By George Fallar Glendale has received three campaign finance law violation complaints for three currently active political committees. The fines for these violations should approach a million dollars. Click here for the details of those complaints.
The three committees are funded by the Gila River Indian Community (who bear NO responsibility for these blatant errors) through an Independent Expenditure Committee (IE) named Neighbors for a Better Glendale (NFBG). The Chairman (Gary Hirsch) and the Secretary (Jill Ryan) of NFBG also serve as the Chairman and Secretary of two of the committees with campaign finance report irregularities.
The complaints were filed with the City Clerk and the City Attorney on October 6, 2014 at 4:37 PM. The committees were notified via registered mail and e-mail four days later. (click here) Responses from all three committees are due Monday, October 20. Had the committees been notified the day after the complaint was made, their responses would have been due today (October 17).
The complainant has not received notification of any response from any of the three committees.
None of the local news outlets have mentioned this matter. The “top story” on the Glendale Star web site is, ironically, currently a campaign finance report complaint. That story also involves a violation that mentions Neighbors for a Better Glendale.
UPDATE: Friday, Oct 17, 3:56 PM
In response to a record request for any further communication to and from the City and the three committees, we received the following response from the City Clerk’s office:
We received a formal request from the attorney for the committees asking for additional time to respond. They would like to submit on 10/24/14. We have not yet responded to that request.
Why they would need another four days to formulate a response is unclear. We have no indication whether the City will grant them the extension.
UPDATE: Monday, Oct 20, 10:56 AM
We are in receipt of a copy of the formal request (click here) for an extension mentioned above. It is an email from Mary O’Grady (whose name I made the effort to spell correctly) and involves only the two referendum committees run by Gary Hirsch and Jill Ryan. The Committee to Recall Councilman Gary Sherwood (RCGS) is not mentioned, so their response is due today unless they request otherwise and have an extension granted.
Ms. O’Grady, a former Arizona solicitor general, is recorded as representing the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, so it’s a bit surprising she isn’t representing the RCGS committee more closely aligned to the Salt River instead of (or as well as) representing the committees backed exclusively by the Gila River community.
UPDATE: Tuesday, Oct 21, 12:24 PM
We contacted the Glendale City Clerk’s office this morning to discover what response the Committee to Recall Gary Sherwood provided to the City, since it was due yesterday afternoon.
Was there a response? Nope.
Is that surprising, especially considering the disregard for “the rules” exhibited by that committee thus far? Of course not.
We were then informed ALL THREE groups with complaints filed against them have been granted an extension until Friday.
We were also informed that local lawyer Ms. O’Grady is ALSO representing the Committee to Recall Councilman Gary Sherwood (RCGS). We did not receive any formal notification of the extension being granted, nor were we notified of Ms. O’Grady now representing all four committees involved in the complaints. Why four all of a sudden?
Neighbors for a Better Glendale (NFBG) is also being represented by Ms. O’Grady because they should have been noted as the “sponsoring committee” for the Gary Sherwood recall effort. That regulation is in place to make it possible to track where money is coming from for political actions, omitting the information is deceptive.
While NFBG was mentioned in the complaint, it’s surprising an attorney feels they now need representation despite what this non-lawyer thought was no legal liability for any of the campaign finance violations.