With leftists set to take over the city council in January 2023, Chandler is likely going to make a hard left turn. Local Republican leaders meanwhile are diddling, instead of taking action.
A massive 25 acre public housing project is planned in the heart of Chandler on a county island near the corner of Ocotillo Rd and Arizona Avenue. More than 500 federally subsidized units could house more than 2,000 residents. By law, the City of Chandler would have to provide services to the HUD housing project. The project is titled "The Landings at Ocotillo". Within the City of Chandler master plan the area is zoned for agricultural use with a possible change to light industry in the future.
Public housing residents tend to overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. The Chandler City Council, under Republican leadership, recently voted to advance another federally funded housing project in Chandler. At the same time they appear utterly clueless about why they just lost the city council to the left.
The Maricopa county supervisor in charge of Chandler, Jack Sellers, is a Republican as well. He is apparently pushing for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, project to go ahead as soon as possible. Reports from sources indicate that Chandler's Republican mayor and vice mayor at a recent meeting on the issue made no challenges to the project. Apparently the City of Chandler even offered to have the project situated in a number of alternative locations in the city.
Make your voice heard
Mayor and City Council can be contacted here: mayorandcouncil@chandleraz.gov
Maricopa County supervisor Jack Sellers can be reached here: sellersj@mail.maricopa.gov and via 602-506-1776.
The proposed site is located near the North-East corner of Arizona Avenue and Ocotillo Road, at the red marker on the map below:
Chandler in decline, Republicans diddle
We are currently witnessing in real time how nice-guy Chandler Republicans are governing themselves out of power permanently. In return they get nothing. It's the classic stupid party playbook. Chandler has had it good for a long time. These good times have allowed weak men and women to rise to leadership positions. They are now creating hard times by permitting the left to take over. As we had warned prior to the August 2022 primary elections, the Chandler City Council turned blue and now has two radical leftists, Angel Encinas and OD Harris, as members. Expect the spendthrift Democrat Matt Orlando to launch a bid for mayor in 2026. Republicans don't have any strong candidate yet to replace the term-limited Kevin Hartke. In the August 2022 primaries Chandler Republicans didn't even manage to field 3 candidates for the 3 available slots. They only ran 2, both of which lost, in a red wave year! The Republican base is so fed up with local Republican leadership turning the city into a woke homeless camp, that in the August 2022 open primaries mayor Kevin Hartke found himself challenged by another Republican - largely unknown newcomer Ruth Jones, a hate figure among the left - and according to our estimates only won re-election with the help of Democrats.
Early warning signs ignored
A very big, flashing, early warning sign for problems within the local Republican Party was the ascent of the ultra-radical far left Lindsay Love onto the local school board in 2018. Chandler Republicans should have done serious introspection right then, for failing to stop someone so out of touch with normal Chandler residents from having a part in running the Chandler Unified School District, CUSD80.
Republicans acted similarly in California. Instead of being true to law and order, they chose to be servile to the Chamber of Commerce which wanted the mass importation of cheap labor. Rather than doing it the right way, via temporary work permits that do not convey a permanent right to stay and certainly no voting rights, flaccidcons in California instead opted to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration and eventually gave amnesty, in one fell swoop adding millions of Democrat voters to the voter rolls. California hence went from a state that voted for Reagan, and GHW Bush as late as 1988, to a state that now votes for Democrats by 2:1 margins, which also has massive implications for federal elections, e.g. for President. Until today many California Republicans seem perplexed why they are now perpetually shut out of power in the golden state. How did this happen? They shrug their shoulders while working "across the isle" on the next amnesty and gun control bills... Having said that, California today is creating some excellent Republicans. Former Congressman and one man army Devin Nunes is case in point.
Examples of strong leadership also exist
Another good example of strong Republicans leadership is Ron DeSantis. Not only is he running his state well, he is also "terra-forming" it from a swing into a red state by making it attractive for Republican voters and unattractive to Democrat voters. No mask mandates, no jab mandates, weaken the teachers unions, no CRT, no diversity mandates, fight with woke companies, remove illegal immigrants, explicit anti-communism, low taxes, good business climate and so on are all things that tend to help Republicans electorally. You just have to grow a spine and stop always wanting to be the nice guy.
If they ever want to have a chance to get their city back from the wokester Bolsheviks that just captured it, Chandler Republicans should follow this example and shake up their leadership by advancing people who are not afraid to confront the left and don't tuck their tails between their legs when someone calls them racist. In Arizona, candidates for Governor and Senate Kari Lake and Blake Masters at least rhetorically show the path forward. They simply don't care that the left hates them, in fact they wear it as a badge of honor.
If ever back in power, Republicans should immediately split the city in two. In an earlier article we had outlined how it is statistically very difficult for Republicans to hold on to power in cities of more than 250,000 residents. All American cities with more than 1 Million residents today have Democrat or far left mayors. No exceptions.
Chandler now has almost 300,000 residents, entering statistical demographic territory highly unfavorable for Republicans. So, split the city in two if you get the chance. Have two (smaller) city halls, two (smaller) administrations, and hence more local voter control, more civic engagement and hence a higher chance for Republicans to hold onto power. Stop shrugging your shoulders, and instead do what's necessary to stop the left. If you want to conserve something, you need to hold political power, and wield it. Chandler Republicans need to advance people who are willing to make and implement hard choices.
There is also, just as a reminder, no law that compels city leaders to build out every available square inch of land. It's OK to leave things empty or build a park, keeping the population less dense, the city more pleasant, and Democrats out of power, as it should be.
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