Candidates, including incumbents, are mediocre at best, downright stupid at worst.
Ever since Kevin Hartke ascended to the position of Mayor of Chandler in 2018, life in the city has gotten worse. Taxes have increased, homelessness - once non-existent - is now ever present. Panhandling is a daily occurrence. The City of Chandler now has 3 opioid treatment centers, attracting junkies from all over the valley. The character of the city is changing from large homes on large lots with plenty of space for parks and farms, to an urban jungle mix of high density apartments blocks - including section 8 housing - tiny houses, and ugly warehouse boxes.
Since Hartke became mayor, it appears that not a single new Republican was elected to the City Council. As the old guard - think of Rene Lopez or Terry Roe, slowly retired and cycled out, they were replaced by Democrats, often radical ones. To blame is Hartke's incompetence as a politician. He is the nice guy loser sort, who rather "loses gracefully" than do what it takes to win. His influence is to blame for the selection of uninspiring Republican candidates running and losing on inappropriate status-quo platforms.
Hartke essentially runs the City like a homeless shelter, doling out tax payer money to "do good for the poor" and in the Democrats that have ascended to the Council since he became mayor, has found much more natural allies than in many of his Republican party colleagues. Many of the city's top staff, think City Manager and Chief of Police, have recently been changed out and more closely reflect the political preferences of the current left and far-left city council members.
So who is running for City Council in the July 2024 primary?
Ajlan "AJ" Kurdoglu is a far left radical who would intensify the current course of Chandler toward Tempe/Phoenix-style conditions. High density housing, higher taxes, more bureaucracy and waste, more DEI, less choice. Kurdoglu is a Democrat.
Cecily Rocha-Miller appears to be more of a standard liberal than a far left radical. She likely wouldn't hammer residents and businesses quite as badly as Kurdoglu would. Rocha-Miller is a Democrat.
OD Harris aka Odainke Asa Harris, has been found out to have been untruthful about his military record by suggesting he served for 4 years as admin/counterintelligence. There has been the assessment that in fact his service was so short and so poor - he received an uncharacterized discharge combined with restrictions for reenlistment - that he may to a large extent not be counted officially as a veteran by the Department of Veterans affairs. His politics are similar to that of far left Ajlan "AJ" Kurdoglu, but coupled also with a particularly venomous attitude towards supporting DEI, aka Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Harris seems to be one of those people who believes that whoever criticizes him for any reason does so because they are racist. Harris is currently on the City Council and is running for reelection. Harris is, as far as we can ascertain, a Democrat. Harris has been the target of a negative campaign calling him out for his diversity and equity politics and the stolen valor accusation against him. The campaign has complained, and provided evidence, that its signs are being illegally removed from the streets of Chandler.
Christine Ellis, in her debate during the 2020 elections thanked former mayor Jay Tibshraeny for $5 Million of funds her business had received from the City. Just in case you wondered about her business acumen. Ellis is a big spender who recently celebrated a record breaking and wallet busting City budget of $1.6 Billion. She also raved about diversity by inviting the audience to clap that a black woman, a black man and another woman were on stage in front of them, all running for city council. Just in case you wondered what diversity really means. One could hear some claps, but otherwise mostly noticed awkward looks by audience members at Ellis' remarks. She seems to care more about sending taxpayer money to Haiti than about making sure residents in Chandler are taken care of. We aren't sure of the party affiliation of Ellis. She is running for relection.
Joseph Yang at only around 20 years old is somewhat of an unknown quantity. Perhaps in youthful exuberance in a recent facebook post he essentially compared himself to people like Alexander Hamilton, a founding father of the United States. Yang is a partial supporter of DEI, though he has said that he would want to change the E for equity (evil) to E for equality (good). On an issue that is a winning issue for Republicans - Glenn Yougkin won the governorship in the state of Virginia on an anti-DEI platform - Yang has taken a stance that is closer to Democrat than Republican mainstream. Yang appears to be a Republican. Like all other Republicans in the race, he has remained silent regarding the accusations of untruthfulness that have been made against OD Harris, one of their primary opponent they'd need to beat to win a seat. Yang would likely be better at governing than some of the radicals on the Council now. It would remain to be seen if he could be a true force for reform.
Jennifer Hawkins runs an auto-repair shop with her husband and would likely be a status-quo council member that at least wouldn't deliberately make life in Chandler worse. If she would be capable to successfully push for reform would remain to be seen. She is a Republican.
Michael Simon is a former Marine Corps veteran. When the Arizona Republic and this news paper revealed inconsistencies and untruthfulness by OD Harris - one of Simon's primary political opponents - regarding Harris' military record, Simon was silent. As a veteran running for office against Harris, one would have expected him to be out in front calling out Harris' issues. Simon has, as far as we have observed, no large campaign signs present in the City of Chandler. His platform is a status-quo, more of the same platform based on the pillars of transparency, quality of life and public safety. Similar to Hawkins he would likely try not to make things worse but if he has the will and skill to push for reform is at this stage uncertain. Simon is a Republican.
In order to win outright in the primary election this July, a candidate needs to get more than the total number of votes divided by 3 - the number of available council seats - and then divided by 2 - since 50% is the needed vote margin in order to win a seat. So if 60,000 votes were cast for City Council (remember every voter can cast 3 votes for City Council since 3 seats are available), then candidates with 10,000 or more votes would win the primary election and be seated on the council. If only 1 or 2 candidates reach this margin, then the remaining seats would be decided in the general election in November.
Sometimes you have to hold your nose to avoid catastrophe.
Current City Council, from left to right: Jane Poston (D), OD Harris (D), Angel Encinas (D), Kevin Hartke (R), Matt Orlando (D), Mark Stewart (R), Christine Ellis.
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