2024 October InMaricopa Magazine

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City’s car scene bests Phoenix, Scottsdale, say top gearheads

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CONTENTS

LEADING OFF Editor’s letter 8 Contributors 8 HISTORY Remembering a founding father of Maricopa 10 This month in history 10 Hidden in his garage was a family secret that would change his life 12 GOVERNMENT Here’s why Maricopa has the worst voter turnout in the county 16 This summer was the worst ever for wildfires 24 After three forced resignations, city’s first police chief floats bid for sheriff 29 Voters find local prosecutor guilty of being soft on crime 32 Before you vote in November, read this 36 Permits 38 COMMUNITY Fall into savings at Maricopa Wellness Center 40 Halloween house decorating contest returns after last year’s success 41 City’s booming car culture belies its hatred of them 42 Tattoo therapy much more than ink from a shrink 48 SPORTS Rams gridiron puts a pair in the win column 49 BUSINESS Briefs 50 Restaurant inspections 51 Meet Maricopa’s gun goddess 52

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SENIORS How this Province birder is saving the owls in her neighborhood 60 EVENTS Calendar 62 TRENDING A look at what’s hot on InMaricopa.com 71 PARTING SHOT A horror movie set in Maricopa might look like this 72

HOME Pumpkin to E5? It’s like playing chess with your plants 54 What you need to do for National Fire Prevention Week 56 Housing market thaws, but is it enough to motivate buyers, sellers? 57 Extreme home sales 58 How to maximize your real estate investment 59

ON THE COVER Dennis Rossini and John Marsh are members of the Maricopa Cruising group, a lynchpin in the city’s booming car scene. Victor Moreno captures The Lakes resident Rossini (left) with his 1931 Ford Model A and Marsh, from Cobblestone Farms, with his 1955 Chevrolet pickup truck at a cruise-in Sept. 10 behind the Burger King on John Wayne Parkway.

WWW.EHC24.COM/MARICOPA 10960 N. John Wayne Parkway | Maricopa, AZ 85139 | 520.534.0700

InMaricopa.com | October 2024

October 2024 | InMaricopa.com

SHERIFF TEEPLE for the People FAITH H FAMILY H FREEDOM

FROM THE EDITOR

I I FEEL LIKE EVERYONE HAS SEEN THE MOVIE, EVEN people like me who were born after 1987. It’s a cult classic with a fitting name for this edition of InMaricopa . You might have noticed I replaced trains with campaigns in the title of this letter. Reason: the magazine you’re holding is stocked with several fantastic pieces exploring the historic election taking place just five days after this edition makes its newsstand egress. Maricopa’s patent patriotism is belied by its woeful voter turnout in the July primary election. I know most of my Maricopa neighbors don’t get very jazzed about local politics, which is why I wrote you a vivisection on why this scrappy little city gets so lazy when it comes to the ballot box — and why I left this month’s elections theme off the cover. In this edition, you’ll get to know your candidates for state and federal legislatures, and the county sheriff hopeful from Maricopa who maintains a devoted faithful despite being mired in controversy. Then, you’ll read about the fall of our local attorney whom voters fired after two terms of what they called “soft on crime” prosecuting. But don’t worry — in this edition, which is easily one of my favorites from 2024, we have plenty of planes and automobiles to share. In Planes, Trains and Automobiles , Steve Martin and John Candy’s flight to Chicago gets canceled, leading the protagonists to go on a wild, unexpected adventure. As the road trip comedy teaches us, planes don’t have to leave the runway to take people on epic adventures.

Planes, campaigns and automobiles

Publisher SCOTT BARTLE

For example, Tom Schuman tells us the story of a local man whose shocking discovery — that his grandfather designed and built the Spirit of St. Louis — forever altered the trajectory of his life. How about that scene where Del’s carelessly

Managing Editor ELIAS WEISS

Advertising Director VINCENT MANFREDI

discarded cigarette starts a fire in the middle of BFE? It was pretty funny when Candy did it, but not so much when it burned an area of Pinal County bigger than the entire cities of Tolleson and Litchfield Park combined.

Advertising TAWNI PROCTOR MICHELLE SORENSEN

COMMITTED TO LAW & ORDER Ross Teeple candidate for Pinal County Sheriff

During the hottest summer on record in metro Phoenix, unincorporated Maricopa suffered four times the average number of wildfires. Our Monica D. Spencer talks to the experts, who say the weather phenomenon could have deleterious effects on people living in the city proper. And finally — the automobiles. I’m sure you admired those old schools on the cover. And before you ask, no, I’m not talking about the two men, although they are part of Maricopa’s unique car subculture, which, in a city that famously hates and ties all its misfortunes to cars, has not only brought people together but also saved lives. Brian Petersheim Jr. attended all the car shows and cruise-ins in town to get the scoop. So, there you have it. Your monthly dose of planes, campaigns and automobiles. Please enjoy, and I’ll catch up with you again this time next month!

