Subject: Maria Baier

• Plan in Phoenix Would Give Mayor Phil Gordon Two Extra Years -- Without Another Election

    City officials are weighing a plan to consolidate elections in the city of Phoenix -- one that could give Mayor Phil Gordon and certain council members an extra two years in office without being forced to run for reelection, New Times has learned. On January 9, a group called "Phoenix Election Consolidation Committee" quietly filed papers with the city clerk, establishing a political committee to support a new ballot issue. Currently, council terms are staggered, with some members

  January 16, 2009

• Mayor Phil Gordon Kills Plan to Give Self Two More Years

    Saying it was a "distraction," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has asked supporters to back off a plan that would have kept him in the mayor's office until 2014. The plan, first revealed by New Times in this blog, would have consolidated municipal elections in Phoenix. Currently, half the City Council and the mayor are up for reelection in 2011; the other half will run this fall. The new plan, which would have required an amendment to the city charter, would put everybody on the same

  January 27, 2009

• Phoenix City Council Chooses Sal DiCiccio; Gordon, Baier Flip Flop to Lend Support

  By a vote of 5-3, the Phoenix City Council today chose former councilman Sal DiCiccio to finish the term of Greg Stanton, who resigned last week to take a job with Attorney General Terry Goddard. DiCiccio was nominated only after the council deadlocked on the nomination of Sal Rivera, an attorney at Fennemore Craig. Rivera received votes from Mayor Phil Gordon, Councilwoman Maria Baier, and councilmen Michael Johnson and Michael Nowakowski, but he needed one more vote to get the nod. When

  February 10, 2009

• Governor Jan Brewer Relocates Fundraiser to Distance Herself From Key Figure of 2000 Alt-Fuels Fiasco

  Governor Jan Brewer at her inauguration ceremonyGovernor Jan Brewer insisted on relocating a campaign fundraiser this week to distance herself -- both figuratively and physically -- from a key figure in a 2000 state subsidy scandal. Brewer could have anticipated problems with this one. The Wednesday fundraiser was to be held in the Paradise Valley home of Nathan Learner, an investor who worked with the late Jeff Groscost on forming the infamous alternative fuels debacle. Learne

  March 24, 2009

• Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon’s Term Ends in 2012, but a Dastardly Plot Would Let Him Get Around That Limit

  January 22, 2009

• Accused wife-beater and State Representative Mark DeSimone resigned . . . or did he?

  July 24, 2008

• Revolting Development

  The CityNorth project hosed Phoenix taxpayers, but don't look to city leaders for an apology

  September 6, 2007

• Patriot Games

  The grass has got to be greener someplace else

  October 18, 2007

• Shades of Green

  The new governor appears to have double-crossed environmental supporters in choosing some new agency heads.

  December 19, 2002

• Spiked

  The Republic's getting more like the New York Times every day

  January 10, 2002

• Begging Your Pardon

  Fife Symington's free and Michael Hester's not. But thanks to the ex-governor's oversight, that may soon change.

  March 15, 2001

• Cold Shoulder

  State gives feds the brush-off on open-space preservation plan

  March 16, 2000

• Twisted Ecologic

  Governor Hull says it's time for inclusiveness in politics. Environmentalists say she won't give them the time of day.

  November 11, 1999

• Growing Complicated

  Already, the state's grand plan for halting urban sprawl appears doomed

  August 5, 1999

• Maria Baier to Leave Phoenix City Council to Become State Land Commissioner

   Maria Baier, who won a hard-fought race for Phoenix's District 3 City Council seat in 2007, will leave her post to become State Land Commissioner, Governor Jan Brewer's office announced today. The land commissioner oversees the sale of state trust land, which pays for school construction. Seems like a short tenure on the council for Baier. She must have grown tired of hearing from constituent complaints. Besides, land commissioner is a far cushier job. And the potential for networkin

  June 16, 2009

• Phoenix's Next Councilman: Jon Altmann? Or Jim "Burgundy" Sharpe?

  Maria BaierWhen the Phoenix City Council gathers this afternoon to choose a replacement for outgoing Councilwoman Maria Baier, they'll have a wealth of candidates to choose from: A total of 19 applicants are seeking the job.The frontrunner, we suspect, is Jon C. Altmann. Altmann, a Navy veteran and public safety consultant with ties to the powerful firefighters union, was runner up in the District Three race two years ago. (Baier, who is the sister of Fire Chief Bobby Kahn, ultimately received t

  June 30, 2009

• Bill Gates -- Not That Bill Gates -- Is New Phoenix City Councilman

  This is not your next councilman ... but they do share a name. Governor Jan Brewer may have little-to-no-clout with her fellow Republicans at the Statehouse -- she's had to sue them just to get their budget proposal (and even that didn't work). But Brewer still, apparently, has clout at Phoenix City Hall. Today the City Council voted on a political neophyte to replace Councilwoman Maria Baier, who resigned earlier this month in order to run the State Land Department. The Council's choice, at

  June 30, 2009

• Sal DiCiccio Raises Tons of Money -- Has Already Spent $159K on Council Race

  ​If you've got it, spend it.That appears to be the motto of Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio, who's raised a staggering $225,160 for his council campaign -- and has already spent all but $65,000 of it.According to the most recent set of campaign finance reports for the hotly contended District 6 race filed yesterday, DiCiccio has raised far more than his challengers Dana Kennedy, Barry Paceley, and Nathan Oshop. Oshop (we can write this confidently after viewing a debate) won't be a factor

  August 21, 2009

• David Cavazos, Phoenix's New City Manager, May Owe His Job to a Plugged-In Developer

  November 19, 2009