Seven turn in petitions to run for Gilbert Town Council

By Tom Blodgett
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X: @sp_blodgett

Seven candidates stand to run for the four seats available in the Gilbert Town Council election later this year.

Three are incumbents: Vice Mayor Chuck Bongiovanni and council members Bobbi Buchli and Jim Torgeson.

Councilmember Yung Koprowski, who holds the fourth seat, has chosen not to run for re-election.

Another former council member, Bill Spence, is seeking a return to council. Spence was appointed in March 2020 to replace Eddie Cook when Cook became Maricopa County assessor. However, he lost election to complete Cook’s term that August.

Spence, a retired Naval officer and frequent critic of current council, also lost a bid to return in 2022 but did not run in 2024.

The others would be newcomers to council. Bus Obayomi, a data strategist and town volunteer, ran unsuccessfully for council in 2020 and 2022 but did not run in 2024.

Joel Coen, president of marketing strategy firm True North Advisors, ran for the Arizona House of Representatives in 2024 but lost in the Republican primary. Coen also has volunteered as president of the Phoenix Men’s Art Council.

Beth Goulden has not previously run for office. She works as a consultant after retiring from the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department.

The candidates’ nominating petitions are now subject to review, and members of the public can pull them and challenge signatures for 10 business days.

The candidates need 1,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot. All of the candidates have submitted more than the threshold but the signatures must stand up to review and any challenges.

The incumbents and Spence led the signature totals: Bongiovanni had 2,764, Torgeson 2,375, Spence 1,824 and Buchli 1,558.

The others were Goulden at 1,419, Obayomi at 1,348 and Coen at 1,147.

Torgeson said Monday night he was aware that a member of the public has already pulled his petitions as well as Bongiovanni’s and Buchli’s to review for possible challenge. But he was confident his would stand up.

Bongiovanni also knew of the possible challenge.

“I believe that attempting to challenge someone’s signatures that have almost three times the amount needed to be on the ballot is sheer harassment and obvious political games,” he said by text.

Bongiovanni, Torgeson and Buchli all were elected for the first time in 2022. Buchli defeated Spence in a runoff that November while Bongiovanni and Torgeson were elected along with Koprowski in the August primary.

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Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@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).