If you have driven through Cottonwood, Clarkdale or Cornville in recent weeks, you have likely seen dozens of political signs taking a stance one way or another on the consolidation ballot question that voters will be faced with next week. “Vote yes! Consolidation — For the kids COCSD & MUHSD” reads a common blue sign, while the stark yellow “Consolidation is BAD” sign is not far behind.
Most of the signs, as well as bumper stickers and other forms of advertising on the issue, are paid for by one of two political action committees formed by local activists who have been fighting for or against consolidation for years.
Committee For Better Upper Verde Valley Schools is a PAC led by Clarkdale residents Phil Terbell and Jerry Brown, who regis- tered the PAC with the county in March of 2018.
Save Our Independent School Districts PAC is an organization formed in August of this year by former Mingus Union High
School teacher David Gray and current teacher Stephen Renard.
Both organizations are required to file campaign finance reports with the county on a quarterly basis, giving insight into how the
groups raise and use their money.
Having only been created in August, the Save Our Independent Schools PAC only filed campaign finance disclosures for the third quarter of 2020, showing they had raised $8,360 and spent $3,370.97, leaving them with $5,259.03 on hand.
While most of the funds raised by the SOIS PAC were from individuals in the community, the largest donation was a $5,000 corporate contribution from Midstate Energy, LLC, a Phoenix- based energy company that frequently contracts with school districts for energy efficiency work, including with MUHSD most recently in 2013-14.
In 2013, the Mingus Union High School District paid Midstate $1,100,800 for a school-wide energy conservation construction project.
Vincent Esparza, vice president of marketing at Midstate, said that the company had not made the donation with the intention of any connection to their previous financial relationship with the district. Esparza pointed to Midstate’s frequent partnerships with school districts throughout Arizona, and insisted that the donation was just part of the company’s continual advocacy and support for education.
However, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, the last donation from Midstate or its partners was a $500 donation in support of Proposition 100 in the 2010 election cycle.
“There’s 230 districts in Arizona,” Esparza said. “We have relationships with over 54 of them, and we’re keeping a pulse on things that are going on. Schools are the pillars of communities, and we believe providing consistency in districts. [Consolidation could mean] kids may have to move schools, things of that nature. We believe strong consistent schools are important to the community.”
Midstate representatives came to the Sedona-Oak Creek School District board meeting in November to pitch the district on its new “Orchestrate” energy conservation program. There are no records of Midstate presenting such a project to MUHSD.
Gray said that he had not directly met anyone at Midstate, but had spoken to Ben Madsen, an employee at the company who has previously worked with Mingus. According to Gray, he did not ask Madsen why the company was interested in the cause, but said Madsen had expressed interest in helping out and asked what the PAC needed.
“We had no idea we’d be the major contributor,” Esparza said. “It was kind of the standard donation. We didn’t realize it was going to be the biggest.”
Having existed for more than two years, CBUVVS has both raised and spent more money than its counterpart. The biggest donations have been $30,256 by Cottonwood rancher Andy Groseta since 2018, $17,156 by Phil Terbell, and $12,400 and $6,075 by fellow consolidation proponents Bob DeGeer and Charles Mackey, respectively.
The biggest use of funds by the committee was payments to the Tucson-based law firm Munger-Chadwick, which represented CBUVVS in a lawsuit over consolidation in the summer of 2018.
In the third quarter of 2020, the most recent report filed by the committee, they had $5,293.83 in cash on hand after raising $6,890 that quarter. They listed no expenses, though according to Terbell, the group did during that time spend roughly $3,000 on credit cards that have not yet been paid back by the committee.
Campaign Spending
The following are donations over $200. There are additional donations of smaller amounts to each PAC.
Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools:
- Bob DeGeer: $200 [$12,200 in previous years]
- Jim Elmer: $200
- Jason Finger: $200
- Holly Grigiatis: $300
- Chris Godard: $400
- Don Godard: $400
- Andy Groseta: $1,000 [$29,256 in previous years]
- Denise Kennedy: $300
- Julie Larson: $400
- Charles Mackey: $2,000 [$4,075 in previous years]
- Neil Rosenow: $500
- Gene Schneider: $200
- Rudy & Michelle Stadelman: $500
- John Tabasco: $200
Save Our Independent School Districts:
- James Ledbetter: $250
- Amy Lower: $1,200
- Mingus Union High School District Governing Board President Carol Anne Teague: $500
- Phoenix area energy company Midstate Energy, LLC: $5,000
