by Staff Reporter | Aug 10, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A Mesa-area legislative district match-up is set for the General Election in the state of Arizona.
Last week, Robert Scantlebury defeated Christopher Stapley in their primary election contest for the Republican nomination for Legislative District 9 Senate. According to unofficial results on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website, Scantlebury received 9,766 votes, compared to Stapley’s 5,323 votes (64.7-35.3%).
In a post to his social media accounts in the aftermath of Election Day, Scantlebury said, “One down and one to go! My focus is now on the General Election on November 5th. This win is the result of a lot of hard work. I am thankful for all the help from family, friends, supporters, volunteers, donors and conservative groups. I am honored that more than 9,747 people voted for me. I appreciate the thousands of people who visited with me at their homes. Many shared their concerns about the effects of crime (mental health, addiction, and homeless issues), our open border, and our struggle to afford housing and everyday expenses like food and gas. One of the most powerful topics was parents’ concerns for the future of our children in Arizona.”
Scantlebury added, “We need a State Senator who looks at issues from the perspective of citizens. We only have a one seat Republican advantage in the State Senate; it is critical to maintaining and improving our way of life to elect more representatives like me who share our values. With your help, I can win back our seat in Legislative District 9.”
Gene Klund, a longtime Republican activist in the east valley, responded to Scantlebury’s victory lap, writing, “Thank you for all your hard work over the years….to make this happen. You will be a great addition to our State Senate and I know you will always try to [do] what is best for all of the taxpayers. Keep up all your hard work for the General Election….”
The Republican candidate for state Senate had obtained a number of key endorsements leading up to his victory on July 30. On July 17, Scantlebury boasted of his endorsement from the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona and from Stand for Health Freedom. Previously, Scantlebury had received endorsements from the Mesa Police Association, the Latinos United for Conservative Action, the Arizona Republican Assembly, and the East Valley Young Republicans.
Out of all the endorsements for his campaign, Scantlebury most appreciated the support from his Republican district. In sharing the endorsement from the Legislative District 9 Republican Committee, Scantlebury stated, “This is the most important endorsement. I am happy to have the full endorsement of the precinct committeemen and committeewomen of Legislative District 9. These are the most involved and informed voters.”
The Legislative District 9 Republicans had issued a press release on June 4 announcing their support of Scantlebury’s candidacy for office against his primary election opponent. The communication revealed that the endorsement had originated from its May 30th meeting with a resolution agreed upon by a majority of the attendees. That resolution made the case that Scantlebury deserved the nod in LD 9 because he “narrowly lost the General race to the Democrat candidate that was supported by almost $1.5M in large donations (mostly from out of state) to push the Democratic competitor,” and because he “announced his candidacy to run again in the 2024 race well before ANY competitor announced a run and has consistently attended our LD 9 meetings, acted as our Sargent at Arms and has been involved with our grassroots efforts…as a Precinct Committeeman.”
The Republican Committee also wrote that “the recent competitor to enter into the Primary for the LD9 Senate seat has yet to even reach out to Robert Scantlebury to discuss their campaign and qualifications for the 2024 race WHEREAS Robert Scantlebury has literally done all the legwork to get to know the constituents of LD9 over the past 3 years and pledged his commitment to represent WE THE PEOPLE.”
The document resolved “that the Body of the LD9 GOP do hereby FULLY ENDORSE Robert Scantlebury as our Candidate for LD9 Senator and believe he is the BEST candidate to ONCE AGAIN defeat the incumbent LD9 Senator!”
Scantlebury will face off against incumbent Senator Eva Burch, who was unopposed in her Democrat primary election. Burch received 11,015 votes, according to unofficial numbers.
The Mesa law enforcement officer veteran entered the political realm in 2018, when he unsuccessfully ran for Mesa City Council in District 4, finishing third. However, Scantlebury just barely missed the bar to move on to the November 6 election, falling 39 votes short of second place. He then challenged incumbent State Senator Tyler Pace in the August 2022 Primary Election, garnering more than double the votes for a shocking victory. Robert couldn’t defeat his Democrat opponent, though, losing to incumbent Eva Burch by five percent (just over three thousand votes).
According to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, Legislative District 9 is likely one of the most competitive in the state, with a 2.6% vote spread between Republicans and Democrats over the past nine statewide elections. Democrats are slightly favored in the district, having won the district in five of those nine elections.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jul 11, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona Republicans looking to pick up a seat in a swing district in the southeast valley of the Phoenix-metro region are looking to a mom who knows all too well the costly price of an open border.
