,000 “longevity” bonus.

Think you can effect change next election cycle and vote the Dems out? Unless droves of middle class Phoenix residents are willing to move into neighborhoods where English is not the primary language, the chances for turning this lopsided city council around are beyond remote — which was the whole point behind Democrat former Mayor Terry Goddard dividing the city into districts where ethnicity reigns supreme.

Advertisements

Phoenix City Council elections expose ethnic divide

Unity kicked to the curb in Phoenix, AZ as radical activists win council seats

The local newspaper recently heralded the newly elected city council members with a headline blasting, “Elections shake up City Hall.” It was followed with an Elvia Diaz wishful thinking opinion piece titled, “Expect fireworks with Garcia win,” describing the May 20 runoff election.

The City of Phoenix is comprised of 8 regional districts, (map), each electing its own council member. Districts 5 and 9 were at play. The newly elected District 8 councilman Carlos Garcia, is enthusiastically described  by Diaz as a “Mexican native, and an “uncompromisingly revolutionary, unwavering in his defense of undocumented immigrants.” Diaz neglects to mention Garcia is also known to lead chants, “chinga la migra” (f**k the Border Patrol).

She is so stoked by the prospect of seditious insurgents in city hall that she begins two adjacent paragraphs with the words, “It’ll be fascinating to watch….”

It’ll be fascinating to watch García navigate Phoenix city government, which oversees the police department that his organization Puente Arizona and others are suing for clearing out an anti-Trump protest last year.

It’ll be fascinating to watch what kind of councilman García will turn out to be. She asks, “Will he remain the same firebrand who led protesters to chain themselves to the doors of the state’s Capitol…?”

District 5, on Phoenix’ west side, was won by Betty Guardado, a union activist. Editorialist  Diaz, incapable of using the words ‘radical leftists,’ writes, “Like García and recently elected Mayor Kate Gallego, Guardado is a progressive,” making her sound like a reincarnated President Teddy Roosevelt, which she is definitely not. She’s the director of organizing and vice president of Unite Here Local 11 and UNITE HERE labor unions, promising during a campaign rally, “This state is going to turn blue!” Read the linked exposés of the $multimillion unions she leads provided by Influence Watch.  

We are told,”Phoenicians should expect fireworks from Carlos García, who made no qualms about why he sought the council seat in the first place, “to give a voice to the most marginalized.” Which brings us to a bit of history:

Phoenix was previously governed by what was known as “Charter Government,” a mayoral candidate and at-large council candidates, who represented various backgrounds and interests. They ran as a slate, and though they had occasional challengers, they usually won as a team. Most importantly, they did not represent specific districts. This encouraged interaction and working together to benefit city as a whole.

Leftist perennial candidate Samuel Pearson Goddard, III, opting for the chummier nickname, “Terry” (based on Trey for “the third”) — won as mayor, though repeatedly losing trying to replicate his father’s single gubernatorial term. Goddard should be held responsible for dividing the city by districts and eliminating party affiliation, labeling the mayor and council candidates “non-partisan,” as if that concealed their bent.

We can thank liberal elitist Terry Goddard for making ethnicity the sole determiner of representation and irreparably fractionalizing Phoenix.

Phx elects leftist mayor, 2 radical council members

Phoenix Mayoral and open City Council seats: America’s fifth largest city has only extreme leftist Democrats on ballot

Kate Widland Gallego has been elected Phoenix Mayor, decisively defeating her fellow council member Daniel Valenzuela. Gallego will be running again in 2020, since this “special election” was to fill the unexpired term of former Mayor Greg Stanton, now a U.S. Rep. in CD 9. Stanton succeeded another radical, Kyrsten Sinema, who is now in the U.S. Senate. Phoenix residents had a choice of electing a far left Democrat or a far left Democrat.

Unofficial UPDATED totals:

Mayor of Phoenix

Kate Gallego:

Votes               Percentage

92,816               58.58%

 Daniel Valenzuela:

Votes               Percentage

65,624                41.42%

Council Member District 5:       

Betty Guardado: Supported by AZ Resist Check out their “Chants.”

