[Source: Sarah Fenske, Phoenix New Times] — 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 schedule — saving roughly $1 million every two years.
But the plan drew criticism (including some from this writer) because, in the process of consolidation, it would have tacked another two years onto the term of Mayor Gordon, Councilmen Claude Mattox and Michael Nowakowski, and Councilwomen Maria Baier and Thelda Williams — in essence giving them a six-year term instead of the four-year one originally approved by voters. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
Downtown Voices Coalition 