Glendale courted top sports executive to save the Coyotes

Originally from azcentral.com:

Hours before Jerry Moyes put the Phoenix Coyotes into bankruptcy court Tuesday and agreed to sell the team to a Canadian millionaire, Glendale was working on a deal to have Chicago sports executive Jerry Reinsdorf, along with other investors, take over the hockey franchise.

“The city of Glendale is working with interested parties and one of those parties we had a conversation with was Mr. Reinsdorf,” Ed Beasley, Glendale city manager, said Wednesday. “We are working with the (NHL) league and will aggressively work to keep this team in Glendale and the state of Arizona.”

Beasley declined to provide additional details on negotiations with Reinsdorf, a part-time Paradise Valley resident who, through a spokesman, declined to comment. Reinsdorf is majority owner of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and baseball’s Chicago White Sox, who this year moved their spring training facility from Tucson to Camelback Ranch, which Glendale built.

Phoenix attorney John Kaites said that he began putting together a team of investors and approached the city and team six months ago about taking over and keeping the Coyotes in Glendale.

Kaites, who represents the White Sox among other sports teams, declined to say who or how many investors were involved.

“It’s a robust group, and that is what it’s going to take to save the team,” he said.

Kaites said he met with National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman in Phoenix on Tuesday.

For weeks, Reinsdorf had been courted to run the Coyotes, and the NHL was working with Glendale to broker a deal. The city had hoped Reinsdorf’s extensive experience in running championship sports teams would resurrect the Coyotes, who have made the playoffs just once since Moyes became an investor.

Although Kaites has a long history with Reinsdorf, the attorney would not say if Reinsdorf was part of the group. Kaites said each partner would contribute equally, and each had an extensive background in sports.

“There’s a really big desire on the part of our group to be involved in Glendale,” Kaites said.

He would not say whether the investment group would need concessions from the city, but he did say it would take a “huge effort from this entire community to make this work.”

Kaites said he and others in the investment group would “do what is necessary and reasonable,” but would not engage in a bidding war for the team.

“We just sit back now and wait for it to be resolved between the team, the city and Jerry Moyes,” Kaites said. 

Glendale donors include developers

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.