Half-Billion Dollar Pay-to-Play Contractor Corruption in Gilbert Public Schools & Billions Statewide

15 min readOct 29, 2022

By way of a corrupt contractor-funded pay-to-play scheme, taxpayers within the Gilbert Public Schools Tax District were swindled out of approximately $490,000,000 between two bond and override ‘elections’ in 2015 and 2019. This same contractor funded pay-to-play corruption is happening in school districts and cities across Arizona to the tune of billions of dollars. A video showing the details of the 2019 GPS Bond and Override Scheme can be viewed here.

NOTE: Not all contributions from people and companies is an act of corruption or poor ethics — readers should decide what constitutes corruption and/or poor ethics on an individual basis.

This exposé is not about whether bonds or overrides are right or wrong, this is about the corrupt tactics leveraged by Cities and School Districts like Gilbert Public Schools (GPS) and their contractors to underhandedly grab hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers with only a very small minority vote.

The Law

By law, School Districts can only provide the public with factual and neutral information regarding bonds and overrides and cannot provide information designed to influence the outcome of the election.

The Pay-to-Play Tactic

A Political Action Committee (PAC) steps up as the organization by which the Bonds & Overrides are promoted. These PACs receive practically all of their funding from District and city contractors, both existing contractors and those hoping to be awarded contracts from the Bond & Override money — if they win the bond & override vote. In the case of GPS; district and city leaders, school superintendents, school board members and other ‘insiders’ with conflicts of interest also donated to these campaigns.

The PAC uses these donations to publicly promote the bond and override with fanatical prejudice. When the bond/override passes, many of these contractors are awarded multi-million dollar contracts paid for by the bond money the taxpayer is on the hook for.

The Off-Cycle Election Scam

These Bond & Override elections are strategically ran in an off-cycle election year because these Districts and Cities know there is a voter turnout of only about 1/3 of the normal voter turnout. With such a low voter turnout they don’t have to ‘buy’ as many votes via the campaign. They also know that they can count on having thousands of ‘yes’ votes from the 1000’s of employees that work for the district, municipality and contractors, including their family members, living within the voting boundaries.

When $100 Million = $165 Million

When bonds are advertised to the voter, they intentionally avoid disclosing the true cost to the taxpayer. Bonds are paid off over time with interest — just like your home mortgage. A $100 Million Bond will really cost taxpayers approximately 40% — 65% more than the face value depending on the exact terms of the bond at issuance and time to pay-off. When you read ‘$100 Million Bond’, the actual cost to taxpayers will likely be $140 Million — $165 Million.

Gilbert Public Schools Half Billion Dollar Tax Grab

Unite For Education (PAC) ran the 2015 & 2019 Bond & Override campaigns on behalf of Gilbert Public Schools and its contractors. The combined cost to taxpayers is close to a half billion dollars.

2015 — Bond amount was $98 Million. The Override equated to in excess of $93 Million for a total of more than $191 Million
2019 — Bond amount was $100 Million. The Override equated to approximately $190 Million over 7 years for a total of $290 Million
Bond amounts don’t include interest fees which are likely ~ $100 Million for a total GPS taxpayer burden of ~$590 Million combining 2015 & 2019

GPS Pay-to-Play Corruption (2019):

The PAC Unite For Education received $39,655 in ‘donations’ to fund the bond & override campaign. $36,000 (91%)came from 9 GPS Contractors:

Associated Construction Enterprises (ACE)
Chasse
Core Construction
HDA Architects
McCarthy Building Companies
Orcutt Winslow Architecture
SKF Tile & Stone
Sun Valley Builders
Wholesale Floors

The remaining amount came from Individual donors including:

GPS CFO, Bonnie Reale
GPS Superintendent, Shane McCord
Gilbert Mayor, Jenn Daniels
GPS Board Member, Jill Humpherys
GPS Board Member, Lori Wood
Founder of Unite For Education PAC and current candidate for GPS Board, Collette Evans

source (4th Quarter 2019): https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocspdf.aspx?documentid=42989&fileyear=2019

source (3rd Quarter 2019): https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocspdf.aspx?documentid=42744&fileyear=2019

These contractors donated to Unite For Education PAC for the 2015 Bond and Override Campaign where contractor donations totaled approximately $46,150:

