PHOENIX - The nominee for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket is brushing aside multiple speeding tickets he received while mayor of Mesa.
"I've lived in Arizona my entire life, and we've all seen that camera flash and realized we were going a little too fast,'' John Giles said in prepared comments Thursday. And he said that the publicity about the citations he incurred in the city where he presided - mainly in 2021 and 2022, though there is a speeding ticket from this February - is strictly political.
There also is nothing in the court documents available to show how much over the speed limit he was clocked.
But Giles, tapped by incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs to be her running mate in her re-election bid, did not address the fact that, speed violations aside, there also were two citations in Mesa for running red lights.
The one in 2021 was at Broadway and Extension roads. That 2023 violation was at University and Mesa drives.
Nor did Giles respond to questions about the fact that records from Mesa Municipal Court also show that all the citations were dismissed - and whether that had anything to do with the fact he was the mayor. The court records provide no reason.
The documents were initially found by FOIAzona, a blog that bills itself as "increasing transparency in Arizona through public records research.''
But based on the most recent postings, there appears to be a bias of sorts in the issues it pursues, with most of the reports being about activities of Democrats.
One related to conversations recorded by an aide to Hobbs in connection with the investigation of an increase in payments given to Sunshine Residential.
Another was about Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari calling on Democrats to take action against President Trump if they take over Congress in the 2026 election.
And then there are documents relating to the question of Ruben Gallego's friendship Eric Swalwell who resigned from Congress earlier this year amid allegations of rape and sexual misconduct.
FOIAzona has posted pictures of the photos taken by enforcement cameras of the 2021 and 2023 incidents showing not just the vehicle that ran the red lights but also Giles behind the wheel.
Giles did not respond to both voice messages and texts sent to his cell phone seeking information about those red-light offenses.
As a member of the city council, Giles voted in 2019 to expand the city's photo enforcement. And later in his term as a councilman - he served through 2000 - he later pushed for a crackdown on those who were ignoring the tickets they received by mail.
"Apparently, it's more voluntary than we want,'' he was quoted in saying a story in The Arizona Republic.
Giles was later elected mayor in 2014 and served through 2024.
In the prepared statement he provided Thursday, Giles called the question of his driving record political.
"The fact that the other side wants to talk about a handful of traffic tickets the week early voting starts shows how out of touch they are with what Arizonans are facing,'' he said.
A search of a statewide database produced no record of traffic citations for Republican lieutenant governor nominee Sine Kerr. But her campaign spokesman said he understands Kerr received a photo radar speeding ticket last year in Scottsdale and paid the fine. He did not know how fast she was going.
While Giles complained about making an issue out of his citations, it is not uncommon for there to be news stories when elected officials violate traffic laws.
Republican Sen. Mark Finchem of Prescott became the subject of news stories in 2025 after he was cited by Prescott police for driving 49 mph in a 30-mph zone. In that case, he had the police chief rescind the ticket.
Just a few days before that, Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman was stopped by Department of Public Safety officers who said they clocked the Queen Creek lawmaker traveling at 89 mph in a 65-mph zone. He was not cited after the officer recognized him as a state lawmaker, something Hoffman said he had not pointed out.
And in 2024, then-Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, got Tucson police not to give her a citation after they stopped her on Speedway Boulevard when they said she was driving 71 in a 35-mph zone. She claimed legislative immunity.
In her case, however, the relief was temporary as she was cited after the session ended.
The case against her was dismissed after she completed a defensive driving course and proved she had the legally required liability insurance.
This is the first election in Arizona where gubernatorial candidates pick a running mate. That person is not separately elected but appears on the same ticket, similar to presidential elections where there is a single vote for the party nominee and a running mate.
Hobbs, a Democrat, tapped Giles earlier this year. He had been a Republican but changed his status to independent three months before he was picked by the governor.
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here