Votes                 Percentage

4,182                    37.19% 

Council Member District 8:

Carlos Garcia:  Check out his raised clenched fist, and his comments about former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Votes                 Percentage

3,497                    28.66%

If the newly elected Phoenix Mayor and City Council members make your blood run cold, no one who’s paying attention will try to disabuse you of that creepy feeling. Every one of the candidates and winners are open border proponents. The only losers are Phoenix’ law abiding citizens

See all council candidates and totals here.

Phx’ farcical mayoral election today: Leftists rule

Today is Election Day in the City of Phoenix. It’s not just any election, mind you. It’s a Special Election — for mayor. The seat was left open when the former deeply committed mayor, Greg Stanton boogied to run for congress in Congressional District 9, following Kyrsten Sinema’s departure. On his way out the door, Stanton doled out $2.4 Mil of our tax dollars to a La Raza ally. When initially elected mayor, he received a congratulatory call from then-President Barack Obama and his Secretary of Homeland INsecurity, Janet Napolitano — clearly exposing the farce of “non-partisan” city elections.

For her part, Sinema magically ran for, and was elected to, the U.S. Senate — without ever once mentioning her party affiliation.

If you’re wondering about the election today, there’s not much to bother yourself with. Both candidates are Democrats. The only choice is the “conservative” liberal or the straight-up, liberal liberal. It’s all a disgraceful charade. Council District 5 and 8 seats are also on the ballot since those are the seats Valenzuela and Gallego abandoned.

It does sound confusing, but just think of it as Democrat politics as usual. In this case Daniel Valenzuela has political operative friends who have been financing mailers that describe the firefighter unionist and committed liberal as a “conservative,” when nothing could be further from the truth. Moses Sanchez, who ran and lost claiming GOP credentials, has endorsed Valenzuela. He joins other AZ Republicrats Woods and Romley (appropriately at the bottom of the endorsement list) who have made careers of endorsing liberals. Woods recently made good on his longtime promise and re-registered as a Dem, losing his swag. Also among Valenzuela’s endorsers are McCain insiders Robert Delgado and Doug Yonko, both honchos in Cindy Hensley McCain’s Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship empire.

Kate Gallego, who was the object of incendiary race-baiting when she ran for the city council seat she has abandoned for the mayor’s race, has the better credentials. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University and earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania — though her endorsements are as radically leftist as Valenzuela’s. Her ex-husband, U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, who she divorced while pregnant with their only child, has gallantly endorsed her candidacy for mayor.

Arizona voters need a scorecard to keep up with the ambitious, reconfigured Democrats and their stranglehold on the city of Phoenix and encroachment on D.C. in the Senate and House.

If you’re up for this, election results can be viewed here. We suggest you watch the on an empty stomach. Polls close at 7 PM.

Phx. Mayor election choices: Which leftie?

Seeing Red AZ has been exposing the leftists running the city of Phoenix for years. Their incestuous inbreeding has promoted city council members to mayors. From there they don’t remain static. We now have one of them — Greg Stanton — representing AZ Congressional District 9 — in Washington D.C.

Behind this clique are the unions, most notably the Phoenix Firefighters.  We exposed the deceptive shenanigans before the 2011 city primary election.  It’s worth reviewing, since we are now facing another election for mayor of Phoenix.

The March 12, 2019 “Special Election” is a runoff between two Democrats, though the city attempts to neuter the party affiliation of the council and mayor, under the pretense of them all being “non-partisan.” Kate Gallego and Danny Valenzuela are the leftist choices we have. Bad or worse, the undeniable fact is, one of them will win. The election is to fill the vacancy created when Greg Stanton abandoned the mayor’s seat to campaign for the CD 9 congressional seat previously occupied by radical Kyrsten Sinema, now a U.S. Senator.

