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This Week
NEWS ............................. 3 A big heart and a love for music launched a bluegrass empire
COMMUNITY ........ 13 Rockers will regroup to play for cancer-stricken friend
BUSINESS . ................ 15 Lures are a big business for bass-fishing Mesa native
EAST VALLEY
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Southeast Edition
INSIDE
Nonprofit aims to eliminate hot-car deaths Sunday, June 4, 2017
Bribe scandal dominates E. Valley Three accused by grand jury have deep roots in region
2 officials call for reform of Corporation Commission
BY GARY NELSON Tribune Contributor
BY HOWARD FISCHER Capital Media Services
A
T
fter years of shadowy suggestions that something might be rotten at the Arizona Corporation Commission, the first indictment boils down to something most people can understand: A bald-faced case of quid pro quo bribery. The indictment, of course, is only a list of charges that must be proven in court by federal prosecutors. But it describes in detail a pattern of alleged criminal conduct in 2011 and 2012 involving prominent East Valley political and business figures – and is the latest allegation of wrongdoing by a troubled real estate developer and state regulatory officials. A federal grand jury handed down the eightcount indictment on May 23. It asserts that developer George Johnson bribed Gary Pierce, a former Mesa legislator and member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, in order to obtain favorable votes on rate hikes for his water See
BRIBERY on page 4
George Johnson
he two East Valley members of the Arizona Corporation Commission are starting to push for reforms on the panel in the wake of a federal bribery indictment of a former member. Tom Forese, a former state legislator from Gilbert who now heads the commission, said the indictment may make the case for appointing utility regulators instead of electing them. And former Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn, who was elected to the commission last year, said he agrees there needs to be a conversation on how future regulators are chosen “We are in the minority,” he said. “There are only 12 states that deal with elected commissioners. The rest are appointed.” Forese noted that former Mesa legislator and ex-commission member Gary Pierce is charged with accepting money through his wife from a utility executive in exchange for supporting two
Gary Pierce
See
REFORM on page 8
Mesa shopping mecca’s swan song hits last note BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Tribune Staff Writer
DINING ..................... 24
F
Grubstak piles tasty, locally sourced ingredients atop waffle fries
BUSINESS........................15 OPINION........................ 17 SPORTS.......................... 18 FAITH............................. 20 CLASSIFIED....................28
(Kimberly Carrillo/Tribune Staff Photographer)
A lonely Kay Jewelers awaits customers in a largely abandoned Fiesta Mall in Mesa. The jewelry store is among the lone holdouts that will have to clear out soon.
iesta Mall’s days are numbered, at least in its current form. A local development group purchased the property in late May for just $6.72 million with grand designs to redevelop the space into a highereducation campus, and that redevelopment plan also includes a new name: Campus at U.S. 60. The current plan for the mall will not require rezoning of the property because the current zoning allows for redevelopment, said Lori Gray, senior project See
MALL on page 10