Mary Ann Mendoza is running for the Arizona House of Representatives in Legislative District 9, covering the city of Mesa. According to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, the district is likely one of the most competitive in the state, with a 2.6% vote spread over the past nine statewide elections. (Democrats are slightly favored in the district, having won the district in 5 of those nine elections.)
Mendoza may not have even sought office, nor been known by many others outside of her circle of family, friends, and acquaintances, but for a tragedy of the highest proportions. On May 12, 2014, Mendoza’s son, Brandon, who worked for the Mesa Police Department, was killed by an illegal immigrant who was impaired on the road and crashed his vehicle on the wrong side of the road into the unsuspecting law enforcement officer. Brandon’s death caused his mother to speak out on his behalf – against the open-border policies of the then-Obama-Biden administration and for other families who had lost loved ones to crimes committed by illegal aliens.
In July of 2014, Mendoza took matters into her own hands and wrote a heartfelt letter to President Barack Obama. She said, “When are you going to see the flip side to this issue? When will you realize the hurt and pain and destruction these illegal immigrants who break the law will continue to cause??? Until you live in a state that deals with this on a daily basis, you will not understand it.”
The heartbroken mother added, “I want answers that make sense. I want answers from you personally as to why this criminal was allowed to stay in our country until he took my son’s life.”
Since that fateful day, Mary Ann has been a relentless warrior for border security and an advocate for families like hers that have experienced such loss. She found an ally in U.S. Congressman Andy Biggs, who invited her to the State of the Union as his guest during one of President Donald J. Trump’s addresses. Mendoza has also been invited to Congress and the White House on a number of occasions due to her story and cause.
Biggs’ wife, Cindy, announced her endorsement of the Republican candidate, saying that Mendoza “understands the issues facing our great state of Arizona and will be an asset working as a State Representative at our Capital.”
The east valley “Angel mom” was also endorsed by the Mesa Police Association.
Mendoza lists several priorities on her website to give voters a glimpse of her values and principles should she be entrusted with this office. One of those issues is, what she frames “Back the Blue.” She writes, “As a mother of a former police officer, I personally understand the commitment and sacrifices that our brave law enforcement officers endure. Imagine getting up every day and putting that uniform on to head out the door of your home into an environment that leaves you feeling unappreciated at times. I will fight to make sure our law enforcement officers are provided with all funding needed to have the equipment and training they need to adequately protect our communities. I will push to change the narrative back into a positive one regarding the part our officers play in our communities.”
Another priority from Mendoza on her website is (unsurprisingly) “illegal immigration and border security.” On this, she states, “The sovereignty of our country is at the highest risk it’s ever been. We have a current administration who has opened our borders to the world and are allowing unvetted, untested and unvaccinated illegals into our country at alarming rates. The State of Arizona has the right to make sure our border with Mexico is secured and safe and protect our citizens.”
She goes on to say that “LEGAL immigration is what has made our country so great but allowing activists, NGO’s and non-profit organizations to take the lead and demand that illegals have the same rights as citizens is unacceptable. We need to work with the Governor’s office and get the National Guard and other available law enforcement to our borders to provide the safety the federal government is ignoring. We need to pass Remittance Tax legislation that would provide the resources to build border security without expecting Arizona taxpayers to foot the bill. We need to pass Anti-Sanctuary legislation to ensure our great state will never fall to the liberal mindset of protecting illegals at all costs.”
Earlier this year, Mendoza appeared on Fox News to discuss the recent revelation that illegal aliens who were detained after their attack on New York City police officers were released back onto the streets without bail. She said, “Illegal criminals know they can continue committing crimes, they can shoplift and do heinous acts in the United States and never be held accountable, and Alvin Bragg knows when you release an illegal criminal like that, they will never be found.”
Mendoza and her fellow Republican, Kylie Barber, are running in the July Primary Election for the state house. They will both advance to November’s General Election to face off against Democrat incumbents Lorena Austin and Seth Blattman.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jul 6, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The balance of Arizona’s Legislature may hinge on Republicans being able to pick up seats in districts under Democrats’ control in the upcoming election. Robert Scantlebury, who is running for state senate in Legislative District 9 in Mesa, may be one of those candidates for the Republicans in November 2024.
Robert has lived in Mesa since 1992, when he joined the City of Mesa Police Department as an officer after graduating from California State University with his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. He started his career with Mesa in its holding facility before serving as a police officer, special investigations detective, patrol sergeant, school intelligence detective, and a detective sergeant. After this distinguished body of work for the Department, Scantlebury retired in 2018, completing 25 years with the city.
Retirement couldn’t keep Robert from the persistent itch of public service. He served as a volunteer Reserve Police Officer until 2020, when the Mesa Police Department ended the program. In this role, he worked as a School Resource Officer and School Intelligence Detective. As Scantlebury reflected on this period of his life, he said that “I loved my job and have always felt I had a calling to protect and stand up for others.”
