Ethics investigator recommends clearing Gilbert council member
Bobbi Buchli had been accused of harassing resident
Courtesy Town of Gilbert
First-year Gilbert Town Council Member Bobbi Buchli did nothing unethical in her conduct with regard to resident Maureen Hoppe, an independent investigator concluded.
An independent investigator has recommended an ethics complaint against Gilbert Town Council Member Bobbi Buchli be dismissed.
The complaint was the first of at least eight filed against various council members during July and August. This complaint from Gilbert resident Maureen Hoppe, actually filed jointly against Buchli and Council Member Jim Torgeson, accused the two of failing to correct misinformation they had spread, resulting in harassment of Hoppe.
Hoppe, who had been a precinct committee member for Arizona Legislative District 14 Republicans, had challenged Torgeson and Buchli for their stances on apartments and a citizen-suggested pay raise for the mayor and council members.
A report on Torgeson from the complaint has not yet been returned.
However, investigator Kenneth Fields concluded in regard to Buchli that “this activity within this series of events by a first-term council member does not amount to a violation of any provision of the Code of Ethics and does not constitute harassment or intimidation.”
Buchli said Wednesday she was thrilled to be cleared.
"I didn't have too many concerns, but you never know what other people are going to think," she said. "But I am so happy that it's over and done with and my name is cleared in that aspect. That is something that is very important to me, having my reputation."
Hoppe declined comment until after she gets back the full result of her complaint as it was a joint complaint against Buchli and Torgeson.
Fields investigated four specific allegations in the complaint against Buchli, who was elected to a first term last November.
The first was that Buchli had blocked Hoppe from her Facebook page in violation of Hoppe’s First Amendment rights and refused to unblock her or apologize. Fields determined that while some of Buchli’s posts on her personal account had dealt with her campaign and later some town business, they were trivial and that Buchli had changed it to a strictly personal account after consulting with the town attorney, Christopher Payne.
The second allegation was that Buchli had publicly supplied incorrect information about a possible salary increase for council members, refused to correct it when Hoppe gave the correct information and had attacked Hoppe. But Fields said Buchli had corrected the misinformation when she found out she was wrong about the raise, which never was a council agenda item.
The third allegation was that Buchli had supplied Hoppe’s phone number to a Gilbert political activist, George Dottl, who contacted Hoppe. But Fields found no evidence supporting the claim.
The final charge was that Buchli had caused Hoppe to be removed from participation in Republican LD14 political activities, but Fields wrote he found no evidence that Buchli had interfered with Hoppe’s participation.
“My investigation uncovered no evidence that Council Member Buchli harassed or intimidated Ms. Hoppe by herself or in coordination with any other person or council member,” Fields wrote in conclusion. “The information submitted by Ms. Hoppe is more supportive as evidence of political activity by an involved citizen and respectful reasonable responses by an elected official.”
Buchli noted the number of other ethics complaints still out there.
"I'm looking for a good outcome for those, and it will be great just to get back to work and do what we need to be doing, instead of spending so much time on these issues," she said.
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
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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