Two weeks after a group of residents attacked the Office of Digital Government at a Gilbert Town Council meeting, a council member and a pair of residents spoke out in the communications department’s defense.
Councilmember Chuck Bongiovanni slammed allegations from a group coming primarily from the Legislative District 14 Republican Party after a conservative website published a report, based mostly on anonymous sources and a three-year-old Judicial Watch complaint, that charged ODG was spying on the social media accounts of town employees.
Bongiovanni, speaking at the council meeting Feb. 6, pointed to an independent investigator’s review of the charges from 2021.
“These accusations were raised and disproven in 2021,” he said. “I am not sure why they resurface now, but I can tell you this: As a local government, we have the responsibility and commitment to fair and transparent communication with our citizens.
“Just as importantly, the town recognizes and respects the First Amendment rights of all of our employees. Some of these issues were addressed years ago, and I'm not aware of any current concerns. It is an unneeded and unnecessary distraction from what the people of Gilbert have elected us to do.”
Bongiovanni then listed several critical issues before the town, including infrastructure, water stewardship, escalating construction costs, supply-chain issues and teen violence.
“These topics are where our focus needs to be and to where I am directing my energies,” he said. “I ask you to join me in continuing to move our community forward with these important issues.”
Some critical remarks were made again against ODG, renewing the same attacks, including from the father of retired firefighter Josh Reynolds who is also a retired town firefighter, Dan Reynolds. He noted police served Josh with another “injunction of harassment” at the previous council meeting.
“I have no idea why they're so afraid of Josh,” Dan Reynolds said. “He doesn't even work here anymore.”
But two residents said they were inspired by what they heard at the last meeting to come to this one to defend ODG.
Becky Wyatt, an 18-year-resident and small business owner, called the attacks a “manufactured drama” and the team “an absolute gift.”
“I watched the public comments from the last meeting and thought to myself, ‘this is a very odd blend of being concerned with teen bullying and violence, political spying swirled in with coming for the jobs of 11 town employees, a cutting edge team led by a Gilbert native, a woman raising upstander teens that creates content for all the departments of government, including the police department.’ Who is crafting the fear cocktail that the Gilbert Goons and the digital team should be tied together in any way?
“I think it is so wild that people with political aspirations are rallying their supporters to literally take down town employees and neighbors that don't politically align with them.”
She noted that firing 11 “neighbors” would save the town less than a penny on a $100 bill.
Rebecca Mejia listed many ways in which the team’s posts keep her abreast of what is happening in the town.
“I hear people asking for more and more transparency, but why get rid of one of the lines of communication?” she said.
Mejia said that if an investigation needs to be reopened, so be it, but thanked the council for ending the slander against the department.
“But those calling for the entire department to be shut down are really being shortsighted,” she said. “I, as a longtime Gilbert resident, am speaking for those of us that are actually part of the digital age, and we certainly need a digital presence.”
Support came from outside the council meeting as well. Lynne King Smith, a business owner who ran for mayor against Brigette Peterson in 2020, wrote to council and posted it on social media. She called ODG’s work “transformative” and said diminishing their work was unthinkable.
“In my conversations with thousands of residents during my 2020 mayoral campaign, a recurring theme was the attraction of Gilbert as a place to live, largely due to the information and sense of community found online,” King Smith wrote. “This is a direct testament to the indispensable role of our digital team, led by Dana Berchman. Their work is not just about keeping us informed; it's about keeping us connected to each other and to the government. It's about ensuring that Gilbert remains a desirable place for future residents and businesses.”
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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