Original article from the Arizona Republic, July 16, 2008
Campaign finance records show that Glendale incumbents seeking re-election this fall have accepted donations from those who have had business before the city within the past year.
Donors include Westgate developer Steve Ellman and Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill, along with zoning attorneys who often represent developers.
Accepting such donations is legal and not uncommon for Glendale or other city and state elections.
State law allows political action committees and individuals, although not companies, to contribute up to $390 to a candidate. The courts have ruled that campaign donations are considered free speech.
Still, an Arizona State University professor says donations from those with business before a city could raise red flags.
“The public never knows whether the candidate, if elected, will be more favorable toward those donors due to their donations than the candidate otherwise would have been,” said Carolyn Warner, an associate political science professor.
Warner acknowledged that funding campaigns is a “universal problem in democracies.”
The state’s answer was the Arizona Clean Elections law, which publicly finances campaigns. Tucson also has developed a partial public financing system for campaigns.
Election campaigns aren’t cheap, running in excess of $25,000 in contested City Council races and more in mayoral contests.
Those expenses are offset by donations from interested voters and businessmen and businesswomen.
“It’s probably necessary to run a decent campaign, a necessary evil . . . to raise the money,” said Councilman Phil Lieberman, who seeks re-election in southeast Glendale’s Cactus District.
The key is that donations are regularly disclosed to the public, he said.
Mayor Elaine Scruggs has a similar view, saying that only wealthy candidates could run for office on their own dime.
Warner offered this advice before accepting cash from donors with business before the city: Consider whether you could distance yourself from the donation when it came time to vote on a proposal.
She added, “Any psychologist will tell you they are not.”
Councilwoman Joyce Clark, seeking re-election in southwest Glendale’s Yucca District, accepted a donation in May from zoning attorney John Berry, who represented the Thunderbird School of Global Management in a rezoning case before the council that month. Berry also gave to Scruggs and Councilman Steve Frate.
Clark said she is comfortable that Berry and others know such contributions do not curry favor.
“I have never been shy about telling a developer or zoning attorney what I don’t like about the project,” she said.
The mayor said she tries “to avoid accepting donations from those who have active, open work with the city.”
That can be a moving target.
Scruggs accepted a contribution from Arizona Cardinals President Bidwill in April 2007. She also accepted donations from zoning attorney Michael Curley and his wife.
Curley represented the Bidwill family when they submitted plans for a commercial development to the city not long afterward.
In March 2008, Bidwill also donated to Frate, who is uncontested for re-election in north central Glendale’s Sahuaro District.
A month later, in April, the council unanimously approved cbd101, the Bidwill family’s proposed development south of University of Phoenix Stadium.
Frate could not be reached for comment.
As far as potential conflicts of interest, Scruggs said that “any contribution from any source can be made to look suspect if someone desires to do so.”
She said it’s natural for investors in the city, along with residents, to support elected officials whom they see as best qualified.
“These people all have an interest in seeing that people are elected to office who are fiscally responsible and who understand the contributions that business make to a city,” Scruggs said. “They deserve a voice, just like any citizen.”
Frate also accepted a donation from John Kaites, a lobbyist who represents the Chicago White Sox, one of the professional baseball teams for which the city is building a spring training stadium.
Kaites said former Phoenix fire-union president Billy Shields asked him to donate, and he was happy to do so without feeling pressured.
“The amounts are so low that I’m happy to give to people who are of good quality,” Kaites said.