When his tenure at the Department came to an end after the sunset of the reserve program, Scantlebury followed in the footsteps of his parents, creating his own small business, Little American Tractor Service. He also serves as a school board member for Step-up School, which is a nonprofit school in his community.
The Mesa law enforcement officer veteran entered the political realm in 2018, when he unsuccessfully ran for Mesa City Council in District 4, finishing third. However, Scantlebury just barely missed the bar to move on to the November 6 election, falling 39 votes short of second place. He then challenged incumbent State Senator Tyler Pace in the August 2022 Primary Election, garnering more than double the votes for a shocking victory. Robert couldn’t defeat his Democrat opponent, though, losing to incumbent Eva Burch by five percent (just over three thousand votes).
Scantlebury decided to run again for Legislative District 9 in the 2024 cycle. In August 2023, he wrote that “people have asked why I’m going to run for office again when it is so hard to do,” answering that he has “always done hard things to do my part to make things better and stop bad people from hurting others.”
On March 29 of this year, Scantlebury turned in 920 signatures of qualified voters to make the ballot for the primary election. That number was almost three times the minimum he was required to submit to the Arizona Secretary of State. In a Facebook post, he thanked “all the people who talked with me at their front door and all the supporters who visited their neighbors and advocated for me.”
His three top priorities for public office at the state legislature are public safety, lower cost of living, and supporting parents and students. On his campaign website, Robert writes that his “thirty years in law enforcement have made it clear to me that we need our state government to do more. I will be a voice to empower local law enforcement, address serious mental illness appropriately, and work to stop human trafficking and the flow of drugs coming across our border.”
Scantlebury goes on to address his economic priority, stating that “we should be able to afford groceries, gas, electricity, and rent or buy a home in a safe neighborhood. But today, we’re paying more to buy less and our kids can’t envision ever affording a house. That’s the opposite of the American dream.” He promises to “defend our flat tax, oppose new taxes, stand up to radical environmental policies that raise the cost of our gas and electricity, and balance community needs with individual property rights.”
In addressing his priority of supporting parents and students in Arizona schools, Robert asserts that “one size doesn’t fit all and families should be able to access what works for their child, regardless of where they live or how much money they make.” He assures voters that “I am going to protect this for any family that needs it.” He adds that he “want[s] schools to focus first on the basics of education like reading, writing and math” and “schools that are responsive to students’ and parents’ needs.”
The Republican lists endorsements from the Mesa Police Association, the Arizona Republican Assemply, LUCA-Latino United, East Valley Young Republicans, and Arizona State Representative Barbara Parker on his website.
Robert has been married to his wife, Heather, for 23 years, and they have two daughters, Ryley and Robyn.
In July’s Primary Election, Scantlebury faces off against fellow Republican Christopher Stapley. The winner of the contest will be pitted against the entrenched Democrat incumbent, Eva Burch, for the November General Election.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Melody Whetstone | Jun 8, 2024 | Opinion
By Melody Whetstone |
Like a lot of Arizona residents, I was drawn to the state by its natural beauty, economic opportunities, and conservative values. In the 15 years my husband Gary and I have called Mesa home, we’ve seen a lot of growth and some exciting opportunities for our community and the citizens of District 2. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen some significant erosion of Mesa’s conservative values as well as questionable zoning and purchase decisions by the Mesa City Council. I believe we can, and should, do better. That’s why I’m running for City Council!
As a city council member, I’ll work to represent my District with the values and needs of my constituents instead of personal opinions. Take, for example, the purchase last year of the Arizona Grand Hotel by the City Council which is slated to be converted to a homeless shelter. In addition to overpaying for the property by $1 million, the annual operating cost paid by the city is estimated to be $3.5 million, which will be a permanent burden to Mesa taxpayers. The city council approved the sale over strenuous objections of adjacent businesses and homeowners.
Homelessness is a serious issue in our state, but there are better alternatives for properties not located adjacent to a residential area. Unfortunately, the current District 2 councilperson chose to vote her values against the wishes of her constituents.
Over the past 15 years, we’ve had a moderate increase in economic development activity in our district, but we’ve continued to be a bedroom community. It is the “actions over words” that have me concerned. While the Council says they want to bring in more high wage jobs, they continue to approve of more and more residential and multi-family projects. We have a vibrant airport at Falcon Field, but instead of protecting this valuable asset from residential encroachment, the council has turned a blind eye and put the airport in jeopardy. The same thing has happened to Boeing and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The council’s actions have not mirrored what the council has set as their Strategic Plan. We need to refocus the council and balance residential needs with economic development.
