Queen Creek voters chose three Town Council candidates new to politics, electing Julia Wheatley, Dawn Oliphant and John Alston according to unofficial results from the Maricopa County Recorders Office.
The six-way race wound up being primarily between four candidates, as the top three vote-getters had similar vote totals to the next most successful person, Christopher Clark.
Wheatley had the most votes with 23.2 percent (1,817 votes). Oliphant was second with 19.4 percent (1,518) and Alston third with 18.7 percent (1,463). Clark was close behind at 17.4 percent (1,367).
The campaign didn't feature any burning controversies or rivalries between the office-seekers.
Wheatley, a stay-at-home mom, said municipal spending was a top issue for voters she spoke with.
"The biggest thing overall, over and over, was just being fiscally conservative and fiscally responsible, and that's what really resonated with them and what's what most of the voters were looking for," Wheatley said.
Oliphant was second - a big improvement from coming in fourth during the primary election.
"I knew I'd have my work cut out for me so I wanted to shoot for Number One," Oliphant said.
She touted her government experience, as she's a longtime city of Tempe employee. She will leave that job June 2, the same day council members will be sworn in.
Alston said voters told him they wanted the town to scale back spending like many of them have had to do. The attorney said Queen Creek voters believe the town has been fiscally conservative but still could find savings.
"I think they want to see us tighten our belts and to continue to be careful with our money," Alston said.
The winners will replace Joyce Hildebrandt, Gordon Mortensen and Jon Wootten, who didn't run for re-election. They'll join Gail Barney, who was elected mayor in an uncontested March election. He replaces Mayor Art Sanders, who also didn't seek re-election.
Queen Creek Town Council
Number of votes, percentage of votes
Julia Wheatley 1,817 23.16%
Dawn Oliphant 1,518 19.35%
John Alston 1,463 18.65%
Christopher Clark 1,367 17.43%
Toni Valenzuela 848 10.81%
Daniel Hall 792 10.1%
Source: Unofficial results from Maricopa County Recorder. Includes early votes and 100 percent of precincts.
JeffBrown posted at 11:55 am on Wed, May 19, 2010.
Congrats to All the Candidates ! I am pleased to see democracy alive and well in the Town of Queen Creek. It is great for us to have residents who are willing to take on the job of representing the citizens of our Town. We are Proud of each of you for running clean campaigns and being friendly and cordial the entire way through the process. It has been a LONG road over these past nearly 6 mos. (from time of pulling petition packets)...and whether you won or not, I'm sure we are all happy that the matter has been resolved now.
My personal wish would be for those who didn't make it to Council to PLEASE stay engaged in the process. You've each got so much, by way of good ideas and talents ! I would hate to see us collectively not have benefit of your skills and passion for giving.
For the Winners... Your work has only begun ! Being a representative of the people is a noble and extremely humbling thing to do. Further, and I can speak from experience on this one... It is not always easy ! It takes a lot of hard work and dedication and the willingness to sacrifice some of what often could be free time and sometimes is Family Time. Thanks in advance, to your families from all of us.
I am very much looking forward to working with those three that the voters have determined are the ones they want for the job. Welcome to Town Council !