The Arizona Attorney General's Office is investigating Tempe for possibly violating open meeting laws and using tens of thousands of public dollars in

[Coconuts]

This shit never ends, just relocate them already

 

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2023/10/12/arizona-investigating-tempe-contract-influence-coyotes-area-vote/71144953007/

 

The Arizona Attorney General's Office is investigating Tempe for possibly violating open meeting laws and using tens of thousands of public dollars in an effort to influence the outcome of the Arizona Coyotes election.

Both allegations have to do with Tempe hiring a political consultant to monitor and geolocate opponents of the project using social media, as described by the scope of work.

 

Tempe quietly hired the consulting firm, called Strategy 48, on Oct. 15, 2022, without a public vote. That was three weeks before Tempe "reserved" a spot on its special election ballot for the Coyotes' $2.1 billion proposal to build an NHL arena and entertainment district on city-owned property. Residents decisively rejected the project on May 16.

 

Tempe paid the Phoenix-based public relations firm more than $32,000 for services that are typically used by political campaigns, rather than by government bodies. A city document obtained by The Arizona Republic shows the contractor's scope of work included:

Identifying social media pages "that could provide a platform for project opposition to publicize their concerns," as well as analyzing media stories and online posts to "better understand potential opposition messaging strategy."
Tracking the social media activity of individuals who post about the project and working to "determine where they live" in order to gather "data needed to identify and micro-target messaging."
Developing a long-term outreach plan in coordination with the Coyotes. In addition to being the main beneficiary of the project, the NHL franchise also ran the vote "yes" campaign.

"The city's intention to develop an outreach plan in coordination with the Coyotes was a brazen and illegal attempt to promote the passage of the Coyotes referendum," said Ron Tapscott, a leader in the Tempe 1st opposition campaign. "This surveillance effort raises serious issues about legality, transparency and democracy in our city. Tempe residents deserve an explanation."

The people who call the shots in Tempe:Who is on Tempe City Council? What to know about members

The Arizona Republic asked Tempe for that explanation. All of the city's answers are available here.

Tempe did not directly address questions about how the contract benefited residents and whether it was a legitimate use of public funds. The city's official response was simply that former City Manager Andrew Ching created the contract.

 

Ching hired Strategy 48 and, per state law, contracts under $100,000 do not require council approval.

Ching told The Republic that Mayor Corey Woods was the one who requested the contract.

In an emailed statement to The Republic, Ching said Woods specifically recommended Strategy 48.

 

"As a result of several conversations with (Woods) in 2022 … I met with two firms, both of which were suggested by (the mayor)," Ching wrote. "While the contract was officially initiated and administered by me … the main purpose of their engagement was to provide information and strategy to, and to receive direction and feedback from, the mayor and council."

 

In a statement to The Republic, Woods said, "I chatted informally with (Ching) last year about the need for a better understanding of public opinion and improving the city's communications strategy. That conversation was not specifically focused on the (Coyotes project), but on a range of issues."

 

The mayor went on to say he "suggested a couple of companies who I thought might be able to help — but I did not initiate the contract or negotiate the contract. In fact, I never once saw that contract or its scope of work. In sum, the city did nothing wrong here, nor did I."

 

City Attorney Sonia Blain's office is responsible for signing off on the legality of such deals and the city said it followed guidance from its legal office.

The consultants' findings were discussed with City Council members during closed-door executive sessions — the subject of at least one potential state law violation being investigated. The city attorney is also responsible for deciding what topics qualify for those private meetings under state law.

Tempe spokesperson Kris Baxter-Ging wrote that Tempe behaved "in accordance with Arizona law." She added that Tempe did not know it was under state investigation until Thursday morning.

 

"The city is in the process of reviewing the notice from the Attorney General. We intend to cooperate fully with Attorney General Mayes, and we look forward to the full truth coming out," the city wrote in an email on Thursday.

 

Richie Taylor, Attorney General's Office communications director, had already confirmed via email on Wednesday that the office was actively investigating Tempe in response to a complaint filed by Tapscott and two other Tempe 1st members.

 

State investigators are trying to determine whether the city's actions violated at least two state laws, namely:

Arizona's Open Meeting Law. Local officials have to make most city decisions publicly. There are nine exceptions, most of which are related to legal advice or security discussions. Presentations about campaign messaging aren't typically covered by those exemptions. But Tempe never publicly discussed the contract itself or the consultant's work.
The state statute on "electioneering." Cities and towns are explicitly barred from using public dollars in an effort to influence the outcome of elections. That can include funding opposition research on behalf of a campaign like the Coyotes' Tempe Wins political action committee, depending on when and how it happens.

 

To prove a violation of the Open Meeting Law, state investigators must determine whether the City Council received reports from the consultant or discussed the firm's findings during executive sessions. Tempe would have to make a case that there was some type of legitimate legal sensitivity that exempted those discussions from the open meeting statute.