Gallego had a 19-point lead over Valenzuela in the November General Election but didn’t secure the required 50-percent-plus-one vote required to win —- necessitating a runoff. In this charade of musical chairs, regardless of who wins, the people of Phoenix lose.

Partisanship is actually the engine that drives this rickety train. The Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic newspaper is now screeching that a proposed statewide ban on taxing food would cause cities to lose $115 million. This overreach had its 2010 impetus in Phoenix under then-Mayor Philly Gordon and was imposed as the City of Phoenix paid $14.3 million to 6,989 employees in unconscionable “retention bonuses,” spending $2 million more than the food tax would have brought in that fiscal year.

Unconscionably taxing food, the most basic necessity for survival, is not outside of the realm of reasonableness to leftists.

A basic rule of thumb when looking at candidates is to check their endorsements, which go right to the core of who they are. In the case of Gallego and Valenzuela both lists are disturbing. As supposed “non-partisans” they claim to represent us all, but their endorsements are more truthful than either candidate. There are a couple of Republicrats on Valenzuela’s list. One, after years of threatening to do so, Grant Woods has recently re-registered as a Democrat. Both candidates are supported by partisan unions, including the ones representing the striking teachers who used thuggish tactics that should have gotten them fired, but instead secured a 20% raise appropriated by Gov. Ducey from our pockets, incorporating a new “fee” which he claims is not a tax.

Going strictly on the two candidate’s credentials, Kate Gallego is most impressive. She earned a degree from Harvard and an MBA from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Valenzuela, a former firefighter union leader cites his humble beginnings as his chief qualification. Among his endorsers are McCain insiders Robert Delgado and Doug Yonko, both honchos in Cindy Hensley McCain’s Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship empire.

Moses Sanchez, an impressive political newcomer who ran as a Republican, pledged to create a more transparent City Hall, not take a city pension or use the office as a political stepping stone. He lost in the Primary Election.

City of Phoenix elections traditionally generate low voter turnout. City employees, bonded to the status quo, and numerous unions, including teachers, firefighters and police, turn out to ensure the blue city in a red state, stays a deep cobalt. 

The Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic newspaper, editorially states, it “likes both candidates.” that was followed by another endorsing Kate Gallego, which raises the suspicion antenna on those looking for clues in addition to the candidate’s endorsement pages. If they actually want her to win, the newspaper, describing her in the second sentence as “a single mom of a bi-racial toddler,” should have stayed out of the endorsement business. It unconscionably remained silent when she was the subject of despicable race-baiting as she ran for the Phoenix City Council in 2013. The failing newspaper’s support is like octopus ink, a poisonous fluid discoloring the surroundings, filled with mucus and emitted through its rear end. No kidding.

Early ballots have been mailed for the March 12th election

Moses Sanchez: New leadership in Phx Mayor’s race

2018 Phoenix Mayoral Debate excerpts

Candidates:

Kate Gallego, Democrat  — former City Council member — resigned to run for mayor. She’s a devout amnesty advocate. She is also expressed support of the outrageous idea of Phoenix raising its water rates to generate an additional $1.5 billion to make updates to the existing system.

You can tell a lot about a candidate by checking out their endorsement list. Gallego’s makes her even more unacceptable. Far leftists, unions, discredited liberals and abortion supporters are front and center. She even showcases the endorsement of her former husband, far left congressman Ruben Gallego, whom she divorced while she was expecting their first child.

Daniel Valenzuela, Democrat — former City Council member — resigned to run for mayor. Oddly, he says he’ll keep his full-time, 40-hour-a-week job as a Glendale firefighter if elected mayor of the nation’s sixth largest city. That’s a trick that rivals Houdini’s best efforts. Those city-funded pensions that are breaking the taxpayer’s backs, are a greater lure than being mayor. Valenzuela needs to make a choice. Though it seems impossible, his endorsements are even more chilling than Kate Gallego‘s.

