Accused Gilbert council member defends actions, criticizes mayor
Screen capture from YouTube
Jim Torgeson leaves the dais at the April 18 Gilbert Town Council meeting after recusing himself from discussion and vote on the District at Cooley Station development. Torgeson alluded to his recusal in a public statement on ethics complaints against him.
Gilbert Town Council Member Jim Torgeson, facing two ethics complaints from the past week, denied any wrongdoing and said Mayor Brigette Peterson was retaliating against him for disagreeing with her viewpoints.
In an email under the subject line “Public Statement Regarding Ethics Complaints,” Torgeson further said Peterson was “hot headed and immature.” The email was sent to council members, several media members, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and three Gilbert public-safety union officials.
“Her emotional (ability), childish behavior and inflated sense of power have resulted in her being a liability to the Town, more than an asset,” Torgeson wrote.
Gilbert resident Maureen Hoppe filed ethics complaints July 10 against Torgeson and Councilmember Bobbi Buchli in connection with what Hoppe, a Legislative District 14 Republican precinct committee member, said was orchestrating harassment of her. Peterson filed a complaint July 13 against Torgeson, citing a voicemail that disparaged her that was included in Hoppe’s complaint.
Torgeson did not back off his comments from the voicemail in his public statement.
“I have played within the rules,” he wrote in his conclusion. “I have been courteous and polite to the point of painful. I open doors, say ‘yes, ma’am’ and ‘no, sir,’ but I speak frankly so that my words cannot be misconstrued. The mayor earned the expletive from me.”
Peterson could not be reached for response.
In responding to Hoppe’s complaint, Torgeson acknowledged Hoppe had been “a valued and recognized volunteer on my campaign” but said she had become “antagonistic and demeaning” since then, particularly against Buchli, who Torgeson described as “a kind, empathetic person who, in no way, has ever demonstrated behavior as described in the complaint.”
Torgeson wrote there is no evidence of bullying, harassment or financial hardships outlined in Hoppe’s complaint.
“Let the investigation into the joint complaint proceed,” he wrote. “I feel it is a waste of tax dollars, but it is how we agreed to proceed” on ethics complaints.
Hoppe said Monday she has added Torgeson's statement to her complaint.
"It shows what they're trying to do," she said. "They're trying to silence me."
Torgeson said the mayor’s complaint was a continuation of her demonstrated pattern of inappropriate behavior when people disagree with her, citing a lawsuit against the town from three protesters Peterson ejected from a volatile council meeting last fall.
“The mayor’s willingness to abuse her position of power to retaliate against those with a viewpoint with which she disagrees has now grown to include elected officials such as myself,” Torgeson wrote.
Torgeson charged that Peterson had shared an “apparently” unredacted copy of Hoppe’s complaint along with her complaint with the press, which he called “so breathtakingly inappropriate that I can’t find the words.”
Hoppe had requested the town take care to redact her contact information, and Town Clerk Chaveli Herrera cautioned council members not to share any unredacted copies.
The Gilbert Independent, which reported exclusively on the complaints July 14, only received a truncated copy from Hoppe and a redacted copy from the town in response to a public records request.
Torgeson called the voicemail upon which Peterson based complaint “political theater,” but stands behind it though it was not a public statement.
In that voicemail to Hoppe from May 2, Torgeson accuses the mayor of unsuccessfully conspiring to attempt to have him charged with extortion and says, “She’s that (expletive). She’s that bad a human being.”
Neither the voicemail nor either ethics complaint gives context for an extortion charge.
However, in his public statement email, Torgeson wrote he has not made any public statements about the mayor in regards to her actions that caused him to recuse himself from an April 18 vote on the District at Cooley Station commercial/retail/multifamily development. The item passed 6-0 with Torgeson recusing himself. On a disclosure document filed with the town, Torgeson indicated he did so because “a citizen felt I was inappropriately opposed.”
“Since executive session, by law, must be confidential, I have always followed that requirement,” Torgeson wrote in his public response email. “It would appear that the mayor has not lived up to that requirement.”
There is no further explanation offered, though Torgeson wrote he has a recording of a party cited in the meeting saying several times the mayor’s claim is not truthful. The party is not identified.
Council is on recess for July and will meet again Aug. 1.
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on Twitter. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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