 

The electioneering allegation is more complex. Nuances in the law could make a big difference, according to former Assistant Attorney General Tom Collins, who now heads the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

 

One has to do with when exactly city campaign spending constitutes a violation. An attorney general opinion from 2015 says the electioneering prohibitions kick in once someone files an application for a serial number for a ballot initiative or referendum," the first step in getting a measure on the ballot.

 

The Coyotes organization announced that it planned to begin collecting signatures in November. That step follows the serial number application, so it's likely Tempe's contract was finalized a few weeks before the cutoff date.

 

But the contract remained in effect until December. And Collins said that if Tempe or its city-funded consultant shared information with the Coyotes campaign — which the contract's scope of work indicates they planned to do — a court could interpret Tempe's behavior as a violation.

 

"(If) the opinion is read to say that prior to the issuance of a (ballot petition) serial number, there is no law that applies to this situation, I think that would be overemphasizing the timeline and underemphasizing reality," said Collins, a Tempe resident.

Tempe wrote to The Republic that "there was no sharing of documents by city staff with any outside organizations." The issue is there were no "documents" that staffers could have shared, according to an email sent by Interim Deputy City Clerk Karen Doncovio that indicates the consultant did not produce physical reports for Tempe.

 

"All outgoing information regarding this project produced by the City of Tempe was designed in accordance with Arizona law," the city said in its statement.

 

Whatever the outcome of the attorney general's probe, Collins explained there could still be legal implications if the contract expenditure isn't considered a legitimate use of city funds. He also cited possible ethical issues given that the city was tracking its own residents.

 

"If you are examining critics of the government and you work for the government … the first question you have to ask yourself is, why are you paying to do research on critics of the government or potential critics of the government? That's got all kinds of other potential implications," he said.

 

[Coconuts]

Tl;dr Tempe was shady and trying to help the Coyotes referendum go through 

[RawkDrummer]

move the team to Portland

[Jess]

To answer your question, yes, I did change the title length limit.

[Coconuts]

1 minute ago, -AJ- said:

To answer your question, yes, I did change the title length limit.

 

I'm just going to call this the Coconuts statute of limitations. 

 

[Gurn]

6 minutes ago, RawkDrummer said:

move the team to Portland

Kelowna/Kamloops area.

 

It would be great to have 2 road trips of less than 250 miles

[Western Red]

Greasy.

[Ghostsof1915]

The Hockey Guy was big on this deal. I knew something seemed crooked. (And not just the Coyotes owner)

[Odd.]

Is Arizona even a real state? 

[Sophomore Jinx]

Sick and tired of the Count's bullshit pet project in Arizona.

 

Long overdue to take out the trash.

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

41 minutes ago, Gurn said:

Kelowna/Kamloops area.

 

It would be great to have 2 road trips of less than 250 miles

 

[ManbeastMARK]

Let's throw a team in Vernon, BC. Great idea guys. HUUGE market.

[Drive-By Body Pierce]

Cost of living in Kelowna isn't high enough yet, let's add an NHL team!!! And, make a bid for the Olympics!!!

[ABNuck]

56 minutes ago, RawkDrummer said:

move the team to Portland

 

49 minutes ago, Gurn said:

Kelowna/Kamloops area.

 

It would be great to have 2 road trips of less than 250 miles

Houston Aeros. They can hang two #9 retirement banners...1 for Mr. Hockey, and 1 for Bobby Hull (via Winnipeg via Phoenix).

 

Plus it makes sense for the league. Fourth largest television audience in the US, plus a ready made arena...move in and make money.

[CBH1926]

46 minutes ago, ABNuck said:

 

Houston Aeros. They can hang two #9 retirement banners...1 for Mr. Hockey, and 1 for Bobby Hull (via Winnipeg via Phoenix).

 

Plus it makes sense for the league. Fourth largest television audience in the US, plus a ready made arena...move in and make money.

High school football games in Texas will draw more attention than any hockey game in that state.

No one cares about the hockey in the south, any future teams need to go to Canada.

This is coming from a guy that is not even Canadian.

[gwarrior]

Just get them out of there already. This is becoming a bigger and bigger joke.

[ABNuck]

24 minutes ago, CBH1926 said:

High school football games in Texas will draw more attention than any hockey game in that state.

No one cares about the hockey in the south, any future teams need to go to Canada.

This is coming from a guy that is not even Canadian.

Attendance stats say different. The #2 average attendance last year was Carolina. The #3 average attendance was Tampa Bay. Dallas was #10. Arizona was dead last at 4600 average per game...so even if Houston only attracted 10,000 per game they will double Arizona's current revenue for in-game attendance. 

 

Houston is the 4th largest city in the US (1.65mil people). Dallas is 9th largest (just over 1 mil). If Dallas can hold down the 10th largest NHL audience, I'm confident that Houston can be in the top half. Conversely, Winnipeg and Ottawa are consistently near the bottom of in-game audiences (Jets were 3rd worst last year). Only 3 Canadian teams (MTL / TOR / VAN) had larger average in-game audiences than Dallas did.

