The same question as the title can also been asked of the Republican voters in Maricopa County. “If you keep doing the same things, you’ll end up with the same results,” a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chairman Clint Hickman has been making decision for the county since 2013, and Bill Gates has been doing the same since 2016. Did we really vote to keep them in office and expect them to start listening to the will of the people at some point…..a point in time that has yet to arrive?
According to state statute, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is required to hold public meetings twice per month (every other Wednesday). Whether the supervisors need to vote on 80 agenda items or 120, their vote is already pre-determined. They only give the public the time to speak in favor of or against the agenda items because they are required to do so. When has either of the 5 supervisors changed their minds on how they would vote on an issue because of what a citizen of Maricopa County said in opposition of that agenda item? I would say, in the last 23 years, less than 1%, if even at all. We may have expected it a month ago when proof was put out that a private company that the MCBOS awarded a contract to do work for the county parts and supplies are produced by “modern-day slavery”, but no, they didn’t even bat an eye before all 5 supervisors voted in favor. By doing so, the entire nation now knows that Maricopa County supports “modern-day slavery”. Another case in point, many of the Legislative District chairperson’s spoke in opposition of changes on how to appoint precinct committeeman directly to the Maricopa County Supervisors. What did those supervisors do, exactly what they always do, because it is pre-determined, and ignore the will of the people of Maricopa County.
We have all heard that the time is now to make the changes needed on all levels of government. We have also heard that if we don’t make those changes needed in 2024, we will never get another chance. That statement is as true as 2 plus 2 equals 4. Currently, there are 4 Republican candidates, including myself, to take 3 Republican seats on the Maricopa Board of Supervisors (district 2, 3, and 4). If all 5 current county supervisors proved one thing, it is that they do listen to the people of Maricopa County, except that the people they listen to and answer to are much bigger and more important than you or I, their mega donors and lobbyists. On any 5-member board, 3 is the majority. We have the right people running for those seats to flip the majority, from the wrong Republicans to the right Republicans.
If we re-elect Clint Hickman, Thomas Galvin, Jack Sellers, and Steve Gallardo again in 2024, we will be associated with the term ‘insanity’, which is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.