AA-Anchor Fence Inc
ADM Group
Allied Acoustics
Amber Steel Fabrication
Associated Architects
Bushtex
Caruso Turley Scott Inc
Chasse
Core Construction
CTS LLC
Echo Canyon Electric
EMC2 Group Architects
Energy Systems Design
HDA Architects
Hilgart Wllson
Immedia
Johnston Engineering Co
McCarthy Building Companies
Norcon Industries
Orcutt Winslow
Progressive Services
Pueblo Mechanical
RC Lurie Co.
RYTAN LLC
Safe and Sound Playgrounds
Safe Site Utility Services
Skyline Builders & Restoration
Southwest Earthworks
SPS+Architects
Sun Valley Masonry
Orcutt Winslow Partnership
Urban Energy Solutions
Wholesale Floors

Other 2015 Donors to note:

GPS Superintendent, Christina Kishimoto
Gilbert Mayor, John Lewis
GPS Board Member (2016–2022), Lori Wood
GPS Technology Director, Steve Smith

source: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocspdf.aspx?documentid=35722&fileyear=2015

The Vote

Because the election was ran in an off-cycle year, In 2019 there were only a total of 19,807 ‘Yes’ votes and 12,130 ‘No’votes for the bond. The override only had a total of 17,788 ‘Yes’ votes and 14,539 ’No’ votes. This $290,000,000+ tax burden was approved with only 19,807 votes — and they really only needed 14,540 votes to win due to strategically low voter turnout.

Compare these ~32,000 total number of votes (yes and no votes) to the previous general election where there was a voter turnout of ~89,000 voters that voted for the GPS board members.

GPS employs ~4,000 people and the Town of Gilbert employs ~1,200 people. Considering the sheer number of employees, family members and employees of contractors who live within the voting district, there are thousands of ‘yes’voters before the contractor-funded campaign even begins.

State-wide Corruption

This same pay-to-play contractor funded corruption is repeated in School Districts throughout Arizona, including many of the same contractors. Not all contributions from people and companies is an act of corruption or poor ethics — readers should decide what constitutes corruption.

Public records for other PACs for Districts around Arizona show Paul Ulan is involved in many of the PACs as either founder of the PAC or treasurer and his company is the recipient of much of the PAC funds as a ‘consultant’. Paul Ulan is also the Chairman of the Board at Arizona Business & Education Coalition where organizations including contractors, school districts and government agencies can pay large ‘membership fees’ to mingle with each other. Imagine — a room full of contractors, school district administrators, city leaders and politicians. Do you think they are discussing how to reduce taxes and be fiscally responsible? A conflict of interest, perhaps?

Search the campaign finance filings of the PAC behind the promotion of the bond or override in your school district and you will likely find the same corrupt pay-to-play ‘donations’.

Campaign Finance Reports Search: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/candidatesearch.aspx

Although this corruption plagues most School Districts and Cities, here are just a few more examples:

Mesa Public Schools 2019 Override (M&O)

Mike Hutchinson is the registered Director of the Mesa Alliance for Educational Excellence PAC and his wife Marcie Hutchinson has been a MPS Board Member since 2019 and is currently the President of the School Board (2023)! CONFLICT OF INTEREST?? Mike Hutchinson was the Mesa City Manager or Assistant City Manager from 1981–2005.
$18 million maintenance and operations override increase, a 5% increase from the existing override. In all, the 15% would generate $54 million a year for the district. This money is used primarily to pay for people including administrators. It is interesting to note that this round of fund raising into the PAC included a significant number of contributions from MPS administrators and employees who are basically donating to help buy themselves a pay raise.
PAC used to promote the Override is MESA ALLIANCE FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Over $143,000 in contributions to MESA ALLIANCE FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE PAC — Mostly from District Contractors and employees / insiders.
Over $104,000 of the $143,000 came from Contractors. $18,250 came from other PACs. Approximately 89 Mesa School District employees donated some of the remainder.
More than 85% of the PAC funds came from MPS Contractors & PACs.
Donors included John Giles, Mayor and many MPS insiders.

Source:

Contractors that ‘paid-to-play’ by funding the Mesa Alliance for Educational Excellence PAC:

Orcutt Winslow ($5,000)
Progressive Services ($2,500)
Core Construction ($9,500)
AME Electrical ($1,500)
RKS Pluming & Mechanical ($1,000)
Artcraft Granite Marble & Tile ($1,000)
Mark’s Valley Grading ($1,000)
Barrett-Homes Contractors ($2,000)
Wholesale Floors ($500)
Arizona Verde Fire Protection ($1,500)
Chasse Building Team ($9,800)
Sun Valley Masonry ($2,500)
Pueblo Mechanical & Controls ($2,500)
MOS Contruction ($1,000)
Juarez Contracting ($1,000)
Pete King Contstruction ($1,500)
Castle Steel ($1,000)
McCarthy Holdings ($5,000)
SunTec Concrete ($1,500)
DLR Group ($500)
Crandall Corporate Dietitians & Employees ($3,000)
Urban Energy Solutions ($1,500)
Empire Southwest ($15,000)
Gilbane Building Company ($1,000)
Cigna PAC & Cigna ($8,872) — (District Health Insurance Provider)
Salt River Project ($2,500)
HDL Architects ($500)
3W Management ($500)
SunBelt Holdings ($1,000)
Earl, Curley & Lagarde ($1,000)
Farnsworth Companies ($5,000)
Gateway Commercial Bank ($2,500)
Visit Mesa ($2,500)
Willmeng Construction ($7,500)