Writers JEFF CHEW KRISTINA DONNAY DAYV MORGAN BRIAN PETERSHEIM JR. HARRIET PHELPS BRIANNA REINHOLD TOM SCHUMAN MONICA D. SPENCER SHERMAN AND EUPHEMIA WEEKES

Photographers BRYAN MORDT VICTOR MORENO

BRIAN PETERSHEIM JR. MONICA D. SPENCER

H Only candidate with PCSO experience H Will protect the rights of Pinal County Citizens H Help stop human trafficking and drug smuggling H Will reduce response times

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MISSION Inform readers/viewers. Enrich advertisers.

BELIEFS We believe in: • An informed citizenry. • Holding ourselves and others accountable. • The success of deserving businesses.

ELIAS WEISS MANAGING EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS

VALUES

• Integrity • Accountability

• Open, honest, real-time communication • Prosperity for clients, community, company

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Teeple4Sheriff.com

DAYV MORGAN Top realtor Dayv tells us why, although interest rates are coming down, there’s work to do before sellers can start getting excited.

TOM SCHUMAN Ace reporter Tom follows a man who devoted his life to aviation after uncovering shocking family secrets hidden in his garage 25 years ago.

HARRIET PHELPS Like the streets of Phoenix, Master Gardener Harriett shares a novel gardening strategy that’s not only green — it makes a perfect grid.

Published advertisements are not an endorsement of products or advertising claims by InMaricopa . No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of InMaricopa . Copyright 2024.

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SMILE WITH CONFIDENCE

HISTORY

He made a splash Maricopa pioneer and farmer

This undated photograph depicts John Smith (right), Jack Smith and Fred Enke posing at their farm.

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John Smith, 96, died peacefully in his sleep at his home in The Villages at Rancho El Dorado Sept. 1. Smith is survived by his wife of 73 years, Mary Lou, four sons Jim, Jack, Matt and Mark, daughter Lisa Balcer, 22 grandchildren and 49 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his son Paul. One of Smith’s proudest achievements was helping build the Rotary Pool for the Maricopa community in 1956 after children drowned in the canals on farms in Maricopa. Smith and his farming partner Fred Enke donated 3½ acres east of Maricopa on the Casa Grande Highway for the pool and park, according to the historical society. The pool cost an estimated $50,000, but Rotarians provided labor that cut the cost in half. “It was a really great thing for a little dirt town back in the day,” daughter Balcer said.

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This 1957 image of Maricopa Rotary Club members pictures Bob Baker, Jay Baldock, Bill Storie, Fred Groff, Bart Rust, Sonny Dunn, Frank Banks and John Smith attending Stagecoach Days.

Read more about Smith here >

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY For these and other historical stories, visit InMaricopa.com.

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Geeks and nerds rejoiced when the first comic book shop opened in Maricopa. Brian Lindblom opened Mr. E Comics in the Shops at Maricopa Fiesta, offering rows upon rows of current issues, vintage titles, trading cards and collectibles. The store would later serve as a place to play tabletop and card games.

A train struck a car on the Union Pacific Railroad tracks after the crossing arms failed to go down on North Porter Road. The driver, 55-year- old Zack Coryellbattle, was transported to Chandler Regional Medical Center with injuries and released hours later. A westbound service train was working on the tracks and, according to a Union Pacific representative, kicked up debris that blocked the railroad crossing arms’ sensor. Coryellbattle unsuccessfully sued the city of Maricopa, then- City Manager Rick Horst and the Maricopa Police Department in 2021.

Maricopa Police Department Lt. Larry Eckhardt and several other city employees were disciplined after improper use of the city’s email server, according to then-MPD Chief Kirk Fitch. Then-Maricopa Police Association President Aki Stant uncovered an email written by Eckhardt to Lt. Willie Payne containing pictures of naked women on Canadian currency. The email was a chain message Eckhardt had originally received from a source outside the city joking about a new form of currency designed to stop counterfeiting by “terrorists.”

Maricopa Unified School District and city officials broke ground on Maricopa’s second elementary school, Pima Butte. “This is what we’re here for, these children,” said then-Superintendent Alma Farrell. “We are trying to grow with our community, trying to meet the challenges and rise above them.”

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HISTORY

I was assaulted by the smell of old paper. It felt really remarkable. I didn’t know at the time that it would change everything.” NOVA HALL

The Spirit of St. Louis, piloted by Lindbergh, photographed over San Diego on the way to St. Louis, bound for Paris May 11, 1927 (above). Army Air Corp Cadets in 1925 at barracks pool during flight training at Brooks Field in Texas (left). Nova Hall is on the right.

An April 1927 team photo of the men and women who built the plane. Donald Hall is in the black suit, fourth from the right at Dutch Flats airfield in San Diego (above). A May 1944 portrait of Nova Hall’s great-grandfather Don Hall Jr. with his new kitten in Point Loma, San Diego (left). Donald Hall’s undated self-portrait (right).

