The chairwoman of the Surprise Arts and Cultural Advisory Commission wants a City Council candidate removed from the board for what she calls his “unprofessional and unethical behavior” on the commission.
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The chairwoman of the Surprise Arts and Cultural Advisory Commission wants a City Council candidate for District 5 removed from the board for what she calls his “unprofessional and unethical behavior” on the commission.
Margaret Lieu claimed Jack Hastings was using his position on the commission to advance his campaign for the city council, but Mr. Hastings is calling Ms. Lieu’s accusation’s “politics at its worst.”
The two will tell their sides of the story before the Boards and Commission Nominations Committee at 1 p.m. Friday, April 10. It will be aired on Surprise TV and online.
Adding more juice to the proceedings, the three-person committee includes City Councilman David Sanders, who is the incumbent in District 5, the seat Mr. Hastings is vying for.
Mr. Hastings said the timing of the meeting raises questions for him.
“I don’t want to accuse anybody of anything,” he said. “But it’s a little suspicious the day after petitions are filed, I wake up to this email that they’re going to have a meeting.”
In a letter that will be presented to the Boards and Commission Nominations Committee, Ms. Lieu details a series of reasons to call for Mr. Hastings’ removal.
“Mr. Hastings has done little to help move the commission forward,” it reads.
It accuses him of skipping out on volunteer events, showing up late to others and using volunteer time to further his political campaign.
The letter contends Mr. Hastings bungled the Tinker Time event that he was in charge of in 2018. It also accuses him of campaigning for the city council seat while volunteering at the Arts Commission booth during the Fiesta Grande celebration in October.
It further accuses Mr. Hastings of skipping booth duties at the Thunderbird Art Festival to go on a ride-along with Surprise Police as part of his campaigning efforts. Mr. Hastings said it was actually a fire department ride-along.
“I’m not perfect,” he said. “I’ve been late. I’ve missed events. But they’re events that are volunteer.”
However, Ms. Lieu said Mr. Hastings missed events he signed up for.
But he contends he should be afforded time off from a position that is already voluntary.
“My first reaction is this is the dirtiness of the politics that people don’t like,” Mr. Hastings said. “If I wasn’t running for city council, we wouldn’t be here.”
Ms. Lieu partially agrees with that as his city council campaign has clearly become an issue with her.
“Since Mr. Hastings has chosen to run for a council seat, everything he does for and with the commission is plainly with the thought of how it will further his campaign,” Ms. Lieu writes in the letter to the committee.
Ms. Lieu also accuses Mr. Hastings of prematurely releasing information about the city completing the History Wall, which is located in the Mayor’s Atrium of City Hall, 16000 N. Civic Center Plaza. She said instead of letting the city make the announcement, Mr. Hastings took the official communication that was not yet released to the public and posted it on his personal and official campaign Facebook page.
“Mr. Hastings has been warned about his behavior multiple times privately and during commission meetings,” Ms. Lieu writes in the letter. “He has sought to act on behalf of the city as official communication even though it was not his purview to do so.”
Both sides are pointing to setting a bad precedent as part of their argument in the case.
“Allowing Mr. Hastings to continue using the commission to further his own political career would set a precedent to others to abuse their role as a volunteer,” Ms. Lieu wrote in the letter.
Mr. Hastings, however, said he believes it’s a transparent political ploy to try to force him out right after the candidate April 6 filing deadline passed for the Aug. 4 city election.
“What kind of precedent do we set if we remove a city council candidate from a volunteer position,” Mr. Hastings said.
Mr. Hastings said he will ask Mr. Sanders to recuse himself from the committee proceedings, adding it does Mr. Sanders no good for himself to join in. If the committee votes to recommend removal, that decision can go in front of the full City Council as early as its next meeting April 21.
“I write this letter with a heavy heart, as I was the one who encouraged Mr. Hastings to become my vice chair two years ago with the thought that he could graduate to the seat of chair and continue taking our commission further,” Ms. Lieu wrote to the committee. “However, he has instead let his fellow commissioners down and has proven that his priority is his campaign.”
Mr. Hastings disagrees with that assessment.
“Once you announce you run for office, everything is a political stunt,” Mr. Hastings said. “It just seems like a huge conflict.”
He said he feels bullied by Ms. Lieu, a person he said “I lost a lot of respect for.”
“Ever since I announced I was running for council, it’s been an onslaught,” he said. “You can’t give in to bullies. That’s what people want. They want to shut you up. As a city councilman, they plan on me being quiet and not get the information into the public.”
Former NAU Lumberjack who loves going to concerts (or I did), watching sports (or I did) and hanging out with friends (oh, never mind). I also enjoy backgammon, surfing and men who are not afraid to cry.
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