 

So "commonly spewed opinions" be damned, statistics say otherwise. We're not living in Trumplandia anymore, real facts speak louder.

[ABNuck]

AND...when the Houston Aeros were in existence (10 years ago) they were consistently about 20% higher in average attendance over the AHL league average (#7 in average overall)...which made them more popular than a lot of more northern AHL franches (ie/ Toronto, Hamilton, St. John's, Abbotsford and...PORTLAND). 

 

Toyota Center holds ~18,000 for hockey games...with box suites and first class concession vendors (thanks to the Rockets). The problem a decade ago was the Arena rental costs which caused the team to relocate to Iowa. If a better deal (facilitated by the NHL brass) can be worked out with the Rockets owner (primary owner of the Toyota Center) then I'm confident that an NHL franchise there could make a crap ton more cash than they are currently making in Arizona.

 

Additionally, neither Arizona nor Dallas currently have a true "Division rival"...Houston vs. Dallas just might boost the profile for both franchises with the built-in, in-state rivalry.

[luckylager]

Houston makes the most sense, but I think Gary is a coward and scared shitless of Tilman.

[CBH1926]

26 minutes ago, ABNuck said:

Attendance stats say different. The #2 average attendance last year was Carolina. The #3 average attendance was Tampa Bay. Dallas was #10. Arizona was dead last at 4600 average per game...so even if Houston only attracted 10,000 per game they will double Arizona's current revenue for in-game attendance. 

 

Houston is the 4th largest city in the US (1.65mil people). Dallas is 9th largest (just over 1 mil). If Dallas can hold down the 10th largest NHL audience, I'm confident that Houston can be in the top half. Conversely, Winnipeg and Ottawa are consistently near the bottom of in-game audiences (Jets were 3rd worst last year). Only 3 Canadian teams (MTL / TOR / VAN) had larger average in-game audiences than Dallas did.

 

So "commonly spewed opinions" be damned, statistics say otherwise. We're not living in Trumplandia anymore, real facts speak louder.

And back when they joined the league they were at the bottom for the first 4-5 years.

Dallas attendance goes up and down based on how their team plays.

 

Arizona shouldn’t even have an NHL team.

I looked up Houston Aeros stats back in IHL and AHL days and they were middle of the road in terms of attendance.

Quebec City and Hamilton are better options imo.

 

 

[Ghostsof1915]

2 hours ago, ABNuck said:

Attendance stats say different. The #2 average attendance last year was Carolina. The #3 average attendance was Tampa Bay. Dallas was #10. Arizona was dead last at 4600 average per game...so even if Houston only attracted 10,000 per game they will double Arizona's current revenue for in-game attendance. 

 

Houston is the 4th largest city in the US (1.65mil people). Dallas is 9th largest (just over 1 mil). If Dallas can hold down the 10th largest NHL audience, I'm confident that Houston can be in the top half. Conversely, Winnipeg and Ottawa are consistently near the bottom of in-game audiences (Jets were 3rd worst last year). Only 3 Canadian teams (MTL / TOR / VAN) had larger average in-game audiences than Dallas did.

 

So "commonly spewed opinions" be damned, statistics say otherwise. We're not living in Trumplandia anymore, real facts speak louder.

Winnipeg should have built a Bell Centre sized arena, to hold 21,000 fans.

The city would support it. Canada Life Centre is smaller than the Pacific Coliseum. 15,321 vs 16,281.

Hard to outdraw Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal when your arena is 3000+ seats less than other arenas.  (That translates into 123,000 less customers per season)

 

 

[24K]

Lol they tried to rig it and still lost by that much.

[ABNuck]

2 hours ago, CBH1926 said:

And back when they joined the league they were at the bottom for the first 4-5 years.

Dallas attendance goes up and down based on how their team plays.

 

Arizona shouldn’t even have an NHL team.

I looked up Houston Aeros stats back in IHL and AHL days and they were middle of the road in terms of attendance.

Quebec City and Hamilton are better options imo.

 

 

What new clientele would the NHL gain from QC or Hamilton? All that would happen is they lose a few fans in AZ...net negative loss. If they locate the next franchise in a non-traditional market then they gain that TV revenue and in-person fanbase. From a business perspective they increase their market share instead of just re-distributing their existing base...net positive gain.

[Kragar]

21 hours ago, Coconuts said:

Tracking the social media activity of individuals who post about the project and working to "determine where they live" in order to gather "data needed to identify and micro-target messaging."
Developing a long-term outreach plan in coordination with the Coyotes. In addition to being the main beneficiary of the project, the NHL franchise also ran the vote "yes" campaign.

 

 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

4 minutes ago, Kragar said:

 

 

Sort of looks like Vanilla Ice on roids!

 

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by NewbieCanuckFan