The plane truth Man uncovers family secret about Lindbergh’s famous flight

did “say a few words” as part of the program. The timing was right — soon The Learning Channel would shoot an episode of its show The Hunt for Amazing Treasures about the Spirit of St. Louis, which featured a lengthy on-camera interview with Hall. Hall published a book, Spirit and Creator: The Mysterious Man Behind Lindbergh’s Flight to Paris , largely composed of his grandfather’s high-quality photographs. He also worked

where Lindbergh and Hall had first tested their new plane in April 1927. “It was the first time any Hall had ever shown up” at such events. Nova met Erik Lindbergh, the grandson of Charles, who in 2002 would celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Spirit of St. Louis by recreating the flight in a small, single-engine aircraft. Having recently started participating in Toastmasters International to become more confident in public speaking, Hall

sense of independence, a belief in hard work and discipline, and a love of flight. … They apparently got on famously, their partnership being a phenomenal complementing of two brains and spirits.” While the successful 33-hour flight in the spring of 1927 became an enduring part of American and aviation history, the construction details remained out of the spotlight. Lindbergh’s autobiography in the 1950s did some to credit Hall’s efforts, but it didn’t tell the whole story — a story that would not be fully known until Nova Hall’s 1999 discovery. Donald Hall passed away in 1968, before his grandson was born. Nova grew up an only child in Sedona, dropping out of school to run the family herbal business “that he never wanted to be in” as it meant work in sales and marketing that didn’t appeal to him. The discovery of the chest, however, “changed everything for me,” and he ended up in sales and marketing roles ever since. Hall moved to the Valley in 2001 and settled in Maricopa in 2021. Sharing the story The evolution was not immediate, as Nova Hall admits it probably took a year to fully realize what he had discovered. Another milestone occurred in 2001 when he attended an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics dedication ceremony at Dutch Flats in San Diego. This was

BY TOM SCHUMAN

How it all began Donald A. Hall Sr. was born in 1898 in Brooklyn. He served in the U.S. Army’s Student Army Training Corps before being employed by several aviation companies beginning in 1919. Hall earned an award in 1922 for the design of a night bombardment plane. In 1927, he moved to a new role with San Diego-based Ryan Airlines. Just a few days later, the company received a telegram from Lindbergh’s financial backers asking about the viability of constructing a new plane for the pilot’s proposed feat. More established organizations passed on the speculative venture, leaving Ryan Airlines as the only possible partner. Hall had proposed a 90- day timeline that was later slashed to 60 days at Lindbergh’s insistence. Ryan Air was based in one run-down building. But an aviation historian who interviewed Lindbergh several times years later wrote the following about the pilot-engineer relationship: “The two were about the same age and shared a passion for the outdoors, a

movie and said, “that’s your grandfather.” It was 1999 when the veil slipped on decades of almost-forgotten family history. Hall reveals how it happened. “I was in the garage, trying to decide what to keep and not to keep. Behind some boxes was an old World War I steamer trunk. I had never seen it before. It had a cracked, rusted lock on it. I found my grandpa’s crowbar and popped the lock, and I remember the sound the lock made scraping across the concrete floor. “I was assaulted by the smell of old paper,” he continued. “It felt really remarkable. I didn’t know at the time that it would change everything.” The trunk contained hundreds of never- before-seen photographs, letters, designs and other documents that revealed the actual story of the construction of the Spirit of St. Louis. The movie and other depictions of the famed flight had credited a team from Ryan Airlines when, in fact, the elder Hall had clearly led the way as chief engineer and developed a strong partnership with Lindbergh.

HARLES LINDBERGH FAMOUSLY completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in 1927. Nearly a century

later, one Maricopa man has made it his personal mission to tell the rest of the story behind the Spirit of St. Louis. Nova Hall’s grandfather, Donald A. Hall, designed the plane that flew Lindbergh to fame. And while Hall amazingly accomplished that task in just two months — allowing the pilot to win the $25,000 Orteig Prize for being the first to connect the two famed cities via air — it would take 72 more years for the engineer’s pivotal role to be meaningfully acknowledged. “It has been a journey,” Glennwilde resident Nova Hall, 48, said of his now-25-year quest. “There has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears.” Hall knew his grandfather was involved in the Lindbergh story somehow. In fact, when he was with his father watching the 1957 film The Spirit of St. Louis starring James Stewart, Donald Hall Jr. pointed out an actor’s role in the

EDUCATION REMAINS THE FOCUS

It’s not difficult to engage young people, he asserts. “You don’t have to spice it up. There’s life and death in this story. You have an underdog and miraculous engineering. By all intents and purposes, they should have lost.” Hall will at times begin his presentations by throwing paper airplanes at some students. He later cautions not to throw them away as they

contain money, certificates or the opportunity to receive a free book. “Schooling has changed,” Hall added, citing the well-documented need for more pilots, engineers and other STEM-related positions. “As an education nonprofit, we are really doing workforce development.

The mission of Flying Over Time is empowering future innovators in aviation and STEM through immersive education and storytelling, inspired by the legacy of Donald A. Hall and the Spirit of St. Louis. Donald’s grandson Nova Hall attempts to teach art and science through the lens of history.

We have to meet the kids where they are.”

