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 Landslide!
AJ voters overwhelmingly defeat recall
by more than 2 to 1— All incumbents kept
in office
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
Despite a long, drawn-out recall attempt
of nearly two years, five
Apache Junction City Council incumbents,
including Mayor John
Insalaco, easily retained their seats in
the Tuesday, March 10, 2009
recall election.
Insalaco, challenged by recallers Noel
Benoist and Elliott Fisher,
earned 1,561 votes (72%), according to
early, unofficial results.
Fisher brought in 285 (13%) while
Benoist had 229 (10%). There
were 94 write-in votes.
Insalaco also won another two-year term
as mayor in the regular
election with 59% against three
challengers.
“I honestly didn’t know which way it was
going to go,” Insalaco
said. “I wasn’t confident I was going to
win because of so many
people running and splitting the vote so
many ways. But (the recall)
people talked and they said we don’t
listen to the people. The
vote shows we were listening to the
people. The people who said we
weren’t listening to them just didn’t
like the answer.
“I thank all the people who believed in
us.”
Vice Mayor Robert “R.E.” Eck, Jr. was
challenged by David Dowdle
in the recall. Eck brought in 1,555
(69%) to Dowdle’s 661 (29%).
There were 16 write-in votes.
“I believe the voice of the community
has been heard,” Eck said.
“It’s overwhelming desire was ‘Let’s
stay with the good people we
have and say no to this recall.’”
Eck explained this was the first time
that he’s seen so many angry or
disgruntled voters. They did not
understand the ballot, Eck said.
“They felt like they were given
misinformation if they were to
ask (at the polls),” Eck said. “But I’m
thrilled that the election is
resolved now. We can hopefully move
forward with the City Council
doing the business we need to be doing.”
Councilwoman Robin Barker faced recall
leader Shannon Flynn
and received 1,580 votes (69%) to
Flynn’s 676 (29%). There were
18 write-ins.
“I want to thank the voters for their
support of the mayor and the
City Council,” Barker said. “I believe
this is a mandate from the
people to continue to work toward the
future of Apache Junction. It
was a choice between forward or back and
we’re going forward.”
Councilman Richard “Rick” Dietz earned
1,653 votes (73%) to
recaller Ted Mueller’s 587 (26%). There
were 14 write-in votes.
“I’m excited,” Dietz said. “It’s
definitely been the hardest election
I’ve ever been through with the recall.
It’s been the most stressful
without a doubt. I’m just really glad
the citizens of our community
saw through the recall effort and
decided to put the existing council
back into seats.”
Councilman Jeff Serdy won 1,404 (64%)
over another recall leader
James Stephens’ 774 votes (35%). There
were 13 write-in votes.
“We never wanted it to happen,” Serdy
said of the recall. “You hate
to waste all that time defending
yourself like this when you could
be spending that time doing something
constructive and beneficial,
which is what I think I’ve been doing
all along.”
He said that had the ballot been not so
confusing, he thinks he
would have won by an even greater
margin.
Councilmen Doug Coleman, Dietz and Eck
also ran in the primary
election and easily won their races,
which also included candidates
Dowdle, John Kantowski, Mueller, Christa
Rizzi, Janice Stenglein
and Andrew Whiteneck.
Coleman was the highest vote getter in
the regular portion of the
election with 1,547 votes. Eck had 1,418
and Dietz at 1,409. Dowdle
had 407 with Kantowski at 253, Mueller
at 444, Rizzi at 738, Stenglein
at 662 and Whiteneck at 194. There were
35 write-in votes.
Coleman could not be reached for
comment.
Insalaco (1,518) won in the primary
election as well against Benoist
(167), Fisher (233) and Dave Waldron
(652). There were four writein
votes.
Candidates must win 50 percent, plus one
vote, of the total ballots
cast in the primary. The incumbents did
that, avoiding a May
runoff.
In a separate ballot issue, Home Rule
(Proposition 100), passed
with 77% of the vote, 1,824 to 527.
Under the option, residents and
the City Council make annual budget
decisions for their city “at
home” rather than using a state-imposed
limitation, according to the
city. The limitation would have caused
the city to cut one-third of the
general fund budget over four years,
amounting to $39.8 million.
There are 17,399 registered voters in
Apache Junction and 15.25
percent or 2,654 cards were cast. The
last city council election in
2007 saw a turnout of some 13%.
The City Council will adopt
the results of the March 10 primary
election and recall election during its
Tuesday, March 17, meeting.
‘Wall’ Arrives In AJ
At Prospector Park until March 17
Lady Prospectors Beat P.V.
In Tennis
 By Chuck Baker
The News
The Lady Prospector tennis
squad came up with
an impressive 8-1 victory
over fellow Desert
Sky Region foe Paradise
Valley last Tuesday, the
team’s second win of the
season.
In singles play, Nicoletta
Carbone and Kylie Bocskay
both pitched shutouts
winning 6-0, 6-0, Nicole
Vandelaare won her match
6-1, 6-0, Anna Ramos
prevailed 6-1, 6-1, Katie
Karbo picked up a 6-3,
6-1 victory and Jessica
Iniguez, playing number
one singles, lost a hard
fought 7-6, 6-4 decision.
Iniguez paired up with Karbo in doubles
and the
duo earned an 8-2 decision,
Bocskay and Carbone
blanked their Paradise
Valley counterparts
8-0, and the doubles team
of Vandelaare and Ramos
won their match 8-1.
The AJHS girls also
hosted Cave Creek Cactus
Shadows this past Thursday
but results were not
available by press time.
The Lady Prospectors
will take this week off for
spring break and return
to the court on Tuesday,
March 24, to host Tempe
McClintock in a match
that begins at 3:30 p.m.
Apache Junction will also
play at Scottsdale Chaparral
on Friday, March 27.
Boys Tennis
The Prospectors dropped
an 8-1 decision to Paradise
Valley last Tuesday
with the lone win coming
in doubles from Isaac Sortais
and Daniel Bos who
teamed up for an 8-3 triumph.
In singles action, Bos
dropped a 6-4, 6-3 decision,
Sortais and Devin
Vandelaare fell 6-0, 6-3,
Matt Meadows lost 6-0,
6-1 and Ty Adair fell 6-0,
6-0.
See
B-1
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