Council candidates say Gilbert faces shift in services
Gilbert candidates
Gilbert city council candidates (left to right) Jordan Ray, Les Presmyk, Victor Petersen, Dave Crozier, Ben Cooper and Linda Abbott during the Gilbert Town council candidate forum held at the offices of the East Valley Tribune Tempe. APRIL, 26,2011
Les Presmyk
Les Presmyk during the Gilbert Town council candidate forum held at the offices of the East Valley Tribune Tempe. APRIL, 26,2011
Victor Petersen
Victor Petersen during the Gilbert Town council candidate forum held at the offices of the East Valley Tribune Tempe. APRIL, 26, 2011
Ben Cooper
Ben Cooper during the Gilbert Town council candidate forum held at the offices of the East Valley Tribune Tempe. APRIL, 26,2011
Linda Abbott
Linda Abbott during the Gilbert Town council candidate forum held at the offices of the East Valley Tribune Tempe. APRIL, 26, 2011
Dave Crozier
Dave Crozier during the Gilbert Town council candidate forum held at the offices of the East Valley Tribune Tempe. APRIL, 26,2011
Jorday Ray
Jordan Ray during the Gilbert Town council candidate forum held at the offices of the East Valley Tribune Tempe. APRIL, 26, 2011
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activearizona posted at 1:01 pm on Wed, Apr 27, 2011.
I for one appreciate all of the effort that the current council took to make sure that South Gilbert is taken care of as well as North Gilbert. I appreciate the hard decisions that had to be made in order to provide amenities like parks for those of us in South Gilbert. I am not short sided and I appreciate the leadership and vision of people like Linda Abbott. I care about my quality of life, but I care more about what the quality of life will be like for my children and grandchildren. Thank you Linda Abbott
activearizona posted at 1:10 pm on Wed, Apr 27, 2011.
I think voting in all of the TEA PARTY members would be a huge mistake for Gilbert. Our town is great because we all work together. If we elect people who want to exclude themselves from everyone else it will do nothing but divide our town. Keep Gilbert Working Together to fix our problems... We need vision and leadership.
Keep Abbott , Crozier, and Presmyk
KeepingmyFreedom posted at 11:51 pm on Wed, Apr 27, 2011.
I am ready for new faces on the Town Council. I am very supportive of the candidates that the Gilbert Small Business Alliance has endorsed. I want people who have had to make the hard decisions to keep a business going running my town. I am very frustrated with the waste of taxes and the lack of professional attention to decisions.
We do need to all work together in this town...... lets get behind these new business voices. What they say makes good common sense. Vote May 17th for Petersen and Ray. We already have Cook in...yeah !!
gilbertoldtimer posted at 1:57 am on Thu, Apr 28, 2011.
I normally don't comment in this paper, but reading your comments "as you said taking care of the south of Gilbert" The idea of buying parkland in the southern part of Gilbert is not the issue most have with this council. Its the back door process hiding if from the community, lying about the police, fire and the budget. From your statement it must be OK in your family to lye, cheat and steel money from each other in your family?
Mrmuggs posted at 4:32 am on Thu, Apr 28, 2011.
All members of the Gilbert Town councll that were members during the recent land deal that okayed the purchase price that was $50 million over the true value of the land should resign or face recall.
Not only did they give this person a sweetheart deal by paying this amount they then compounded the misuse of Gilbert tax money by letting him get by with paying less taxes on the money he recieved.
Each and every member should be brought up on any possible charges that the state can do within their power to remove these people from office.
truthcommonsense posted at 9:32 pm on Sun, May 1, 2011.
I say it is time to replace the incumbents for overspending and trying to tax and spend some more... Not to mention the their "lovely" union support they brought to town.
gilbertwatchdog posted at 12:24 am on Mon, May 2, 2011.
I never knew (until tonight) that Gilbert had a sister city in Pakistan named Abbott-a-bad, which is what even folks in Pakistan will call their sister city in Arizona if Linda gets re-elected and once again gets back into tax, tax, tax and spend, spend, spend.[beam]
DeeDShell posted at 5:44 pm on Tue, May 3, 2011.
Gilbert needs CPR...Cooper, Peterson & Ray. Out with those who voted to pay more monies for land than it's actual value. No matter how these scoundrels try to explain why they voted 'yes' on the land pruchase, it still stinks! [thumbup]
ivotetoo posted at 4:52 pm on Thu, May 5, 2011.
Anita, Jerry, Eric and crew, has to be driving you crazy that Ray and Petersen are not acknowledging your support, running away from the names that are at work so hard for them, instead kissing up to the Chamber, firemen and the community members they are trying to persuade to support them. You may have brought them to the dance, but they are going to break up with you. Watch out, you are out of step........
ivotetoo posted at 4:52 pm on Thu, May 5, 2011.
Oh yeah Erin as well, does it bug you that your name is spelled like a girls????
gilbertwatchdog posted at 2:14 am on Wed, May 11, 2011.
Abbott and Cooper right for Gilbert's future? Well, let's look at that a bit more subjectively.
