asu in the news 02-06-08 to - ASU News - Arizona State University

ASU in the News
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Source: EastValleyTribune.com
Title: ASU’s Warner: Council candidate’s business could ...
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Full Text: Cheryl Butler says her family of seven sweltered in their west Mesa apartment for at least a
month last summer without air conditioning.
Now, the new heating and cooling unit installed in her modest stuccoed apartment at 1024 E.
Second St. doesn’t keep the place warm enough during the cold winter months, she says. Her
children huddle around space heaters at night in the living room.
But what makes the place unlivable, Butler says, is a pernicious infestation of cockroaches.
"It’s so bad now that you can take a picture off the wall and 300 cockroaches come out," she said. "I
shouldn’t have to live like this."
The apartment Butler is renting for $585 a month is managed by JMT Management LLC, owned by
Matt Tolman, a City Council candidate in District 1.
District 1 covers an aging area of Mesa many say should be converted from a run-down area filled
with check cashing stores and pawn shops to a more modern and eclectic urban destination.
Tolman estimates he manages about 50 properties, at least half of those lower-rent apartments in
western and central Mesa. Many are advertised on his company’s Web site.
Tolman’s business gets 10 percent of the rent of the various properties it manages, he said.
He started the business in 1999, according to Arizona Corporation Commission records.
As a council member, Tolman would be in a position to have some say over issues affecting his
business interests.
Carolyn Warner, an Arizona State University political science professor, said potential conflicts could
arise if Tolman were elected to the council. In an ideal world, a council member would have no
business interests in areas where he makes policy.
Tolman’s broad interests in property values and redevelopment in west Mesa could create issues on
the council, she said. For instance, if elected, should Tolman vote to direct redevelopment dollars to
west Mesa?
"If there’s a general big redevelopment in an area where he has an interest, does he recuse himself
from the whole thing or not?" she asked.
Warner added it depends on the culture in government as to whether Tolman could receive favorable
treatment from city departments that may enforce violations by his business.
"That can go either way," she said. "My sense of it is that it depends on the norm and the ethics and
the general environment of the city agency."
Tolman says he would recuse himself from any votes that might present a conflict of interest.
Moreover, he said, "I don’t see the conflicts because we are trying to improve the properties that we
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