InMaricopa.com | October 2024

October 2024 | InMaricopa.com

ARIZONA NEEDS PROVEN LEADERS

HISTORY

Museumgoers admire Hall family heirlooms (left). Nova Hall shares his story over

a cup of coffee in Maricopa (right).

one weekend,” Hall recalled. “I understood photography, but I was not ready to paint. Leonardo pushed me and the next thing you know I had [a series of] paintings. He wanted me to look at flight through the eyes of a child and paint it as an adult. I was stunned. So much of it was this narrative of my grandfather and my own love and passion for flight and science and STEM and kids.” The result was a multimedia exhibition combining fine art and history. Hall strived to tell his grandfather’s story through a variety of channels, including videos, speeches and even a one-act play. The Creator Behind the Spirit of St. Louis is a play written as Hall’s thesis project in scriptwriting. It tells the story of Donald Hall in the last year of his life as he is interviewed by a young reporter about his role in Lindbergh’s historic flight. The play was first performed in 2011 in San Diego. Hall has also benefitted from the expertise of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU. The state’s PBS outlet shared the Hall story on its version of the Antiques Roadshow program. It was Soto who came up with the name Flying Over Time for the organization that Hall officially started in 2011 and was registered as a nonprofit two years later. Crucial moments Hall relayed that one of the most special moments on his quarter-century-long journey came early on with the publication of his first book in 2002. “As my dad held the book, opened it and saw it all there, that was one of the most meaningful things. He lived it but couldn’t write it,” Hall said. “Dad carried the tools of the story for me to find. That was definitely the most powerful moment.” Future moments, he claimed, were seemingly the result of a bit of fate.

“One of the most amazing things has been so many people that have carried the water to get us to this point. Even if I am about to lose faith, a golden nugget shows up,” he said. “It’s been a process to find traction. To be perfectly honest, it takes a lot of time and money, and I haven’t had a lot of money.” But what has been a marathon pursuit is turning into a two-and-a-half-year sprint to the 100th anniversary of the flight on May 20, 2027. Hall enthusiastically described some of the current efforts in motion: • HEC-TV, a leading producer of education and arts programming in St. Louis, is working on a documentary featuring Hall’s design and construction of the Spirit of St. Louis. It is anticipated the anniversary will result in interest from public broadcasting stations nationwide and beyond. • The Missouri Historical Society is planning an exhibition at its museum, the first to focus on Hall’s efforts. • A new book to further decipher the work of his grandfather. • Reaching people through air shows and similar events. He has completed several, including a recent drone expo in Las Vegas, with an ambitious goal of 100 in the next 30 months. Hall expects the next few years to go by quickly. “It still feels like we’re going to blink and it’s going to be gone,” he claimed. “They [Lindbergh and his grandfather] set such a high bar. It’s really challenging. There are so many levels to this story. It makes you question celebrity, it shows how words do have an impact and it shows how history really does repeat itself. “This is a transnational story. It really did connect the world, and it inspired so many pilots. You can’t comprehend how impactful it was.”

with the Lindbergh Foundation on projects to properly document his grandfather’s role in the famed flight. “Then I thought I was done,” Hall confessed. “The 75th anniversary had come and gone. The book came out and it had plenty of naysayers, but I pulled out the resources [to back everything up].” It was higher education’s turn to step in, namely Arizona State University and a series of professors and mentors who guided his next steps. While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business, he learned he was going to be a father for the first time. Forced to adjust his schedule, he said he was looking for an easy A grade when he landed in a class led by fine arts professor and master painter Leandro Soto. “He saw what I was trying to do with my art, and I brought my book to his studio

SPECIAL EVENT PLANNED

Roots2Wings is a two-day Flying Over Time event scheduled to take place at Tucson’s Rillito Park Nov. 15 and 16. At the time of publication, Hall said the program may be rescheduled for the spring in conjunction with the city’s sci-tech festival. A gala dinner the opening night will be followed by a drone day with food, music and a drone light show. Attendees will have the opportunity to build and fly drones, which Hall said are a great entryway to also learning the history of the Spirit of St. Louis.

October 2024 | InMaricopa.com THE COMMON SENSE TEAM FIGHTING FOR DISTRICT 16 VOTE SHOPE FOR SENATE H VOTE TWO FOR REPRESENTATIVE: MARTINEZ AND LOPEZ Paid for by Shope for Senate, Teresa Martinez for Arizona, and Lopez for AZ. Authorized by T.J. Shope, Teresa Martinez, and Chris Lopez. TJShope.com MartinezForArizona.com LopezForAZ.com 15

FlyingOverTime.org

InMaricopa.com | October 2024

GOVERNMENT

Tell it to me straight — how weird are we?

