Glendale councilmen take pricey gifts

The Glendale City Council last month gave the Tohono O’odham Nation the final approval the tribe needed to see through its development vision that includes a resort near Desert Diamond Casino in the West Valley.

The city sold the tribe an 11-acre piece of city land that jutted into the middle of the tribe’s land for $3.1 million. After years of lawsuits and controversy around the tribe’s land, this sale was approved unanimously without discussion.

Just before the vote, Edward Manuel, chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, told the council he wants the city and tribe to have a working relationship with surrounding communities.

“We are making that effort to make that happen here in Glendale,” he said.

Turns out, the tribe has been working to improve its relationships for a while.

Last year, councilmembers Jamie Aldama and Ian Hugh accepted tickets from the tribe to attend prime major league sporting events with tribal members, according to the councilmen.

Aldama said he and his son went to a Final Four game in spring 2017 with Tohono O’odham officials.

Hugh said he and his wife went to an Arizona Cardinals game with the tribal officials, but could not remember what month the game was in.

Both attended the games in a suite purchased by the tribe and estimated the tickets were worth more than $500 but could not give an exact value. Both say they were not aware of the upcoming land vote at the time and said they saw no conflict in accepting the tickets.

“If I didn’t want anyone to know, I wouldn’t have put it on there,” Aldama said of the gift disclosure form that council members file annually with the city.

The acceptance of the tickets, which

The Arizona Republic obtained under the Arizona Public Records Law, speaks to a longstanding belief among many public officials in Glendale and across the state that accepting lavish gifts from those who they do business with is part of the job.

“It’s nice having a working relationship,” Hugh said.

Other gifts to council members in 2017 included a ride on the Arizona Cardinals’ private jetand Fiesta Bowl tickets from the game’s organizing committee.

Daniel Adelman, executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in Public Interest, said, generally, gifts are meant to influence public officials.

“Philosophically, these entities are not giving politicians gift because they like them,” he said. “They are giving them for some reason that they think will help them.”

It’s been about eight years since former Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs became entangled in the Fiesta Bowl scandal, which in part revealed that 28 lawmakers statewide had for years been accepting gifts from the non-profit, such as cross-country trips, stays at luxury hotels, and tickets to prime sporting events from the non-profit.

At the time, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery recommended elected officials in the state stop accepting gifts, and many cities at least considered stricter rules.

Under state law, public officials can accept gifts, but not if the gift personally benefits the official or has improper influence on the official’s duties. The official must disclose gifts valued at more than $500 annually.

They are not required to report anything more than the name of the donor — not what the gift was, what it cost, nor when they got it.

Some Arizona cities have stricter laws. A review of the state’s 10 largest cities shows that six have rules further restricting gifts or requiring more comprehensive gift disclosure.

Gilbert, Mesa, Phoenix and Surprise require public officials to report any gift they receive worth more than $50 within two to five business days, depending on the city, with a full description of the gift and how much it is worth. Scottsdale has a similar rule, but for any gift worth more than $25.

In Peoria, elected and appointed officials can’t accept gifts valued at more than $50 from anyone who does business with the city, with some exceptions, including meals, token mementos and some instances of entertainment.

A few Glendale council members said after the Fiesta Bowl scandal they were interested in beefing up the city’s law, but the discussion never came to a vote.

In 2013, former Councilman Gary Sherwood told The Republic he felt the disclosure policy should be lowered to $100. But he said changing the policy “should take low priority right now.”

Tim Hogan, former executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in Public Interest, said his personal opinion is that elected officials should not take any gifts.

“Once you start making exceptions, the exceptions eventually swallow up the rule,” he said. “I just don’t think it’s that hard to not accept gifts.”

Glendale elected officials are not to accept “gifts, favors or promises of future benefits which might compromise their independence of judgment or action or give the appearance of being compromised,” or that benefit them personally, according to the officials’ code of ethics.

Because the city follows state law on gift disclosures, the officials don’t have to report anything about the gift they received except who gave it to them. The council members told The Arizona Republic more about their 2017 gifts, though.

Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers accepted a flight to Washington, D.C., on the Arizona Cardinals’ private jet.

Weiers said the Cardinals every year organize local elected officials and business leaders to go on a trip to talk to senators about the Phoenix area. He said the city normally pays for his travel, but last year the Cardinals said they had an extra spot on their jet. “It wasn’t a big deal,” he said.

He also took a two-day trip to Rocky Point to meet the mayor. The owner of Avanti Industries, a business in Glendale, drove him down there and allowed him to stay in his condominium.

He took another trip to Fort Bragg, a military base in North Carolina, paid for by the U.S. Department of Defense. That was an educational trip, he said, to learn more about the base and the military.

He said no one can influence him by giving him gifts, and he wouldn’t accept gifts that benefited him personally.

Last spring, Councilman Bart Turner’s attendance at WaterNow Alliance’s annual conference in Boulder, Colorado, including airfare, hotel and registration, was paid for by the alliance that advocates for sustainable water use.

Most of the council members also reported going to the Fiesta Bowl, for free, on behalf of the committee that organizes the annual college football playoff game. The Fiesta Bowl did not provide an immediate response.

Weiers said attending the Fiesta Bowl game allows him to network with other officials and business people.

“It’s stuff I feel is part of my job,” he said.

It’s unclear which Glendale City Council members received invitations to professional games from the Tohono O’odham Nation in 2017.

Asked for more details about the gifts, such as who received the gifts, how much the suites costs and whether these gifts could be seen as a conflict, the Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise emailed a statement from Treena Parvello, a spokeswoman, without specific answers.

“The Enterprise always attempts to follow relevant regulations pertaining to these issues and will continue to review our procedures to ensure ongoing compliance,” part of the statement read.

In Peoria, the city’s law specifically mentions that the $50 limit does not apply to “entertainment directly associated with an event where an official is serving as a representative for the city.”

Asked for further clarification, Jennifer Stein, a city spokeswoman, said this can include “responsibilities as an ambassador or liaison, education/ awareness efforts, or possibly share information on policies and operations.”

Hogan said if the city thinks it is important for an official to be at a sporting event, the city should pay for it.

“As an elected official, accepting anything of value from anybody puts you in a potential conflict situation down the road,” he said. “You never know when people want to remind you, ‘Here’s what I did for you before.’ And I think it undermines the public confidence.”

When told that other cities have stronger laws than Glendale, a few Glendale council members said they would not be opposed to a stricter city law.

“I don’t object to that at all,” Hugh said regarding stricter disclosure rules.

Turner said he may look into the policy in the future.

But Weiers said he doesn’t know why the council would change the rules if there is no issue.

“If we don’t have a problem, why would we waste our energy on that?” he said.

Glendale Councilwoman Joyce Clark said she “has always been for more disclosure and more openness.”

But then she said something similar to what Sherwood said in 2013.

“I have other priorities right now,” she said.