On The Company Dime

March 12, 2013

Sam Chavira – Pentagon podium

We heard that three members of the Glendale city government; Mayor Weiers, CM Gary Sherwood and CM Sam Chavira were in Washington, DC. According to a March 11 post on Mr. Chavira’s Twitter feed as a caption to a photo:

@Chavira4Council: Speaking at Pentagon with Mayor Weiers & CM Sherwood in support of the F-35 program at #Glendale Luke Air Force Base

While the photograph depicts Mr. Chavira at a podium, I suspect there was no podium involved with any F-35 discussions. Since Luke Air Force Base is in CM Chavira’s district, it makes sense that he might have business in Washington as would the other two gentlemen.

Making The Rounds

I saw a similar picture of Mr. Sherwood at the Pentagon podium and another shot CM Sherwood shot at the recent Capitals game. Gary Sherwood gets points for attending a hockey game. I’m sure there are shots of Mr. Weiers around town as well.

Sam stated he was in DC on Glendale business, yet the word on the Phoenix political street is that Sam was headed to DC with Phoenix Councilmember Valenzuela. You may remember the Valenzuela name from the Phoenix Monarch Group discussions on this blog. Even if you don’t, the word in the Democratic Party is that Sammy and Danny were headed to Washington to raise dollars for the firefighters union, not to do city business for either Phoenix or Glendale.

Valenzuela, Sinema, Chavira, Stanton

Phoenix CM Danny Valenzuela over the past couple days (on his twitter feed @Daniel4Phoenix) mentions a bunch of things he is doing around DC hanging with Mayor Stanton. They’re making the usual rounds of Jeff Flake’s office and the like. Neither Sammy nor Danny mention any firefighter business at all, so perhaps the rumor that cropped up with the same story from a couple unrelated different Democratic Party people isn’t true or is exaggerated.

Certainly Chavira and Valenzuela were together for awhile in DC. The recent photo posted on Facebook by Kyrsten Sinema’s people shows them posing together with Sinema and Mayor Stanton. I have no idea who the guy in the green shirt on the far left might be.

It begs the question, though, suppose one was involved in two separate functions such as local government and union representation. If trips or investments of any kind would potentially overlap, how would the bookkeeping work for something like that? It wouldn’t be fair for a city to pick up the entire tab for a trip if the work was split into two distinct efforts that didn’t benefit each other, would it?

I’m not sure how one would discover the truth of the matter. Having tried in the past to obtain records of union related happenings, firefighters union in fact, the normal rout of submitting public records requests to satisfy Freedom of Information Act regulations is fruitless. It seems incorrect to “piggyback” private union business with city business, which we should assume is paid for by the citizens of the respective cities. Right?

My interest in this story is less related to boondoggles and, instead, pertains to the Coyotes.

Still Fiddling

Fiddling While Glendale Burns

Today is a normal City Council meeting (or workshop) day and there is nothing happening over at City Hall. The “budget crisis” that was the focus of so much campaign rhetoric is, seemingly, gone. Mr. Weiers even mentioned raises for city employees while his predecessor was wringing her hands and rolling her eyes that the Coyotes players were sucking all the city money and forcing the city to make Draconian cuts. Suddenly that problem is so far on the back burner that the City Council doesn’t even have to MEET for a week or so. Miraculous.

So, there goes another week without face-to-face work on the arena deal.

Another week expires without the much ballyhooed Request For Proposals (RFP) being published.

Another week is gone without formal acknowledgement that Beacon Sports has been hired to “negotiate” on behalf of Glendale.

Another week of the shortened hockey season will be gone before the city government gets back to work on the arena and budget fiascos.

Another week of the rapidly dwindling contracts of Coyotes key people Maloney, Tippett and Smith will be gone.

Behind The Scenes

There have been assurances made by people in the know that there is plenty going on behind the scenes. Politico Grant Woods made another brief appearance sponsored by John McCain on Twitter, assuring us all that he is “on it”, with “it” being the sale of the Coyotes. He was on it years ago with the Ice Edge guys to zero positive effect.

Yet, there are other people also very much legitimately ”in the know” that are confused about the role of Beacon in the negotiation process. There are 23 regular season games left in the shortened hockey season, the last day of the regular season is April 27, a short 46 days away. Consider the last, failed, negotiation consumed 18 months. If there is ANY likelihood of a deal being struck for the arena and the Coyotes, doesn’t it make sense that ALL parties that could be involved in said negotiations be present and accounted for on every single one of those 46 days? It does to me.

If I’m not mistaken, at the last city council meeting Horatio Skeete clarified the contract terms the NHL has with the city. He pointed out that the current contract expires at the end of THIS hockey season. In the event the Coyotes don’t make the playoffs th1is year, a lot more gets tossed up in the air in 47 days.

One would almost think that there was a purposeful delay of significant and public work on the Coyotes and arena deals. The question is, who would further delay benefit if the team is to remain in Glendale?