meant to carefully choose between, and it’s more information than he can digest. “I have mail sitting on my bed right now about the general election,” he said from his Glennwilde bedroom Sept. 3. “You don’t see that with the local guys. And I, personally, won’t vote unless I have enough information to go into that voting booth and know exactly what I’m voting for.” Armstrong’s Maricopa Wells precinct, where the median age is 36, saw a 24% turnout in July. In the adjacent Province precinct, just across Honeycutt Road, the median age is over 65 and turnout was highest in the city at 33%, according to a Pinal County canvass. Precincts in 55-plus communities saw the highest turnouts in the county — Saddlebrooke Ranch (59%), Superior West (57%), Saddlebrooke West (55%), Saddlebrooke East (53%) and Mountainbrooke Village in Gold Canyon (51%). Elections experts agree older voters are more likely to vote with low information. Younger voters, not so much. A tale of two cities Fountain Hills, like Maricopa, is a bedroom community about 35 miles from downtown Phoenix. Unlike Maricopa, it’s just a town, not a city. Fewer than 24,000 people live there, compared to more than 75,000 here. Both municipalities held mayor and council elections on July 30. In Maricopa, turnout was 22%. In Fountain Hills, it was two-and-a-half times higher, 56%. Candidates in Fountain Hills’ mayoral election spent a combined $170,000. Scottsdale’s three candidates spent more than $1 million. Dollars spent in Maricopa’s mayoral election? Zero. Why? “The average Fountain Hills voter is 10 years older than Maricopa voters,” Coughlin said. “Older voters tend to vote at a higher proportion.” But there’s a lot more to it — insipid candidates, poor messaging and voter apathy. Oh, and this annoying little thing called being broke. It’s the same annoying little thing that tanked Sheriff Mark Lamb’s Senate bid against Kari Lake. Seven citywide candidates in Maricopa raised a collective $17,356, according to Arizona Secretary of State documents. Sure, that’s enough to buy a golden Apple Watch, so, nothing to sneeze at. But the vast majority of those dollars came from the candidates’ own pockets, not from motivated members of the public.

There were still photons of sunlight bouncing around the summer sky when InMaricopa projected the winners on election night. With half of precincts still left to report, it was already an obvious landslide. None of the races were close. Practically speaking, they may as well have gone uncontested. Clearly, Maricopa voters are laissez-faire when it comes to guiding this young city through its belle époque. Political experts studying voter behavior in the Phoenix metro pointed to six reasons for this: • Hardly anyone is from here. • The city is young. • The people are young. • A negative feedback loop of fundraising. • Discontent with candidates. • Apathy. In Maricopa, turnout for the July 30 primary election was 22% — down from more than 27% in the 2020 primary election. On the Ak-Chin Indian Community, it was less than 15%.

Chuck Coughlin, President and CEO of HighGround in Phoenix and a five-time winner of Arizona’s Best Political Operative, said a reason for languishing turnout is because Maricopa “is more of a commuter community.” This so-called “bedroom phenomenon” detaches voters from local politics in a city where 4 in 5 adults work and therefore spend most of their waking hours in a county other than the one where they live. That, on top of the fact that one-third of the city’s population has moved here during the last two election cycles, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. An NPR analysis of U.S. registered voter data in 2018 found “transient” people — those who have moved recently between states or countries — are less likely to vote and “often feel less invested in local elections.” In more than a dozen interviews, nonvoters expressed they don’t feel like their vote matters, especially when setting the weight of their vote against the population growth they observe in Kale Armstrong didn’t vote in the primary election. But he is going to vote in “the big one.” The Glennwilde 21-year-old is part of the Generation Z voter bloc Coughlin says is less likely to vote. Election canvassing in Pinal County strongly backs this trend with the most active precincts centered in retirement communities. “My parents were trying to get me to vote,” Armstrong said. “I didn’t know enough. You have to dig deep and look into some articles about who the [candidates] are and what they stand for. There isn’t enough information out there to figure out who to vote for, at least for the younger generation.” their daily lives in the city. Stuck in our salad days Now preparing to cast his ballot in the Nov. 5 general election, Armstrong has quickly started feeling the opposite — he’s inundated with information about the candidates he’s People don’t move to Maricopa to run for the city council. They move for some other reason and say, ‘Sh*t, this is a big town, maybe I should be involved.’ A lot of people do this these days, for their own popularity’s sake, like high school.” CHUCK COUGHLIN, HIGHGROUND PRESIDENT & CEO

PRIMARY ELECTION VOTER TURNOUT IN MARICOPA

The unpopular vote Low turnout, high burnout in county’s most civically disengaged city BY ELIAS WEISS

27%

24%

22% 22%

0.27

0.203

0.135

0.068

it turns out, has 40,000 people on its voter rolls who never proved they were American citizens. And there’s our first reason why so many more Maricopans voted for Kevin Durant than Kevin Cavanaugh. At an Arizonans for Secure Elections roundtable the day after the primary, former Gov. Jan Brewer said “some voters choose to stay home because they have been told not to trust the elections.” But that is, in its narrowest scope, a statewide issue — so, why is Maricopa’s turnout still so much worse than the rest of Arizona? Because elections are weird here. Sure, primary participation came up short of expectations across the nation. But Maricopa, with its worst turnout in the last eight elections, ranked lowest among all Pinal County cities. And not for no reason.

among more than 45,000 registered voters living inside Maricopa city limits who decided to sit this one out. “I didn’t even know where to go vote,” Sandoval said. He cared enough to think about voting, but not enough to find out where his polling place was. And he’s no church of one in that regard. You know, finding a reason to care. This isn’t Australia, where you can go to jail for being too ballot-shy. Here in the U.S. of A., you’re more likely to go to jail for casting a vote than playing electoral hooky — Adrian Fontes’ Election Integrity Unit is fielding more than 2,000 complaints and referrals related to election crimes among people who voted in the 2020 election alone. That, compared to zero complaints against people who didn’t. Former President Donald Trump lost Arizona by 10,000 votes that year, in a state that,

N MARICOPA, LIKE ANYWHERE else, candidates pine after voters. Does the electorate reciprocate that courtship?

