Phoenix mayoral candidate Wes Gullett recently sent out a mailer that described his jobs plan and appeared to have an endorsement from local small-business advocate and non-profit group Local First Arizona. There’s just one problem: Local First Arizona never gave Gullett an endorsement and never even gave Gullett’s campaign permission to use Local First Arizona’s name in the mailer. The rest of the story is here at azcentral.com:
Local First Arizona wants to make it clear the group isn’t endorsing anyone in the Phoenix mayoral election.
The non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of local businesses in Arizona is worried the public might get the wrong impression after mayoral candidate Wes Gullett sent tens of thousands of campaign mailers prominently featuring Local First Arizona founder and executive director Kimber Lanning’s photo.
That’s disappointing to hear. Even though Gullett has tried to label himself as an outsider, nobody in the race is more of an insider than Wes. Not only has he been a longtime lobbyist, including representation of union groups like SEIU, his wife was the former chief-of-staff for current Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon. Because of this, Gullett should know better than to use a company’s name on a mailer to insinuate an endorsement without permission from the company. This is the type of mistake you would expect from a political novice like Anna Brennan, not a career lobbyist like Gullett. Hopefully Wes has learned his lesson and now understands that people are watching this mayoral election very closely.