Other PAC Contributions:

Mesa Political Action Committee ($10,000)
United Mesa Firefighter PAC ($5,000)
Mesa Assoc Sch Admin ($3,000)
Latino PAC Del Rio Salado ($250)

There are too many pages of donations to include here but you can find it all at the links above.

Mesa Public Schools 2018 $300,000,000 Bond

Mike Hutchinson is the registered Director of the Mesa Alliance for Educational Excellence PAC and his wife Marcie Hutchinson has been a MPS Board Member since 2019 and is currently the President of the School Board (2023)! CONFLICT OF INTEREST?? Mike Hutchinson was the Mesa City Manager or Assistant City Manager from 1981–2005.
Passed by ~900 votes. Consider how many thousands of ‘insider’ votes they had that swayed this election (MPS has over 7,600 teachers and staff)
PAC used to promote the Override is MESA ALLIANCE FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE with contributions of over $80,000.
Contractors donated $65,800 of the ~$80,000 total received.

Source: 4 CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORT

Contractor contributions:

Orcutt Winslow ($2,500)
K2 Electric ($1,000)
Wholesale Floor LLC ($1,500)
Chasse ($5,000)
Huff & Sons Construction ($1,500)
Sun Valley Masonry ($3,000)
Core Construction ($5,000)
Progressive Services ($3,000)
Pueblo Mechanical & Controls ($5,000)
McCarthy Holdings ($9,800)
Gateway Commercial Bank ($3,000)
Sunland Asphalt ($1,500)
Canyon State Bus Sales ($2,500)
BWC Enterprises / Woodruff Construction ($1,500)
Empire Southwest ($5,000)
Concord General Contracting ($3,500)
Mesa Asc of School Adm ($3,000)
Amber Steel Fabrication ($1,000)
RKS Plumbing & Mechanical ($500)
Saguaro Drywall ($1,000)
Hobbs Masonry Contstruction ($1,500)
Artcraft Granit Marble & Tile ($500)
Diamond Iron ($500)
PRI Graphics ($1,000)
Crandall Corporate Dietitians and owners ($2,500)

PAC Contributions:

Mesa Political Action Committee ($2,000)

Higley USD 2022 Bond

PAC used to promote Bond is Yes For Higley Schools (ID=1002010)
Treasurer of Yes For Higley Schools PAC is Paul Ulan
100% of the $36,300 received to date into the PAC is from Contractors. $17,838 has been paid out to a consulting company (Primary Consultants) owned by Paul Ulan.

source: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocsresults.aspx?candidateid=1002010&fileyear=

Contractors that ‘paid-to-play’ by funding the 2022 Higley USD / Yes For Higley Schools Campaign:

Associated Construction Enterprises (ACE)
Chasse
Core Construction
DLR Group
McCarthy
Midstate Energy LLC
Pueblo Mechanical
Sportsmans Concrete Inc.
RYTAN Construction
Willmeng Construction Inc.

Fountain Hills USD 2022 Bond

PAC used to promote Bond is Yes For FH Students (ID=1001886)
Treasurer of Yes For FH Students PAC is Paul Ulan
$15,000 of the $15,600 received to date into the PAC is from Contractors
Q4 2017 is also included to show that this same corrupt pay to play has been happening for years and in Districts and Cities across Arizona
Other website with info: https://reclaimourtown.com

source: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocsresults.aspx?candidateid=1001886&fileyear=

Contractors that ‘paid-to-play’ by funding the 2022 Fountain Hills USD / Yes For FH Students Campaign:

ADM Group, Inc
McCarthy
Pueblo Mechanical
RYTAN Construction
Stone Cold Masonry
Wholesale Floors

Paradise Valley USD 2022 Override & ‘Bought’ School Board Candidates

PAC used to promote Override is Yes For PV Students (ID=1000371)
Very LARGE donations from Contractors (Over $60,000 just this 2022 election cycle)
On Q4 2019 PAC filing Paul Ulan’s company Primary Consultants was paid out $60,535