First, Ms. Abbott. Yes, it's true that she gets things done, but only the things she wants done, not what's truly good for the average "Joe" in Gilbert.
Her list of "things" getting done would include being instrumental in bringing the SEIU union into Gilbert. You know, the same union that boycotts Arizona over SB1070. The same union that our current President is so fond of as well. The same union that she counts on for political support for her campaign (no double standard there, I'm sure).
Her fondness for union's doesn't stop there. She was also a big supporter of starting Gilbert's own unionized Fire Department, pushing a private fire fighting business out of Gilbert, and just by happen-stance, her husband is heavily involved in the unionized Gilbert Fire Department (surprise, surprise).
Ms. Abbott also has an apparently never balanced a checkbook either, since she voted to support spending millions for the Big League Dreams park (while we were entering a recession), and millions more for the Zinke Dairy fiasco (while we were smack dab in the middle of the recession).
In each case, she has claimed over and over again that these reckless financial decisions were great for her vision of Gilbert, never mind that the taxpayers are always stuck writing ever larger checks to help "her" vision become a reality.
It seems curious (again just a lucky break) that Ms. Abbott seems to be spending a considerable amount of her campaign money on web site ads in certain local newspapers, newspapers that seem to have missed why spending $90 million plus (for just these two projects alone) has caused the Gilbert town budget to go into the red.
To be sure, Ms. Abbott was not the only town council member to vote for these two fiscal fiasco's (and that are running for re-election, the others being Crozier and Presmyk) but she certainly has stated over and over that she still thinks these two projects are great for Gilbert.
If Ms. Abbott had any flair for history, when hearing of the complaints from the taxpayers, she might utter "let them eat cake", for her attitude toward the average taxpaying citizen in Gilbert surely must be very similar indeed.
As for Mr. Cooper, it's true that he did not vote for either Big League Dreams or the Zinke Dairy fiasco's (as he was not on the council at that time), but he was hand picked by the current council members (Abbott, Crozier and Presmyk) so one can assume that they viewed his fiscal and political thinking as similar to their own.
Indeed, Mr. Cooper has not gone out of his way to distance himself from these spending disasters, nor has he publically called for the release of ALL Gilbert documents (including any and all executive meetings and minutes) related to the Zinke land deal.
He may be a fine man, but when you're hand picked to join a club with members of questionable fiscal ethics, you need to establish yourself as above reproach to the average taxpayer and citizen, and his campaign has largely been silent on these matters. Perhaps he doesn't understand the need to distance himself from "the good old boys" politically, or perhaps he feels right at home there, but we may never know and his silence could cost him the election.
That leaves Victor Petersen and Jordan Ray as the only two "unknowns" still in the mix. I don't know either man (or his family) personally, but them being outsiders made be their single biggest plus in this upcoming election.
Politically, they may be newcomers, and yes they may make mistakes (if elected) at some point in the future, but can you imagine they would do as poor a job representing the average Gilbert taxpayer as Abbott, Crozier, or Presmyk have during the past several years? I can't.
gilbertwatchdog posted at 2:17 am on Wed, May 11, 2011.
Abbott and Cooper right for Gilbert's future? Well, let's look at that a bit more subjectively.
First, Ms. Abbott. Yes, it's true that she gets things done, but only the things she wants done, not what's truly good for the average "Joe" in Gilbert.
Her list of "things" getting done would include being instrumental in bringing the SEIU union into Gilbert. You know, the same union that boycotts Arizona over SB1070. The same union that our current President is so fond of as well. The same union that she counts on for political support for her campaign (no double standard there, I'm sure).
Her fondness for union's doesn't stop there. She was also a big supporter of starting Gilbert's own unionized Fire Department, pushing a private fire fighting business out of Gilbert, and just by happen-stance, her husband is heavily involved in the unionized Gilbert Fire Department (surprise, surprise).
Ms. Abbott also has an apparently never balanced a checkbook either, since she voted to support spending millions for the Big League Dreams park (while we were entering a recession), and millions more for the Zinke Dairy fiasco (while we were smack dab in the middle of the recession).
In each case, she has claimed over and over again that these reckless financial decisions were great for her vision of Gilbert, never mind that the taxpayers are always stuck writing ever larger checks to help "her" vision become a reality.
It seems curious (again just a lucky break) that Ms. Abbott seems to be spending a considerable amount of her campaign money on web site ads in certain local newspapers, newspapers that seem to have missed why spending $90 million plus (for just these two projects alone) has caused the Gilbert town budget to go into the red.
To be sure, Ms. Abbott was not the only town council member to vote for these two fiscal fiasco's (and that are running for re-election, the others being Crozier and Presmyk) but she certainly has stated over and over that she still thinks these two projects are great for Gilbert.
If Ms. Abbott had any flair for history, when hearing of the complaints from the taxpayers, she might utter "let them eat cake", for her attitude toward the average taxpaying citizen in Gilbert surely must be very similar indeed.
