Surprise mayor candidate: Opponent should pay for city's ethics inquiry on her
After being reprimanded for violating state and local election rules, Surprise Councilmember Aly Cline now faces a call to repay the taxpayer dollars spent to investigate her.
Kevin Sartor, Cline’s challenger for Surprise’s mayoral seat in the July 30 election, is demanding she cover the nearly $9,000 in legal fees the city incurred when it hired an outside law firm to review her campaign activities.
“Aly Cline’s actions have not only violated the law but also betrayed the trust of our community,” Sartor said in a news release. “It’s time for her to take responsibility and reimburse the taxpayers.”
Sartor also urged the city to disclose how much it paid attorney Jon Paladini and the law firm Pierce Coleman PLLC to investigate Cline’s actions.
According to the city, it paid the law firm $8,644 for the investigation and legal opinion. The money came from the city attorney’s office, which had a $3 million budget this fiscal year.
Cline said Wednesday that she would talk to city officials about the cost of the investigation if they requested a discussion.
“I have no idea at all about (the cost),” she said. “They (the city) haven’t said anything to me about it. And I assume at some point, at best, I would discuss something with them.”
In his 21-page legal opinion, Paladini determined, among other things, that Cline broke Arizona law and Surprise policy for using a city-sponsored community meeting to campaign for office.
The findings prompted city leaders to censure her last week in a 5-1 vote, with Councilmember Ken Remley dissenting and Cline abstaining.
The censure is a formal statement of disapproval. It does not remove Cline from the council.
Following the council’s vote, Sartor called on Cline to suspend her campaign “for the good of our community and the integrity of our local government.”
Cline said she won’t suspend her campaign.
Paladini’s report followed a series of accusations and complaints that Sartor and one of his supporters, Rebekah Massie, lobbed against Cline.
They alleged that Cline:
Improperly removed two political signs posted at a library.
Told constituents at district meetings to vote for her and referred to herself as “the better candidate.”
Wore a city-issued polo shirt that bore the city logo, her name and title during a mayoral debate.
Wore the same city-issued polo shirt while collecting signatures on her candidate positions at a charity softball game.
And, while wearing the same polo, approached members of the veterans' disability and human services commission and see whether they would sign her petition for mayor.
Paladini found that Cline’s request to the commission members violated city policy and likely violated state law.
He also determined that Cline violated city policy and possibly broke city code for removing the signs, one of which supported Sartor’s petition for mayor. Paladini declined to state whether the action violated state law.
At the time, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office was reviewing Massie’s complaint over the sign removal.
Prosecutors declined to charge Cline for theft and/or criminal damage for removing the signs noting “no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
As to the complaints over her city-issued shirt, Paladini said neither instance were violations of local and state rules.
Shawn Raymundo covers the West Valley cities of Glendale, Peoria and Surprise. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Surprise Councilmember Aly Cline is urged to pay for ethics inquiry