With another Town election coming up in August as the mayor and three Town Council members run for a third term, LOVE would like to report on a campaign problem that is likely to rear it’s ugly head again in a few short months.Background
Back in early November 2017, many of you saw the photo on the front page of the Explorer of a person who was allegedly seen tampering with a “Why Ax Kids Sports?” sign near the intersection of First and Oracle. The caption accompanying the photo indicated that the “OVPD is asking for the public’s help with a criminal damage investigation.” This seemed a little excessive considering that the sign was not an official campaign sign protected under Arizona State law, but rather, would be considered the equivalent of a Yard Sale sign.
Who’s the Boss?
After you read this article, ask yourself these questions:
• Why is the OVPD putting this much time, effort, manpower, and taxpayer money into investigating the equivalent of someone tampering with a homemade “Yard Sale” sign?
• Does this merit a 3-month long (and counting) investigation? Why are they going to such great lengths to find the “perpetrator” when no campaign laws were violated? Don’t our police have more important things to do?
•Who’s orchestrating this?
• Would the police launch a “criminal damage investigation” if someone had tampered with a Yard Sale sign? Would they post a picture of the person on the OVPD Facebook page AND on the front page of the Explorer newspaper asking for the public’s help in finding this person? Of course not. So why did they do it in this instance?
• Why are they maneuvering to keep the Police Report from the public?
OVPD Withholds release of Police Report
LOVE wanted to report on this story back in November, but in order to report the whole story, we needed to obtain a copy of the Police Report. One of our LOVE readers has been trying to obtain this report since November. The OVPD initially said that it couldn’t be released until the investigation was closed. When the case was finally closed in mid-January and the LOVE reader attempted once again to obtain a copy of the report, the case was suddenly reopened because “new information has been obtained in furtherance of the investigation.”
It’s suspicious that new information was obtained which bars the release of the report just as the report was about to be released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Someone does not want that file to be released.
After waiting patiently for more than three months, LOVE has decided to report on what we know at this time. We’re also reporting on it now because the repeated delays in releasing the Police Report have become a story all on its own.
Why is this story important?
The etiology of the complaint is an important piece of this investigation. The owner of the “property” must be known and identified for any item to be considered “property” under law. Additionally, no complaint is valid or actionable by law enforcement unless a complaint is filed by that “property” owner. Once a complaint is filed, it is required to be disclosed upon any request under Federal FOIA and Arizona Public Records law.
During the Naranja Park Bond election, numerous “Why Ax Kids Sports?” signs were illegally placed directly in front of campaign signs that had been posted by the Axe the Tax PAC. Axe the Tax filed a complaint with the Town. When contacted by the Town Clerk about the illegal placement of these signs [a Class 2 misdemeanor under ARS 16-1019] the Yes on 454 PAC claimed that these signs did not belong to them.
Being that there was no “Paid for by…..” disclosure statement on the signs, it appeared that they were placed by an individual who was not associated with any political action committee. Therefore, it was assumed that they did not belong to the YES on 454 PAC.
Irresponsible Allocation of Town Resources
Since no campaign laws were violated, the amount of time and effort being spent on this investigation is disproportionate to the “crime” that was allegedly committed. The question remains…why? This whole thing smacks of political maneuvering and LOVE does not take kindly to our police being involved in politics.
Part 2 will be published on Wednesday.