2018 2020 2022 2024

Source: Pinal County Recorder’s Office

Table 1

Nope. It’s a more one-sided love story than 500 Days of Summer . And, gosh, that was a depressing flick. If every Maricopa city voter who blew off the primary election packed into the Footprint Center for a Suns game, they’d fill the arena twice — with 900 fans left standing outside. Those folks would miss watching Ryan Dunn go boom or bust, but that’s just what you get in a city where, in 2024, it feels like more people participated in NBA All-Star voting than in the election that decisively set up the next four years of leadership in Maricopa. Brayan Sandoval, a 38-year-old Los Angeles transplant living in Cobblestone Farms, was

2023

2018

24%

Incumbents all won their seats back at City Hall by double-digit margins. Mayor Nancy Smith outperformed challenger Leon Potter by nearly 30 points; Vice Mayor Amber Liermann and Councilmembers Eric Goettl and Bob Marsh combined for 75% with challengers Chrystal O’Jon and Le’On Willis garnering 14 and 11% support, respectively. Sounds like a landslide, alright. But if turnout was a smidge higher — let’s say 26%, still lower than four years ago — O’Jon could have statistically defeated the incumbent Goettl. Maybe if she knocked on a few more doors? 2020 27% 2022 22% 2024 22% 1

InMaricopa.com | October 2024

October 2024 | InMaricopa.com

GOVERNMENT

VOTER TURNOUT AROUND ARIZONA

Liermann’s campaign raised $3,806. Of that, a paltry $355 came from donors, including $100 from fellow City Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr. Liermann at one time paid the campaign $2,341 from her personal account. Willis’ campaign raised $1,231, with $991 from his own bank account and the remainder from his campaign manager, Aubrey Morris. Only O’Jon grazed the deep pockets of an out- of-town PAC, getting a $1,000 nod from Our Voice Our Vote organization in Phoenix. The local org that has donated most to Joe Biden “is the largest Black organizing group in the state,” said spokesperson Rachel Needham. Sena Mohammed, executive director of OVOV, said her goal is “to support progressive Black leaders running for elected office in local, state and national races.” Calling support of O’Jon a “natural choice,” Mohammed said the candidate from Senita “first got our attention when she founded the Black Maricopa Chamber of Commerce and has consistently demonstrated that she has what it takes to be a local leader and to fight for our shared goals.” Mohammed said O’Jon would have “truly made a difference” for Black people in Maricopa. InMaricopa contacted O’Jon July 24 for comment about the endorsement. She never responded. O’Jon paid two of her own nonprofits with money from her campaign coffers — $972 to the Black Maricopa Chamber of Commerce and the Maricopa Debutante Organization, a teen mentorship outfit. Diversity, equity and delusion OVOV liked O’Jon because she represented diversity, in the traditional sense. Experts like Coughlin say a lack of diversity could be a factor in hampering voter turnout, but not the kind you’d think. In the Scottsdale City Council election, it was a crowded field of nine aged 21 to 79 representing starkly opposing factions. Among them, a former Arizona House rep, a former Arizona Republican Party state treasurer, a Fox News personality, two high- ranking corporate executives and two former city commissioners. Diversity of age? Check. Diversity of thought? Check. Leadership experience? Check. Together, the candidates raised $1,004,307. Some touted their governing experience motivated people to vote — and to spend.

56%

FOUNTAIN HILLS CAREFREE CAVE CREEK WICKENBURG APACHE JUNCTION PARADISE VALLEY SCOTTSDALE LITCHFIELD PARK SURPRISE QUEEN CREEK FLAGSTAFF METRO PHOENIX CHANDLER GOODYEAR MESA PINAL COUNTY MARICOPA (CITY)

55%

51%

50%

44%

41%

40%

38%

33%

32%

31% 31%

30% 30% 30%

29%

22%

0.15

0.3

0.45

0.6

July 30, 2024, Arizona Primary Election data. Source: Arizona Secretary of State

Table 1

Even in tiny Fountain Hills the incumbent Mayor Ginny Dickey is a former assistant director of the U.S. Department of Environmental Quality with a 40-year government tenure to boot. She faces Gerry Friedel, another experienced politician, in a November runoff. In the primary election, she bested Joe Arpaio, the longtime Maricopa County Sheriff and former U.S. Senate candidate. Dickey was endorsed by virtually every top local official in the metro — the mayors of Phoenix, Avondale, Mesa, Tempe, Apache Junction, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Carefree, to name a few. In Maricopa’s race for mayor, a city more than triple the size of Fountain Hills, no candidate was endorsed by any such person. Neither candidate filed a campaign finance report. “I think you are on to something with the funds raised being related to turnout,” Dickey told InMaricopa during an Aug. 21 interview. “If people care enough to donate, they will vote.” And the inverse is true. Case in point. Challengers in Maricopa elections were a college student with no political experience, a retired grade-school teacher who lied about serving in the U.S. Air Force — also with no political experience — and a tax preparer 2023 FOUNTAIN HILLS 56% CAREFREE CAVE CREEK WICKENBURG 55% 51% 50% APACHE JUNCTION PARADISE VALLEY 44% 41% SCOTTSDALE 40% LITCHFIELD PARK 38% SURPRISE 33% QUEEN CREEK 32% FLAGSTAFF 31% METRO PHOENIX 31%

