There’s no surprise that the pro-goverment Arizona Republic has endorsed the tax hiking Proposition 1 and the budget busting Proposition 3 in the September 11th Phoenix elections.  What is surprising is the Republic supports Prop. 2, yet another raise for the mayor and city council.

In 2005, the mayor received a 73% raise, with his salary going from $65,000 to $93,000.  The city council got a 57% raise, with their pay going from $35,000 to $61,000.  Now they want another 6% raise, billed as a “cost of living” increase.  That 6% is almost double the inflation rate, so it is a raise, not a cost of living increase.

And the Republic unquestionly cheerleads for it. 

The upside of the “non-partisan” elections is the fun in guessing each candidate’s party affiliation.  I live in Phoenix City Council District 3 and just received mailers from the three main candidates.

If I were a casual voter, these would be my guesses:

Mapstead is the Republican.  He wants to prevent city contractors from hiring illegals, is against tax increases and wants to cut back regulations. 

Jon Altmann is a moderate Republican.  He’s a military veteran and tough on crime. 

Maria Baier is the typical Democrat running for office in a Republican district.  She’s cute and smiley, has good sounding phrases that no one can really be against, but provides no detail on the tough issues.  These catch phrases include “Improving Traffic” and  “Protecting Neighborhoods.” 

In reality, Mapstead is the Democrat and the local “D” party is helping his campaign.  Altman is a Republican, and the most conservative of the lot.  Baier is a liberal Republican.

Trends are an interesting thing. Sometimes they can help you see the patterns of the past and guess what the future might be. They also have inflection points. An interesting one just occurred at Real Clear Politics. For the longest time Romney was below 10% in the nationwide polls. McCain has been steadily coming down from the 25% of days gone by. In the last few days their lines have crossed. Romney is now closing in on a slowly declining Thompson.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-192.html

Maricopa county is heavily Republican, yet Phoenix, Scottsdale and other cities elect Democrats to the city offices way out of proportion to their voter registration.  Unfortunately, the “non-partisan” nature of the elections prevents the casual voter from having a guidepost on the candidate’s governing philosophy.

If the Republican party were smart, it would organize an informational campaign to inform the high-efficacy Republican voters on which candidates are registered Republicans.  The Democrats are certainly wise to this:

From: “District 11 Democrats\(J Norris\)”
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:59:13
To:”District 11 Democrats\(J Norris\)”
Subject: Special Announcement for City Council District 3 Race

 District 11 Democrats
 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT – CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 3 RACE

As many of you are aware, the Phoenix Municipal Election comes up about a month from now on September 11, 2007.  While most of LD11 lies in City Council District 6, it turns out that LD11 contains twenty-seven precincts in Phoenix City Council District 3 (Amber, Cactus, Cheryl, Calaveros, Copper Hills, Desert View, El Domingo, Escobar, Foxwood, Gold Dust, Larkspur, Mercer, Mountain Park, Mummy Mountain, Oakhurst, Onyx, Orange Tree, Presidio, Royal Palm, Shadow Rock, Shea, Silver Creek, Silvertree, Sunny High, and Wagon Wheel (north half)).  This is almost one-third of LD11.  While City Council races are non-partisan, you should know that Jim Mapstead, an excellent candidate for that City Council seat, is the only Democratic candidate among the group vying for that position.  Visit Jim’s website www.mapstead2007.com to learn more about him, his positions on issues, and his endorsements.  If you live in any of these precincts, or have friends or family who do, I urge you to give Jim your support in this upcoming election, and encourage your family, friends,  neighbors and fellow Democrats to do so as well.

Brian Aby, Chair
District 11 Democrats

Democrat Terry Goddard was the mayor of Phoenix, is now the state AG and is eyeing the Governor’s office in 2010.  The current mayor of Phoenix, Phil Gordon, is a Democrat and will be the Democrat nominee for Governor in 2010.  Failing to give serious attention to “non-partisan” elections, has turned the city offices into a training ground for Democrats to seek higher office.

Of course, party affiliation does not tell the whole story.  While the LD11 Democrat Party emailed its members about the Democrat candidate for that city council race, Democrat mayor Phil Gordon supports the nominally Republican candidate Maria Baeir.  It could be because Baeir supports higher taxes and was a “Republican for Janet”, so they are probably close philosophically.  Or maybe because Baeir’s brother runs the Phoenix fire department and he made Phil “an offer he couldn’t refuse”. ;-) 

Party labels do not tell the whole story, but at least they would give voters a guide to judge the candidates. The Republican party would be wise to use its registration advantage.

The CD-5 race is starting to heat up with the first official announcement scheduled for this Saturday. Coverage at East Valley Trib and profile page starting on Arizona Politics.