State of emergency declared in western Arizona town amid corruption allegations by mayor
14 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Washington Post]
PHOENIX — The far western Arizona town of Quartzsite was in disarray Monday after the town council ousted the mayor from power and declared a state of emergency,
all over an online video that shows a woman being arrested.
Mayor Ed Foster told The Associated Press on Monday that the town council held a last-minute meeting that was closed to the public Sunday night, declaring a state of
emergency in the 3,600-person town just east of the California city of Blythe.
The council’s declaration put police Chief Jeff Gilbert in charge, making Foster the “deputy chief executive of nothing right now,” he said. It also allows the five-member
council to meet without public notice and suspend all public comment at the meetings until they declare the state of emergency over.
“I’m going to tell you frankly, this council is out of control,” Foster said. “The chief has been out of control for some time and I’ve asked the state government to help a
number of times,” to no avail.
Foster described the government and Gilbert as corrupt and abusive of their power, and said all their recent actions are frantic efforts to cover up millions of dollars of
money from lining some of their pockets.
Both Gilbert’s and the town hall’s phone numbers rang busy most of the day Monday, and all five council members and the town manager did not immediately return
email requests for comment.
A man who answered the town hall’s phone later Monday and did not identify himself said he would deliver a message to Town Manager Alex Taft but said council
members were unavailable.
Vice Mayor Barbara Cowell told The Arizona Republic on Sunday that Foster’s characterization of the council imposing “martial law” was inaccurate, saying that a
recording of the meeting will be made available to the public Monday.
There was no evidence that the recording or meeting minutes had been posted by Monday evening.
Cowell defended Quartzsite’s leaders by saying the town is audited every year and that they’re not corrupt.
“Our people work so hard,” she said. “We’ve had to cut back on staff ... just to keep us solvent.”
Foster said the council declared the emergency because they claim they’ve received threats from members of the public who saw a video posted on YouTube.
The video shows a woman identified as Jennifer Jones being arrested and hauled away from a council meeting after she said the council was violating open-meetings
laws. Jones was speaking during a public comment period, and Foster is heard on the video telling other council members who ordered her removed that “the lady has the floor.”
“She’s exercising her First Amendment rights,” Foster says in the video before telling officers: “You are in violation of my rules of order.”
The officers remove her, anyway, and in the process injure her elbow, which is now in a sling, Foster said.
The video has gotten nearly 32,000 views and has people from across the U.S. and world sending messages of support to Foster and messages of outrage
to the council. Foster has a Facebook page of supporters and on it, people have posted messages that include, “Kudos from Mississippi. Keep the rats scurrying” and “You have Colorado’s support!”
[/QUOTE]
Honestly, I think this whole situation has gone way to far and big brother should have stepped in a long time ago.
source: [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/state-of-emergency-declared-in-western-arizona-town-amid-corruption-allegations-by-mayor/2011/07/11/gIQAZe2T9H_story.html[/url]
[quote]“deputy chief executive of nothing right now”[/quote]
Spoken like a true man.
and of course the police dont get anything for breaking her arm.
im going to become a policeman and break peoples arms because they look at me the wrong way.
I saw the video and what the police did was nothing short of disgusting.
Sounds like somebody needs to lose their job and go to prison. Why is the National Guard not involved with this? This is something that requires serious attention from the state.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvoV8RyZqgc&feature=channel_video_title[/media]
video of the woman exposing corruption
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNLVJqUN0JI&feature=channel_video_title[/media]
footage of the meeting in which the public was barred from participating in
[QUOTE=Guardian-Angel;31080146]Sounds like somebody needs to lose their job and go to prison. Why is the National Guard not involved with this? This is something that requires serious attention from the state.[/QUOTE]
Why would the National Guard be involved? It's a state of emergency, not martial law.
Why does a town being without a mayor even warrant declaring a state of emergency?
So a speedbump might not get made on time or that broken stop sign won't get replaced, oh dear god
watched the videos, cops and council need to be tossed out
My fucking state, man. My fucking state. That's all I need to say.
Arizona knows what's up.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;31082193]Why does a town being without a mayor even warrant declaring a state of emergency?
So a speedbump might not get made on time or that broken stop sign won't get replaced, oh dear god
watched the videos, cops and council need to be tossed out[/QUOTE]
From what I understand, the mayor is what called it in. The city council is all sorts of corrupt, and the mayor was elected to investigate it.
[QUOTE=Ridge;31083194]From what I understand, the mayor is what called it in. The city council is all sorts of corrupt, and the mayor was elected to investigate it.[/QUOTE]
But isn't a state of emergency usually reserved for situations where aid from the federal government is required (disasters, etc), or am I misunderstanding the term
[QUOTE=Zeke129;31083703]But isn't a state of emergency usually reserved for situations where aid from the federal government is required (disasters, etc), or am I misunderstanding the term[/QUOTE]
Well I certainly think that this is a situation where the government should step in and aid them. If declaring a state of emergency will help them clean their corruption I say by all means they should go ahead.
[QUOTE=jaaaaymeeeen;31083872]Well I certainly think that this is a situation where the government should step in and aid them. If declaring a state of emergency will help them clean their corruption I say by all means they should go ahead.[/QUOTE]
But can the federal government intervene here? Seems like something for the state's district attorney to take care of.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;31084046]But can the federal government intervene here? Seems like something for the state's district attorney to take care of.[/QUOTE]
It seems to vary based on the situation. A town in New Mexico disbanded it's police force and most of it's government over a gun running scheme. The state DA has been gone over and the case is going to trial in a federal court in El Paso, TX...
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