Allegations of corruption, conflicts of interest, free-speech violations and political intimidation have entrenched the government of Quartzsite, Ariz., and its police chief, against its own mayor and police force.
The trouble began when Quartzsite citizen Jennifer Jones addressed the town council during a public meeting on June 28. Councilman Joe Winslow interrupted her address, telling Jones she was no longer allowed to address the council. He told her if she did not leave she would be escorted out.
Jones refused to put the microphone down; police officers forcibly removed her from the room and arrested her on a charge of disturbing the peace. Her removal from the council chambers was recorded and uploaded to YouTube, where more than 39,000 people have already viewed it.
The council, chief of police, and other government officials claim they have received life-threatening emails because of the video. In response, the council declared a state of emergency during a closed meeting Sunday, during which they also removed Mayor Ed Foster from office.
Foster expressed his own doubts. “I have not seen any threatening emails sent to them,” he said. “I mean: you’re in public life, and if you are in public life, you have to get used to it.”
Foster said that on Tuesday afternoon he submitted a document request to see all emails considered threatening enough to declare a state of emergency. But more pressing, he says, are the eight to ten town paychecks issued to unnamed people during every pay cycle since 1991. He has not been allowed to see who receives the paychecks.
In the past, Foster has called council members and Quartzsite Chief of Police Jeff Gilbert corrupt, repeatedly asking for investigations into their behavior. (Fake Democrats lose in Wis. primary recalls)
Sergeant William Ponce, the president of the Quartzsite Police Association, agrees an investigation is needed, especially regarding the chief of police. The police association has issued a vote of no confidence against Chief Gilbert, saying he has violated town policy and has committed political and criminal violations.
Ponce said in the past Gilbert has instructed officers in his department to vote for political candidates he favors, and has intentionally issued citations to political candidates he opposes.
“’He’d say, ‘This person has violations X-Y-Z on their vehicle; stop and give them the violations,’” Ponce said. “A majority of the time they were political opponents. We’ve gone up to him and expressed that we can’t go out and enforce that, and as soon as we told him he’d get angry and walk away.”
The association submitted a letter asking for an investigation into Gilbert’s conduct, alleging that he has used his authority to order members of the police department to use department resources, such as the National Crime Information Center, to find dirt on political candidates he dislikes.
The letter also suggests that Town Manager Alex Taft “continually attempted to delay, stall or prevent this investigation from taking place.” It alleges that she’s a friend of Chief Gilbert and has actively fought any investigations against him. An Arizona Department of Public Safety investigation is currently underway.
Ponce say a state of emergency has not been formally declared, and that the police department has been instructed to refer to it as an emergency situation. He said as far as he knows, this ’emergency situation’ is still in effect.
“There are two main issues here: the check issue, and the Gilbert issue,” Foster said.
Foster said he has tried to get the Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne to take up the case, but has had no luck. For now, Foster has said he will collect as many complaints as he can about open-meeting violations at Quartzsite’s town council meetings and deliver them to the attorney general’s doorstep the next morning.
Police Chief Jeff Gilbert and the Quartzsite town attorney could not be reached for comment.
This story was corrected to reflect the correct name of Arizona’s attorney general.