Another area that I believe we are lacking in is police and fire. Response times for our police have risen from 3.64 minutes in 2017 to 4 minutes today. That may not seem like much, but those extra seconds can mean the difference between the bad guy getting away or being caught. It can also be the difference between life and death. We need to make sure we have adequate personnel and equipment to ensure our public safety officials show up in a timelier manner.
Finally, I feel as though the city has left its lane and ventured into areas outside the City’s Charter. The city isn’t responsible for ensuring homeless people have shelter. I’m not trying to be dismissive of the need for humanity, I just feel as though the City should focus on potholes and allow the many not-for-profit entities and the religious communities across Mesa to share in the compassion. Citizens’ tax dollars should go exactly where Mesa’s founding fathers outlined in the Charter so many years ago: to ensure we have clean, potable water, a safe and reliable natural gas and electric system, clean streets that are pothole free, great outdoor parks and trails for public recreation, and public safety that continues to be one of the best in the nation.
I’ll work hard every day to represent the citizens of District 2, so that you will truly have a voice at the City. If you are tired of the status quo, let’s build our community together!
Melody Whetstone is candidate for Mesa City Council. You can find out more about her campaign at Melody4Mesa.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 27, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
An Arizona lawmaker is pushing back against the City of Mesa’s continued plans to address homelessness within its jurisdiction.
State Representative Barbara Parker released a statement on Tuesday, condemning what she labeled as “the City of Mesa’s misguided and controversial plan to purchase a hotel to house homeless individuals against the wishes of residents.”
The hotel Parker referred to was the acquisition of a property by the Mesa City Council earlier this year with funds allocated by the American Rescue Plan Act. The Council’s vote was 4-3, and the amount for the hotel was $7.4 million. The city is moving to repurpose the hotel to assist with its Off the Streets program, which is “a first step on Mesa’s Housing Path providing immediate shelter with strong support services for Mesa’s most vulnerable including seniors, Veterans, families with young children and single women.”
Representative Parker echoed the concerns of some Mesa residents as their city’s plan nears fruition, saying, “In an alarming display of disregard for the well-being and concerns of the hardworking residents of Mesa, the City Council is pushing forward with its poorly conceived project. The proposed acquisition of the Grand Hotel to house homeless individuals is a clear violation of the trust placed in our local government by our citizens and is a sad failure by Councilmembers to listen to the voices of their constituents. These property owners in Mesa have voiced their legitimate concerns over neighborhood safety, property values, the use of taxpayer funds, and the role of government in addressing homelessness.”
The East Valley legislator also linked the issues of illegal immigration with homelessness in disparaging Mesa’s plan of action. She said, “The City Council’s plan to house the homeless in our community comes at a time when our state is facing significant challenges. The ongoing crisis of illegal immigration, with nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants crossing into Arizona every day, poses a severe threat to our safety and security. This influx brings with it illegal narcotics, weapons, and human trafficking, further straining public resources and contributing to the homelessness issue.”
In April, Mesa Mayor John Giles penned an opinion piece for the Arizona Capitol Times, entitled “City and State Leaders Can Tackle Housing Crisis Together.” He exhorted Arizona officials to adopt “a holistic approach … to address this crisis,” encouraging “state leaders …to work with cities to find real-world solutions by providing funding, creating pragmatic policies and increasing tax credits and vouchers.” Giles highlighted his city’s Off the Streets program as “helping residents navigate to support systems and stable housing.”
Giles ended his piece with a call to proactively address homelessness, writing, “In recent years, I’ve been quoted as saying, homelessness is not AN issue, it is THE issue. I encourage our legislators to partner with local community leaders to turn this around before it’s too late.”
Earlier this month, the Mesa Mayor again championed the Off the Streets program on social media, stating, “Mesa’s Off the Streets Program helps get those experiencing homelessness on a path to stable housing and has a 75% success rate. We appreciate the many community partners who help connect those in need with housing, food, and medical care.”
According to the city’s website, “more than 1,700 individuals and families have been served” under the program as of May 2023.
Representative Parker, however, is not on board with the City’s and the Mayor’s plans. She asserted that “the City Council’s approach fails to address the critical issues of drug addiction and behavioral health that plague our homeless population. The so-called ‘housing-first’ strategy, as adopted by the City of Mesa, has failed time and again in other cities, proving to be a costly and ineffective solution.”
She added, “It is abundantly clear that the City Council is adopting misguided policies without considering the well-being and safety of our community. This action mirrors the failed policies of larger cities like Phoenix and Tucson, policies that have only exacerbated the problems they aimed to solve.” The legislator’s statement ended with a call for the Mesa City Council to “halt this terrible project.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