Nicholas Sarwark, chairman of the Libertarian National Committee, is a former public defender, and runs a pre-owned auto business begun by his grandfather. His campaign “events” page has none listed, and shows him addressing a nearly empty room. Sarwark needs a course on the importance of optics.

Moses Sanchez, the only Republican in the race, scored with the best quote from the Channel 12 televised debate:

 “If you think the last decade of dysfunctional, failed leadership is the best thing we can do, you have other options. I believe we could do better. I believe we can create a city that puts her residents first. I believe it’s going to take an outsider who’s led in the military, in the classroom and in the boardroom. I believe you deserve better than what you’ve been getting,”

An Ahwatukee resident who rated enthusiastic coverage in the Ahwatukee Foothills News, Sanchez — who refreshingly is not a recycled council member — identifies himself as a Navy veteran, immigrant, educator and small business owner. His wife, Dr. Maria Manriquez, is a gynecologist who is the associate dean for clinical curricular affairs at the University of Arizona’s Phoenix medical school.

 Debate excerpts:

Candidate’s opening statements: (Video).

How to fix homeless problem: (Video).

Fixing the Phoenix pension problem: (Video).

Dr. Steve Ferrara: Best choice for U.S. Rep. in CD 9

Moses Sanchez is the sole Republican running for Phoenix Mayor

Not long ago local radio talk show co-host and author Seth Liebsohn retired from the Seth and Chris Show to run for Congress in Arizona’s Congressional District 9, The duo’s afternoon drive time political program provided name ID to Leibsohn, giving him a boost as the campaign took off. The soaring trajectory didn’t last long. An entirely avoidable snafu occurred that derailed the short-lived campaign.

Now Liebsohn is endorsing another Republican in the race. Steve Ferrara, MD, a political fresh face, confidently identifying himself as a conservative on his website.

Dr. Ferrara, is a military veteran and medical doctor with a compelling personal story. Deployed into combat in Afghanistan he transformed combat casualty care by pioneering life and limb saving endovascular surgical techniques on the battlefield. His work history also placed him on Capitol Hill, providing extraordinary background for the CD 9 race.

Ferrara and his wife, Elizabeth, an active duty Navy Captain, are the parents of two teenage children.

Former Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a liberal political opportunist who initially filed to run for secretary of state, recently resigned in order to run for congress. Incredibly egotistical, in 2017 he actually warned the President of the United States to “stay out of my city!“ as reported by AZ Family Channel 5. Undeterred, Trump came and addressed a huge, supportive crowd.

Democrat Stanton, a known tyrant who callously disregards the voices of city residents, pulled a costly fast one as he exited the mayor’s office, insuring votes from the La Raza open borders crowd, by gifting them $2.4 million in taxpayer funds. Known for supporting unpopular issues, Stanton even lied about lifting the oppressive food tax as he gave large “retention bonuses” to city employees. When first elected in 2011, he received a congratulatory call from the overjoyed duo, Barack Obama and Janet Napolitano.

The Lego-building-block-shaped district cuts a swath through central Phoenix making its way through Tempe and South Scottsdale, west Mesa, northwestern Chandler and areas of southeast Phoenix including the Ahwatukee district (Map here)

Moses Sanchez, another political newcomer, is the lone Republican in the Phoenix Mayor’s race, As usual, it’s bloated with Democrats, though the council and mayor run under a bogus “nonpartisan” guise. All we know about him is on his campaign website. Mayoral candidates typically don’t make the rounds of Republican district meetings because the city is deep blue in the red state of Arizona. The last Republican elected  mayor of the nation’s fifth largest city was a 1994 GOP pretender named Skip Rimsza.

As a young boy, along with his parents and sister, Sanchez immigrated to the U.S. from Panama. A Navy veteran of 21 years, including a tour of duty in Afghanistan, he continues to serve in the reserves. He graduated college with an MBA in Business Management, owns a small business and teaches in the community college system. Moses and his Arizona native wife Maria Manriquez M.D., live in Ahwatukee.