As for Mr. Cooper, it's true that he did not vote for either Big League Dreams or the Zinke Dairy fiasco's (as he was not on the council at that time), but he was hand picked by the current council members (Abbott, Crozier and Presmyk) so one can assume that they viewed his fiscal and political thinking as similar to their own.
Indeed, Mr. Cooper has not gone out of his way to distance himself from these spending disasters, nor has he publically called for the release of ALL Gilbert documents (including any and all executive meetings and minutes) related to the Zinke land deal.
He may be a fine man, but when you're hand picked to join a club with members of questionable fiscal ethics, you need to establish yourself as above reproach to the average taxpayer and citizen, and his campaign has largely been silent on these matters. Perhaps he doesn't understand the need to distance himself from "the good old boys" politically, or perhaps he feels right at home there, but we may never know and his silence could cost him the election.
That leaves Victor Petersen and Jordan Ray as the only two "unknowns" still in the mix. I don't know either man (or his family) personally, but them being outsiders made be their single biggest plus in this upcoming election.
Politically, they may be newcomers, and yes they may make mistakes (if elected) at some point in the future, but can you imagine they would do as poor a job representing the average Gilbert taxpayer as Abbott, Crozier, or Presmyk have during the past several years? I can't.
gilbertwatchdog posted at 10:58 pm on Thu, May 12, 2011.
For those that haven't seen the AZ Republic's reporting yet, here you go ....
I think it's a good bet that Ms. Roberta "Bobbi" Smith will never receive the same level of punishment for her illegal actions that any one of Linda Abbott's detractors would if they were caught doing the same thing, as Linda has many contacts within town government that will, in all likelyhood, take great care that Bobbi Smith will receive every possible legal break.
Consider this, here's a woman (Bobbi Smith) that's caught red-handed by Gilbert Police committing the crime (and admits to it) and a former Gilbert Town Councilmen (Don Skousen) rushes to:
a) talk with her (Bobbi Smith), and
b) manage to issue what amounts to a press release that tries to justify her illegal actions at the same time.
I imagine that if a "normal" citizen were being interviewed by Gilbert Police (before being arrested) and a "normal" bystander (in place of a former Gilbert Council member) decided to intervene into the situation that Gilbert PD might have ended up putting two of them in the back of the car, but perhaps I'm reading too much into the situation.
Skousen also told the AZ Republic that "he (Skousen) feels the negative signs are slanderous and that Smith made "a mistake in judgment because she (Bobbi Smith) was infuriated with these idiots."
First, Mr. Skousen is entitled to his opinion. Unfortunately, neither he nor Bobbi Smith understand that basic constitutional right of free speech. Ms. Abbott's detractors, and there are many to be sure, have absolutely every constitutional right to their opinions regarding Ms. Abbott's qualifications (or lack thereof) for any public office.
Mr. Skousen should also be keenly aware that claiming that the detractors (to Ms. Abbott's campaign) are "idiots" is quite possibly both slanderous and libelous as well (since he was aware that his statement would be quoted and printed), and since the Gilbert Police Department on scene had no trouble contacting the owner of the politcal signs in question (meaning that they were legal political signs). Thus the only reason Ms. Bobbi Smith actually had (in illegally removing the signs) was that she didn't like the political message contained on the signs. Fortunately for the rest of Gilbert, Ms. Bobbi Smith is not in charge of Gilbert's Sign Police.
Second, Linda Abbott's defenders rail against those that point out undisputed facts about her town council record, ignoring that Ms. Abbott's record is out there for all to see (if only they wish to look). I have not seen (or heard) anyone that's made fun of Ms. Abbott personally, or watch she looks like, or what clothes she wears, etc., etc. - no, every issue has been about her voting record, which is how it should be during an election.
Ms. Bobbi Smith may think Linda Abbott walks on water (and that's her right to have that opinion), but others also have the same right to believe that she doesn't, and the right to point out what they consider many past costly mistakes within her voting and spending record, plus political statements that simply weren't true (like laying off dozens of Gilbert Fire and Police if Prop 406's tax increase wasn't passed).
That's called democracy folks, and if your candidate can't take it, both she and her husband (if the allegations of him being photographed outside Town Hall also illegally removing campaign signs are true), should get out of the race.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2011/05/12/20110512gilbert-community-activist-accused-stealing-campaign-signs.html#ixzz1MClawRMn
gilbertwatchdog posted at 11:01 pm on Fri, May 20, 2011.
"you and all your loser friends will get to eat crow on May 17. Sit down and get ready for some pie, open wide" - ivotetoo, May 15th
So gee ivotetoo, what happened? Not only did your bff Linda Abbott lose, so did BOTH of her tax and spend forever council members!
Looks like all those "losers", you know - the voters that wanted local politicians to be actually fiscally accountable to the people, simply decided to show up and let Gilbert's town council know they didn't want more years of tax and spend after all.
Don't worry, though, it looks like Linda and company will continue to spend taxpayer money during their final days in office. Perhaps some of that "free" grant money will make it's way to your little corner of the parallel universe you're living in.