This year, four Town Council seats are up for election. It’s a wide open race as no candidate in this race has previously been elected. Here’s a quick rundown of the all candidates and who you should vote for in the 2 August Election.
GILBERT WATCH ENDORSEMENTS
- Jim Torgeson – Nobody in this race has more experience in Gilbert Town matters than Mr. Torgeson. For decades, he has been actively involved in the development of the Gilbert Downtown as the Chairman of the Redevelopment Commission. Mr. Torgeson is a fighter for individual rights and fiscal conservative who exposed the massive waste of taxpayer money on boondoggle projects like the Zinke Dairy farm purchase. He is not going to be rolled by government bureaucrats, union bosses, and he will hold Town staff accountable to the will of the people.
- Mario Chicas – Mr. Chicas has served his Country and community for many years as a former Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He is a naturalized US Citizen and family man with strong fiscal and social conservative values. Mr. Chicas listens well and will stay true to his Oath of Office as he’s done it before. The Town Council is in need of a fresh face and we would do well to add Mario to the Council.
- Bobbi Buchli – Ms. Buchli has lived in the Mesa/Gilbert area for many years and understands the greatness of the Town of Gilbert. She has a successful real estate career and understands the importance of property rights. Like so many voters, she’s been frustrated with the Town leadership who has been so out of touch with the hardworking taxpayer in raising taxes and increasing spending in the face of skyrocketing inflation. Unlike the Town which consistently gives taxpayer money to unions and big businesses, Ms. Buchli understand the importance and vital role of the small business owner in our Town and aims to give a voice to them.
NOT ENDORSED CANDIDATE, BUT WORTH CHECKING OUT
- Chuck Bongiovanni – Successful businessman who understand the value of the entrepreneurs in Gilbert. If elected, Chuck will hold the line on Town spending. One thing Gilbert Watch appreciates about Chuck is his focus on representing the citizen and ignoring the union bosses who run this Town.
BIG GOVERNMENT CANDIDATES, BEWARE,
- Michael Clark – Yeah, he’s the guy littering the Town with the penguin signs. And that’s about how serious you should take his candidacy. (For some reason, his team loves to remove signs for Andy Biggs and replace them with one of his ugly signs.) He proudly supports every hair-brained big government project under consideration by the Town. For example, the Police Union bosses are pushing to have a separate Crime Lab. For many years Gilbert and Mesa have been effectively sharing the costs for a state of the art crime lab. Mesa continues to have plenty of capacity and regional cost-sharing for facilities like this are a large saving to everyone. Like this, Clark is for every other tax-and-spend project in the docket. Don’t spend your vote on someone so committed to government waste.
- Scott September – Mr. September is a good family man with strong socially-conservative values. September wisely voted against forcing Gilbert taxpayers to fund sex change surgeries for government workers. Unfortunately, September buckled to the fear mongers and voted for Gilbert’s mask mandate. On the fiscal side, he’s supported every tax increase and the massive budget increase in the face of skyrocketing inflation. When he was appointed to Council, September claimed he was a fiscal conservative, but his votes say otherwise.
- Yung Kaprowski (Kap) – If you like someone who changes their voter registration from Democrat to Republican before running for office, vote for Kap. If you like a committed feminist who see Gilbertonians through the socialist lens of critical race theory, vote for Kap. If you like COVID fear peddlers who voted for the Gilbert mask mandates and continues to be willing to restrict your freedoms, vote for Kap. If you like someone who thinks she’s the smartest person in the room and believes you need government bureaucrats and politicians to run your life, Kap’s your gal. Gilbert hasn’t seen someone this liberal since the ’90’s. Will she change her voter registration back to Democrat after the election?
- Bus Obayomi – Get off the Bus. Unfortunately, Bus tells you what you want to hear. If you were liberal, he’d talk about his commitment to diversity and inclusion. If you are a conservative, he’d talk about free markets and Thomas Sowell. Whatever your political beliefs, you should be able to get a clear and honest answer from candidates. Does Bus change his story because he doesn’t have any core beliefs or because he’s a typical politician. It’s not clear. Lately he has been seen carrying signs for liberal candidates in other elections. Guess that’s where he stands…at least today.
- Bill Spence – Like Bus, Spence tries to be all things to all people. Before being rejected by voters, Spence was known for his self-congratulating and long-winded speeches that left everyone confused on what he believed and how he would vote. He’s supported by all the Gilbert union and lobbyist groups with their nose in the Gilbert feeding trough. His loyalties will always be with these groups not with the citizens. Make no mistake, these seedy lobbyists and the union thugs will be making big requests for wasteful projects and Spence will surely oblige. He also seems to have a little problem with honesty. His website claims, “I have a perfect voting record in opposing new High Density Multifamily (MFH) Apartment Housing and I’m committed to aggressively challenging requests to build more high-density apartments.” In truth, in his short time on Council, he voted more than once for higher density housing.
KEY ELECTION DATES!
