An argument for voting in the Tempe municipal election

Bill Baxter writes: I’m going to vote for Corey Woods for mayor for two reasons:

  1. Police and fire pensions are a huge fiscal threat to Tempe. They are skyrocketing and out of control. The city pays $.70 to the pension fund for each $1 paid for current salaries. Outrageous. That’s why those unions support Mitchell, who refuses to address any solution in what is clearly in my view corruption in the most clear sense. Look at the money they have spent on the signs on every corner. Money they will get back from citizens many times over. Mitchell is dug in on this to protect his public office. It’s time we get somebody in there who will address the problem, and Corey goes in obviously with as close to zero police/fire political debt as one can get. [Editorial: public unions are anathema to the republic and should be illegal, as they were for many decades. There is an intrinsic conflict of interest in the concept of a public union. But since they are not, maybe we can at least avoid them bankrupting the city, as they will many cities, including Tempe if this doesn’t get fixed. And BTW, police/fire is the biggest gravy train in the country. They talk about them as if it is hard to get somebody to do the job, but there are hundreds of applicants for every opening, and why not ? A better gravy train cannot be found.]
  2. It is simply time to throw Mitchell out of office. He has grown up sheltered by his political connections. It is well past time for a change.

I know some of you will grouse at me how Corey is no better, but I’m going to throw the die on this one.

Regarding the city council, Navarro and Keating have shown nothing to make me inclined to vote for them and they are also close with the unions. Navarro is a Phoenix fireman, after all. I’m going to vote only for Garlid, and while I am not certain about that vote either, at this time there do not appear to be close ties to police and fire unions.

In my view, a Republican has no chance for a mayor or council job in Tempe until the elections move to coincide with November general elections, per new state law. It is unclear to me whether that will be 2022 or 2024.