Why I Asked Councilmember Dunn To Resign
By Mayor Jason Beck |
I ran for Mayor of Peoria on the slogan of helping Peoria “Realize Its Full Potential.” When Jane and I discussed running for office, we were filled with gratitude for the great blessings Peoria has been to our family. We have created a successful business here, have a rich faith community, taken advantage of good schools, and numerous other community activities such as sports and charitable events that have connected us with so many. We had also been close to the public safety officials in Peoria and many of them told us they were not given the support they needed. With those motivations and many others, I decided to run for Mayor. During my run, I pledged to put public safety first, and so far I have kept that pledge. We have hired more police officers, given public safety raises, found ways to increase support for mental health and the culture, and right now we are looking for a new police chief to take our growing community to the next level of safety and security.
During my run for Mayor many good people wondered why I would subject myself to running for office and jokingly questioned my sanity. Now I think I understand why. Recently the Arizona Republic has run a number of hit pieces on me and the Peoria City Council for having a high standard of ethics and accountability. You read that right. We are being attacked for having high standards, instead of being celebrated for making changes the voters demanded and fulfilling our campaign pledges. I can ignore unjust criticism. It comes with any position of leadership, but I want to set the record straight on one topic because it concerns my entire council. I want to explain why I asked Councilmember Denette Dunn to resign.
First, the Peoria City Council unitedly signed a letter we gave to Councilmember Denette Dunn asking her to resign her position on the city council. We did not take that step lightly. Denette is a personal friend. She and I vote together on nearly all council related issues. She was the first member of the city council to endorse me for Mayor. She’s been a friend, a guest at my home and at my businesses. During our time together on the campaign trail, she shared her personal stories with me. I pledged to respect her privacy, supported her right to live whatever personal lifestyle she chooses, and we developed a relationship of trust.
In August it was brought to my attention that Dennette had a sex offender living in her home, who was not registered at her home. This was a serious breach of public trust in my view, and this view was shared by the councilmembers Denette serves with. The sex offender registry is designed to protect children and families so that they are aware of who is living in their neighborhood. The person living in Councilmember Dunn’s home spent a decade in jail in California for serious charges such as forcible rape, pimping, and giving hard drugs to a minor. Hearing about this, I reached out to Dennette personally before talking with the council. I wanted to hear directly from her what the situation was. When I called her to talk, she asked if she could come to my place of business to discuss the matter. When we spoke, she mentioned that the man had been living in her home with his mother most days, that he sometimes spent the weekend at his girlfriend’s home, and that he was registered at a homeless shelter in Phoenix. I warned Denette that she had not been in compliance with the law, that the purpose of the registry was for sex offenders to be registered to where they were living to notify neighbors for their safety, that she had a responsibility to comply with the law and notify the neighbors, and that this breach of public trust and public safety was not ok. I believe elected officials in a position of authority and trust need to be transparent with the public and keep public safety the top priority. Hearing this, Dennett seemed genuinely concerned and asked me what I thought she should do. I told her that she should consider stepping down to take care of her personal matters, which are many, and because of this breach of ethics and the law, she should step away. She replied that she would give it some thought.
The next day at City Hall she asked to meet in my office. She told me she was going to resign from her boards and commissions but did not want to resign from office. I did not think that was sufficient. She then asked me to do the unthinkable; she asked me to cover it up. Councilmember Dunn asked if I would get the police who had investigated the matter not to report it and said that only a few people knew about the situation. I told her I was not interested in hiding anything from our colleagues or the public. Knowing that I knew and would be sharing the facts with the council, instead of deciding to do the right thing, discuss the issue with her colleagues, or consider telling the public first, Dennette went to the Arizona Republic.
She hired a lawyer, went to the media, and accused the council of secretly trying to take away her job as a city councilmember. Of course, in the first article the Republic posted, Dunn didn’t say why the council wanted to ask her to step away from her public position. She simply said we were out to get her fired, and of course the AZ Republic wrote it!
While the council asked her to voluntarily resign, we are aware that the Peoria charter does not give us the authority to remove her from office. We did feel it our duty to ask her to do the right thing. Instead of taking accountability, Dunn has decided to go to the media, fabricate lies, and try and smear myself and my fellow councilmembers.
I’m truly disappointed in Councilmember Dunn’s behavior. We have worked together on many public policy issues, and it gave myself and the Peoria City Council no pleasure to ask her to step down. We also understand that if she does not do the right thing and hold herself accountable, it will be up to the voters of Peoria to hold her accountable. In the meantime, we will continue to do the business of the city of Peoria and not let the tabloid media distract us from the great work we continue to do to serve and protect the public with the highest ethical standards of conduct.
Sincerely, Mayor Jason Beck
Mayor Jason Beck was elected mayor by the voters of Peoria in the November 2022 election. He began serving as mayor in January 2023.
