For months, as Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio stockpiled his campaign war chest with thousands of dollars from developers and their representatives, the big question at City Hall was whether he'd use his position on the Council to benefit his donors.
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Councilman Sal DiCiccio is working to develop land on the Gila River Indian Community.
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But now City Hall is abuzz with a new — and more troubling — question. Namely, is DiCiccio using his position to benefit himself?
As I first reported on New Times' Valley Fever blog last Friday, DiCiccio's real estate development company has a long-term lease on 75 acres of tribal-owned land literally across the street from his City Council district. He also has a lease to develop another 75 acres, also tribal-owned, along State Route 347.
That saddles DiCiccio with what's potentially a huge conflict between the interests of his constituents and his own business dealings.
It's not just that DiCiccio's partners on the plan are developer Gary Davidson and former billboard mogul William Levine. (That would make it awkward if DiCiccio votes on any other projects they're involved with.) And it's not just that DiCiccio has been working closely with zoning über-lawyer Paul Gilbert. (That could surely raise questions if DiCiccio weighs in on any of the roughly, oh, 10 zillion development projects that Gilbert represents at City Hall.)
Nope, it's that the single hottest issue in DiCiccio's district is the proposed Loop 202 extension. And while most of Ahwatukee abhors the idea of a freeway tearing through the neighborhood, DiCiccio's commercial development plans would clearly benefit if the extension gets built.
One of the parcels that DiCiccio hopes to develop sits right at the mouth of where the freeway currently dead-ends — meaning the land will gain value no matter what location ADOT chooses for the long-stalled project, so long as it's built.
The other parcel, on State Route 347, could also benefit if ADOT chooses to move the route farther south into the Gila River Indian Community. Perhaps not so coincidentally, DiCiccio's been openly pushing neighbors to unify behind that option.
State law bars political officials from participating "in any manner" on matters in which they have a financial interest. Yet DiCiccio has thrust himself headlong into the Loop 202 debate, arranging meetings with congressmen and attempting to unite the neighborhood behind a potential alternative to the much-loathed Pecos Road alignment. Most of the key stakeholders I spoke with say they had no inkling of DiCiccio's business interests.
That doesn't appear to be illegal. But, to me, it is a problem.
Now, DiCiccio wouldn't talk to me about any of this, or even put his chief of staff on the phone. The only explanation I got was that DiCiccio's elderly mother was ill.
But clearly the story hit a nerve with someone. The minute our story broke online, it drew the most scurrilous comments I've garnered in my 10 years as a journalist — and that's saying something. (Ever been accused of being lesbian? What about a twat? What about a lesbian twat who gives blowjobs to her sources? Yes, the combination rather defies the imagination, but it's apparently the best these guys could come up with.)
Instead of ever calling me back, DiCiccio provided an alibi to the always-receptive Arizona Republic, which noted in a blog post that the councilman had obtained legal advice from City Attorney Gary Verburg back in March. Because the freeway will affect more than 10 people, Verburg decreed, DiCiccio needn't recuse himself from participating on it.
Huh?
So if DiCiccio wants to develop, say, a Wal-Mart, it's not a conflict for him to participate in council approval, because more than 10 people will shop there?
The mind reels.
Yes, the Loop 202 extension will affect all of Ahwatukee. But one person stands to benefit in a big way from it going through — while just about all the citizens he supposedly represents will suffer.
It's hard to imagine a bigger conflict of interest.
Most City Council districts have a wide array of boring-yet-important details for their council members to deal with: trash pickup, graffiti, the occasional zoning case.
Not so in the Phoenix City Council's sixth district. Here, at least in the Ahwatukee portion of the district, the Loop 202 extension blows all other potential controversies off the table.
The 202 currently circles through the East Valley, only to come to an abrupt halt in Ahwatukee, near 40th Street and Pecos. For decades, ADOT has dreamed of connecting the Loop 202 to the I-10 in west Phoenix. Its plan is to align the east-west portion of the new thoroughfare with Pecos Road.
The neighborhood opposes that vociferously, for obvious reasons. More than 250 homes would have to be destroyed. The character of quiet, pretty Ahwatukee would surely change.
So it's more than a little odd that the man now attempting to represent the neighborhood on the council has a financial interest in seeing that the freeway gets built.
And it hardly helps that DiCiccio has been so coy about his holdings. Yes, he disclosed his tribal leases on city-mandated disclosure forms, which were filed in May. And, yes, he quietly consulted City Attorney Verburg after taking office.
But in public, he's said nary a word about it.