who was elected to the city council more than a decade ago and quit halfway through his term. All seven municipal candidates were old enough to be AARP members. As Coughlin says: “Inexperience begets inexperience.” Just like high school No wonder, then, why all the city council hopefuls together raised less than one-sixth of the money pulled in by a single candidate for the same office in a nearby town three times smaller. “I take it as a serious job,” said Maricopa City Councilmember Vincent Manfredi. “Other people take it as a hobby.”

If people care enough to donate, they will vote.” GINNY DICKEY, FOUNTAIN HILLS INCUMBENT MAYOR

InMaricopa.com | October 2024

23%

22%

21%

GOVERNMENT

15%

0.15

11%

Those hobbyists aren’t adding any desirable traits to Maricopa’s political gene pool, Coughlin said. “People don’t move to Maricopa to run for the city council,” he said. “They move for some other reason and say, ‘Sh*t, this is a big town, maybe I should be involved.’ A lot of people do this these days, for their own popularity’s sake, like high school.” In more established cities, even much smaller ones, this isn’t the case. Look no further than Fountain Hills. Dickey’s $45,434 came entirely from in- state donors and PACs. Same for Friedel’s $44,819 war chest. Arpaio raised $83,443 from individual donors in and outside Arizona. “A large budget allows for more exposure, which could contribute to turnout,” Dickey said. Goettl had the largest budget in Maricopa this year after pulling in $7,516, more than three losing candidates combined. Two-thirds of the money came from his own pocket, including a personal loan, and the rest came from “donations solicited by me from people I knew,” he said in a candid interview. “I have mixed feelings on the turnout,” Goettl said. “There always has been, and for good reason, a push to get more voters to the polls. That’s the democracy part of our republic. People have their greatest voice in that polling booth.” By the same token, he said, turnout by way of ignorant voters “waters down the votes of people who have paid the price to understand the issues.” If people vote thoughtlessly, it can lead to “serious problems.” Overall, Goettl said low voter turnout was an indicator that the constituency was satisfied with the status quo. As Coughlin put it: “I’m not going to bother to cast a vote unless there’s a crisis. Satisfaction draws apathy.” Both men suggested, barring a vote of protest, municipal elections should expect low engagement. That still doesn’t answer why turnout in Maricopa was so much lower than virtually every comparable city in the state. An El Paso situation? The Texas Tribune’s dissertation on low voter turnout in El Paso after the city recorded a record low 11% turnout in Texas’ primary election this year found an added layer of nuance — elections in which voters are dissatisfied with both or all candidates also breed apathy.

JOB APPROVAL RATINGS IN MARICOPA CITY GOVERNMENT

Mayor Nancy Smith

Vice Mayor Amber Liermann

Councilmember Eric Goettl

Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr Councilmember Vincent Manfredi

Councilmember Bob Marsh

Councilmember Henry Wade

Approve

Disapprove

Neither approve nor disapprove

0.6

53%

Neither approve nor

Approve

Disapprove

51%

disapprove

38% Councilmember Eric Goettl Mayor Nancy Smith Vice Mayor Amber Liermann

38%

51%

11%

47%

45%

33%

45%

22%

43%

0.45

34%

43%

23%

34% 28%

34%

Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr Councilmember Vincent Manfredi

33%

43%

32% 29%

29%

28% 53%

0.3

32%

15%

23%

22%

Councilmember Bob Marsh

34%

43%

23%

21%

15%

0.15

11%

Mayor Nancy Smith

Vice Mayor Amber Liermann

Councilmember Eric Goettl

Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr Councilmember Vincent Manfredi

Councilmember Bob Marsh

Councilmember Henry Wade

Approve

Disapprove

Neither approve nor disapprove

Neither approve nor

Approve Vice Mayor Amber Liermann

Disapprove Councilmember Eric Goettl

Mayor Nancy Smith Vice Mayor Amber Liermann Councilmember Eric Goettl Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr Mayor Nancy Smith

disapprove Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr

Councilmember Vincent Manfredi

Councilmember Bob Marsh

Councilmember Henry Wade

38%

51%

11%

33%

45%

22%

34% Source: InMaricopa.com poll of 366 likely voters registered in the city of Maricopa 43% 23%

28%

43%

29%

approval rating. Coughlin asserts “local governments’ favorability ratings far exceed state and most federal governments.” Maricopa might be an exception. Goettl said on the campaign trail he had to contend with “thousands of individuals who don’t like the growing pains, who are scared to lose the neighborhood feel we have currently.” At times, he even questioned if his pro- growth platform was a winning strategy, but ultimately concluded the dissenters were “an echo chamber,” queueing up to bark their gripes while the silent majority sat contently by. Coughlin likes this theory. “They don’t want any growth. They don’t want any more apartments. They’ve had it — keep everybody else out,” he said. “It’s a minority of people making most of the noise.” In the rear-view mirror, it’s hard to tell if that’s the case, or if we’re dealing with an El Paso situation. 15% 23%

