What’s most likely to get your local officials fired up to fight for you? Lower utility rates? Wrong. Removing sexually explicit material from our libraries? Nope. How about just filling potholes in our roads? You’d think so. But what really gets the local officials in Chandler going is making sure they can sit on city council or as mayor longer.
Proposition 410, a local ballot measure, seeks to amend the city charter’s term limit section to extend the term for how long councilmembers and the mayor can serve. The measure is particularly problematic because it directly benefits a sitting councilmember, Matt Orlando, allowing him to run for mayor in 2026 without interruption after finishing his second consecutive council term. This proposition is not about reigning in political power; it’s about conveniently clearing the path for one councilmember to extend his political career. If it doesn’t pass in November, Orlando will face issues being elected mayor after his stint on the council, and clearly, he can’t have that.
The current city charter provision essentially says that one person can serve no more than two consecutive terms as councilmember, mayor, or a combination of both, and must wait four years before running again for either office. Therefore, someone can only serve two consecutive terms total.
However, some argue this language is ambiguous, allowing for another interpretation, one that allows a person to serve up to sixteen consecutive years: eight as a councilmember and eight as mayor. This interpretation has been the practice in Chandler for the past three mayors. Kevin Hartke, Boyd Dunn, and Jay Tibshraeny each served eight years as councilmembers and eight years as mayor – sixteen consecutive years.
The proposed language change on the ballot effectively attempts to legitimize the last three mayors by expanding the term limits in the city’s charter. It now states that a person can serve up to two consecutive terms as councilmember and two consecutive terms as mayor, sixteen years total. After reaching either limit, or a combined sixteen consecutive years in both offices, they must wait four years before running again for either position.
Why the rush for a change? Current Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke was sued by his 2022 challenger, Ruth Jones, who alleged he was ineligible to run in 2018 for mayor because of his prior service on the city council, making him an illegitimate mayor. While she ran against him in 2022, the formal lawsuit was not filed until May of 2025. In August, a judge dismissed the case, ruling it lacked merit and thereby affirmed that Hartke, and similarly situated past mayors, were eligible to hold the office. Nevertheless, the council had already voted to place Proposition 410 on the ballot in June.
Mayor Hartke was exploring another run for city council after completing his time as mayor, but the lawsuit and controversy put those plans on hold. He is now seeking a seat in the state house in Legislative District 13 (part of Chandler and Gilbert).
Campaign signs around Chandler misleadingly claim that Prop 410 “establishes term limits” for city officials and urges voters to “keep term limits” by voting yes. If anything, this is granting more leeway to the officials, giving them more time in office. Voters need to know that this proposition is not about serving the people but about furthering the ambitions of self-interested local politicians.
The website cited on these deceptive signs, keepchandlertermlimits.com, claims that this measure “respects the voter.” It also falsely insists that it’s imperative to pass Prop 410 to “make sure those limits stay the same.” Because the current charter language is vague, claiming with confidence that this proposition won’t extend or alter term limits is misleading at best and deliberately false at worst.
Instead of pretending that this is all to the benefit of the voters, let’s be honest; this is nothing more than power-hungry officials gaslighting both themselves and the public into believing that nothing is changing. They (Matt Orlando) simply do not want to face the fact that the current city charter might hold them back from more years in office.
Chandler residents deserve transparency rather than being thrown into the middle of a political game designed to protect insiders. Be wary of the slogans and messaging that sound good but are purposely misleading. Vote NO on Proposition 410.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
How long must taxpayers be forced to throw money at a failed plan before something is done about it? For the Maricopa Association of Governments’ (MAG) regional transportation plan—which for two decades spent billions on light-rail and other wasteful “active transportation” projects and has primed the pump for another twenty years of boondoggle spending—The Club hopes the answer is not much longer.
Since 2004, local governments through MAG have siphoned more and more funding from a transportation tax to build white elephant transit projects throughout Maricopa County. Yet MAG won’t budge from its broken plan despite collapsed ridership, worsened congestion, and ballooningcosts – for projects that don’t match how people actually travel.
The good news is that with the next statutory transportation audit coming due July 2026, lawmakers on the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) will have an opportunity to weigh in on the MAG plan and provide recommendations for change.
