December 7, 2018

Statement Regarding Signature Petitions

Statement Regarding Signature Petitions I was informed by the city clerk that a recall campaign has been filed against me. Although this effort is likely to be costly for taxpayers, I assure the residents of district 7 that it will not distract me from continuing to actively serve them every day. While I will be challenging the campaign and the legality of the PAC supporting it, I will remain steadfast in my commitment to the principles that have served our community well for the past ten years, and continue to pursue economic development and community building initiatives that are critical to our district and our city.

Those who know me know that I strive to find compromise, even working across the aisle, when dealing with challenging issues and policies. I will continue to take into consideration the broad needs and individual character of our district’s neighborhoods. Downtown and the warehouse district are ideal for urbanization, but we have must always listen to each community – whether it’s south Phoenix, Estrella, Laveen or Maryvale – each neighborhood deserves the consideration of its residents and business owners and I remain committed to protecting their interests. I will not allow special interest groups to overpower neighborhood needs that I am sworn to protect.

I am confident that with an investigation into the legitimacy of this effort, we will find that untruths and mis-characterizations were employed to sway the public who signed the petition. I look forward to getting to the bottom of it, and moving ahead.

I appreciate the outpouring of support from so many of the district 7 residents who helped to elect me, and community leaders who have worked with me through the years and have no doubt that this campaign and its illegally funded PAC will be disqualified.

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