El Paso is the farthest major city from its state capital in the country — a nine-hour drive to Austin that’s 70 miles farther than San Diego to Sacramento — and voters there are consistently frustrated by neglect at the state level and tepid local candidates, the Tribune reports. The people want to protest. But they have no one to vote for in protest. Sound familiar? Maricopa and the albatross around its neck, State Route 347, are afterthoughts in the mind of a state government just 35 miles north in a single U.S. state four times the size of Belgium. Ouch. And approval polling could suggest this indignation puts people off voting entirely, even if they’re unhappy with the status quo. InMaricopa polled 366 registered, likely voters in Maricopa in late August and found the Maricopa City Council that was just reelected in a landslide has worse than a 33% 32% 53% 34% 43% 1

Councilmember Vincent Manfredi

Councilmember Bob Marsh

InMaricopa.com | October 2024

GOVERNMENT

The (never?) ending cycle Interviews with nonvoters found some shrugged off the election because it didn’t feel like a democratic choice at all. Half the elected government — Goettl, Knorr and Smith — were appointed to their offices, a “selection rather than an election,” said one voter. Knorr, now the only councilmember to have never won a city council election, had the lowest favorability rating in the August job approval poll at an eye-watering 28%. Smith, meanwhile, had the second-highest rate of disapproval at 51%. The nonvoters also pointed to what they called groupthink on the council, where there hasn’t been a non-unanimous vote in the last year. So, when will voter turnout in Maricopa start trending upward? The city, if no one else, would like to see it. “The City of Maricopa encourages all residents to take an active role in the democratic process by participating in elections and exercising their right to vote,” city government spokesperson Monica Williams said Sept. 5.

There always has been, and for good reason, a push to get more

voters to the polls.” COUNCILMEMBER ERIC GOETTL

n every corner of Maricopa, there are citizens who are stepping up to improve our community. They see a need

What Makes a Community Champion?

But we’re caught in this vicious cycle — more turnout requires more educated voters, but that won’t happen unless candidates effectively get their message out. That requires money, which requires fundraising, which requires educated voters. And we’re back at the start. Only when a government becomes too Kafkaesque will spurned voters migrate from Facebook comment sections to the polling booths, Coughlin said. But in Maricopa, he insists, it’s just growing pains. And a touch of that youthful naïveté. “As the community gets older and has more experienced people on the council, turnout will incrementally go up,” he said. “It will go up. It does inevitably.”

A Community Champion is some- one who makes a signi cant impact on quality of life in the city through leadership, innovation, hard work and service. These champions inspire us all to contribute to the betterment of Maricopa. Why Are Community Champions Critical? Government has a role in providing services and infrastructure that all can bene t from, but what sets a community apart is actively involved and engaged residents who are empowered to share their time, expertise and passion to elevate the community. They help to build strong, connected neighborhoods, creating a sense of belonging, and address challenges with innovative solutions. Their efforts not only make the lives of those they touch better but also strengthen the entire community, making Maricopa a place where everyone can thrive.

and forge forward to address it often rallying others to the cause. In the Mayor’s State of the City she quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous call to action,

“[Humans] must be like a thermostat serving to transform the temperature of society.” In our city we have residents who are putting their blood, sweat and tears into transforming our commu- nity! They are not waiting for some- one else to solve a problem. They are guring out what they can do to improve the situation. They’re the neighbors who organize block parties, the volunteers who show up rain or shine, small business owners who put their life savings into a dream and the everyday citizens who step up when the community needs them most. These individuals are the heartbeat of Maricopa, driving us forward and making our community stronger, kinder, and more connected. They are our Com- munity Champions!

Councilmember Eric Goettl

Recognize a Community Champion:

Do you know someone who exempli- es the qualities of a Community Champion? Please visit the City of Maricopa’s Community Champions webpage to ll out a nomination form. We will share their stories with the community. Help us shine a spotlight on those who inspire us and remind us that Maricopa’s strength lies in the hands of our residents!

GEORGE ARREDONDO PINAL COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS - DISTRICT • Arizona native born and raised in Pinal County • Veteran with three combat tours one in Iraq and two in Afghanistan

LEADERSHIP • INTEGRITY • COMMUNITY GeorgeArredondo.com A County Supervisor who will fight to ensure: ✓ Democracy and freedoms prevail ✓ Managed growth (Infrastructure, Transportation, and Protect Property Values & Open Space) ✓ Responsive Community Services (Public Safety and Timely Customer Service)

George Arredondo Sr. is a retired member of the U.S. Navy Reserve. Use of his military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, or the Department of Defense.

Nominate somenone TODAY!

Paid for by Arredondo for Supervisor. Authorized by George Arredondo Sr. ARREDONDO

CREATING A THRIVING AND DURABLE COMMUNITY

InMaricopa.com | October 2024

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