State law requires that these five-year audits evaluate several elements of the MAG plan, including transit service, costs, ridership, congestion, and mobility. While previous audits flagged some deficiencies, they lacked any concrete performance metrics, and on a few occasions were prepared by a firm tied to MAG (a conflict of interest). So, to further bolster the JLAC process, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club brought in a nationally recognized transportation expert to conduct an audit of the plan. The result: MAG’s plan is failing and needs a major overhaul.
Costs Are Sky-High and Rising
Previous audits narrowly reviewed costs within agency budgets, not whether investments were wise. Our audit applied business metrics such asoperating cost per revenue mile, capital cost per route mile, and total cost per passenger-mile to light rail.
These tell a clear story; costs have always been high but they’re now out of control.
The initial light-rail line cost $75 million per mile; recent extensions have topped $250 million, with the Capitol extension likely exceeding $350 million per mile.
Ridership per route mile dropped 24% since 2014 even as driving increased.
Post-COVID, inflation-adjusted operating costs rose sharply for both bus and rail, with administration costs rising even faster.
Transit eats 25–30% of regional transportation funds but serves <2% of commuters. Those dollars could fund scalable bus networks instead.
Ridership is Low and Not Recovering
Transit isn’t just expensive—it’s irrelevant. Though prior audits looked at projected and actual boardings, they fail to dig any deeper. Better measures consider transit’s share of commuter miles and job access. And the results aren’t good:
By 2019, travelers traveled 165 auto miles for every transit mile.
Even among car-less households, 88% still chose not to commute by transit in 2023.
Bus ridership grew 7% annually from 1998–2008, but after rail opened in late 2008, combined bus plus rail ridership fell 7% (2009–2019) despite 39% more rail miles.
Rail serves downtown and ASU, while 98% of jobs are in dispersed edge-city centers it largely ignores.
Congestion & Mobility is Worsening
MAG’s plan also fails on congestion and mobility, though these metrics are vague in statute. Our audit uses job access within travel time and congestion delay by hours annually.
Annual commuter delays grew faster after light rail: 1.1% annually pre-rail, 2.2% post-rail. COVID briefly paused the trend but now it is back to its pre-COVID trajectory.
In 2015 a 10-minute auto trip reaches 354 times more jobs than transit; by 2022, that’s increased to 373 times.
For trips up to 50 minutes, bicycles outperform transit in job access.
Billions have been spent on projects promised to reduce congestion, yet drivers sit in more traffic.
An “Active Transportation” Slush Fund
MAG wastes tens of millions on projects like pedestrian bridges and walking paths that should be local responsibilities, not regional priorities.
Perhaps the most egregious is a $30M pedestrian bridge over Rio Salado on 3rd Street, just three blocks away from an existing bridge on Central Ave. Yet it accounts for about one fifth of the active transportation budget. It connects nothing meaningful and if Mayor Gallegos wants it, Phoenix should pay for it.
Lawmakers: Audit Hard, Reset the Plan, Redirect the Money
For two decades, MAG promised rail would reduce congestion, improve mobility, and meet demand. It hasn’t. And lawmakers should act accordingly by:
First, by directing the 2026 audit to apply clear, outcome-based metrics so that MAG actually has to make a business case for the projects they’ve proposed.
If they do this the results will be predictable. They’ll show, as our audit did, that MAG’s plan is broken and needs to be fixed.
The Legislature should require reform, including stricter guardrails and statutory metrics to actually gauge performance of these systems and projects. They could shift funding toward better-designed bus networks and ridesharing services that meet real travel patterns and eliminate local “active transportation” projects or at the very least redirect them toward better projects – not bridges to nowhere.
An honest, independent audit will document MAG’s failures. Lawmakers should use that evidence to end outdated, costly plans and redirect billions toward projects people actually use.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
The idea to extend light rail to the State Capitol has occupied the dusty shelves of bureaucratic transit plans for ages. Phoenix first floated it in their 2000 “Transit 2000” plan, their 2015 Transportation 2050 initiative, and the concept has taken up space in every MAG and regional planning cycle since 2004. The idea’s longevity is not a testament to how good ideas endure; rather how bureaucrats remain unaffected regardless of light rail’s failure; unwilling to change course despite low ridership, high costs, high crime, or changing travel patterns. The world changes but a transit plan apparently never dies.
In fact, it turns out it can’t be stopped from destroying the Capitol corridor even when lawmakers pass a law to stop it.
In 2023, Republican legislators negotiated Proposition 479, Maricopa County’s half cent sales tax for transportation, which included a clause prohibiting the use of any public resources for light rail coming within 150 feet of the State Capitol. The goal of the provision was to insulate lawmakers from the disruption and destruction caused by light rail. This neat trick of making the “Capitol Line” someone else’s problem would likely backfire.
Well, it turns out we were right, and what Phoenix has in store for the Capitol corridor is worse than anyone could have imagined.
The Light Rail Line no Neighborhood Wants
Following the 2023 law change that scuttled the “single track” rail loop around the capitol on Adams and Jefferson Street, most assumed that the transit agency would move the line north to Van Buren. That option seems to be shelved for the moment, largely due to the outcries from the small mom and pop shops that would have been decimated by the construction and reduction of the roadway from four lanes to two.
Now, bureaucrats are devising alternative alignments, all of which are just as disruptive and nonsensical as the next:
One scheme would run the line north on 15th Avenue, west on Van Buren, then elevate at 17th Avenue to cross existing infrastructure.
Another would push the line south on 15th, then west on Madison, then north on 19th with an elevated crossing beginning near Adams Street.
Meanwhile, residents in the Woodland Historic District warn that at least one variant would require razing historic houses.
The Capitol Line Will Be the Most Expensive Rail Yet
If there is one thing light is good at, it’s burning through taxpayer cash. By 2023, the Capitol Line had already cost taxpayers $20 Million in just planning and consultant costs for the scuttled Washington street route. Millions more is now being set on fire to identify an alternative route that no one wants.
But if Phoenix is successful in forcing this project to the construction phase, the real red ink will start bleeding.
When Phoenix built its first rail line 20 years ago, the price tag at the time was $75 million per mile. In 2020, construction on the the South-Central extension began, which will end up costing $1.4 billion, more than triple the original estimate. That’s a staggering $250 million per mile.
But taxpayers should expect the Capitol Loop to make the South-Central line look affordable. Current estimates have the project coming in at $499 million, or $350 Million per mile! And this assumes it doesn’t go over budget, which it most certainly will.
And when it’s finally built, don’t expect the paltry passengers to pick up the tab. Valley Metro recovery from fares for operating light rail was a dim 7.6% in FY 2024. Meaning over 90% of the significant operational costs are covered by the vast majority of people who don’t and will never ride it. Given how poorly previous Valley Metro projections have been, it’s fair to assume the Capitol Line isn’t going to be too crowded either, locking taxpayers into permanent operating subsidies on top of the enormous upfront capital bill.
And Who Will Ride the Train?
Which goes to the heart of the question. Who are we even building this route for? Light rail ridership in Phoenix has been on a steady decline since peaking in 2014. By 2019, that number had already fallen below 40,000, and in the years since COVID, weekday boardings have hovered around 25,000–30,000. And since boardings only represent one person getting on and off (not round trip), actual ridership is half that amount.
The result is we are spending billions, destroying neighborhoods and businesses, and increasing traffic congestion for a transit option that is being used by less than 1% of all commuters in the Phoenix metro area.
Remote work, telecommuting, and changing travel habits, especially after COVID, likely mean transit ridership in general—let alone light rail—will never come back to pre-2014 levels. Sprinkle in the crime statistics and the recent and high-profile violent murders taking place in urban America and who can expect light rail’s popularity to rise? Even despite Valley Metro’s best propaganda to convince people they hate their cars.
Time for the Legislature to Step Up
This project persists not because it makes sense, but because bureaucratic inertia is stronger than common sense. Lawmakers tried to sidestep the problem in 2023 by shielding their own backyard but leaving the project itself alive. That was a mistake. The Capitol Extension is a more than half-billion-dollar boondoggle in search of riders, that will destroy properties, inconvenience drivers, and suck the pocketbooks of taxpayers dry.
The Legislature should come back and do what it should have done in the first place: ban the Capitol Extension outright. Redirect our money toward projects that actually reduce congestion and serve commuters. The alternative is to watch hundreds of millions evaporate on a short, slow train to nowhere.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
Recent Comments