Campaign Filings:

https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocsresults.aspx?candidateid=1000371&fileyear=

Q3 2022 Link to filing: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocspdf.aspx?documentid=48034&fileyear=2022

Q4 2019 Link to filing:

https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocspdf.aspx?documentid=43012&fileyear=2019

Contractors that ‘paid-to-play’ by funding the 2022 Paradise Valley USD / Yes For PV Students Campaign:

Wholesale Floors, LLC
1GPA
Progressive Services, Inc.
GCON, Inc.
Western Acoustics, Inc.
Snell and Wilmer
Sun Valley Masonry, Inc.
Chasse Building Team
Pete King Construction Company
ADM Group, Inc
Orcutt Winslow Partnership
Western Acoustics, Inc.
MOS Construction LLC
Sun Country Floors, Inc.
CORE Construction, Inc.
Skyline Builders & Restoration, Inc.
SPS+ Architects, LLP
Sun Valley Builders, LLC
Sunland Asphault Solterra Materials
McCarthy Holdings, Inc
DLR Group
Midstate Mechanical, LLC
Artcraft Granite Marble & Tile Co.
Kearney Electric Communications
JBJ Electric Company, LLC
Pueblo Mechanical & Controls
Willmeng Construction, Inc.

Paradise Valley School Board Candidates Bought By Contractors

A review of 2022 PVUSD School Board Candidates records shows that contractors are donating to some of their campaigns. I wonder what these contractors are hoping they get in return?

Kerry Baker has reported raising $14,169 in her 3rd Quarter Campaign Finance Report. At least $11,000 of these ‘donations’ came from contractors or people affiliated with the contractors. So who are her top donors? Pay attention to these company names:

Lance Little, owner of Stone Cold Masonry donated $1000
Suzanne Bergen, Office Manager of Wholesale Floors donated $2500
Ben Barcon, owner of ADM Group donated $2500
Lauren Farrell, “homemaker” residing in Tempe (wife of Mark Farrell, President of Progressive Roofing) donated $2500
Travis Brewer, Operations Manager for A.C.E donated $2500

source: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/CampFinDocs/pdf/2022_48282.pdf

Susan Matura has reported raising $18,234 in her 3rd Quarter Campaign Finance Report. $14,000 came from individuals donating over $100. So who are her top donors? Pay attention to these company names:

Lance Little, owner of Stone Cold Masonry donated $1000
Suzanne Bergen, Office Manager of Wholesale Floors donated $2500
Ben Barcon, owner of ADM Group donated $2500
Lauren Farrell, “homemaker” residing in Tempe (wife of Mark Farrell, President of Progressive Roofing) donated $2500
Charles Hink, Engineer for Pueblo Mechanical donated $2500
Travis Brewer, Operations Manager for A.C.E donated $2500

source: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/CampFinDocs/pdf/2022_48252.pdf

Tony Pantera has reported raising $16,250 is his 3rd Quarter Campaign Finance Report. At lease $11,000 of these ‘donations’ came from contractors or people affiliated with the contractors. So who are his top donors? Pay attention to these company names

Lance Little, owner of Stone Cold Masonry donated $1000
Suzanne Bergen, Office Manager of Wholesale Floors donated $2500
Ben Barcon, owner of ADM Group donated $2500
Lauren Farrell, “homemaker” residing in Tempe (wife of Mark Farrell, President of Progressive Roofing) donated $2500
Travis Brewer, Operations Manager for A.C.E donated $2500

source: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/CampFinDocs/pdf/2022_48251.pdf

Tempe Union 2022 Bond

PAC used to promote Bond is Yes Support Our Schools (ID=1001610)
$38,000 in Contractor ‘donations’ to date this 2022 election cycle

source: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/campfindocsresults.aspx?candidateid=1001610&fileyear=

Contractors that ‘paid-to-play’ by funding the 2022 Tempe Union / Yes Support Our Schools Campaign:

ADM Group
Chasse Building Team
Core Construction
DLR Group
Lloyd Consulting Group
McCarthy Holdings
Pete King Construction
Progressive Services dba Progressive Roofing

Cave Creek USD 2022 Override

PAC used to promote Override is Action For Students (ID=1002293)
Over $20,000 in donations from Contractors

Contractors that paid to play in Cave Creek:

Core Construction
Progressive Services, Inc.
Pete King Contstruction
Diamond Iron LLC
Wholesale Floors LLC
Arizona Verde Fire Protection
GCON, Inc.
IGPA
McCarthy Holdings Inc.
Willmeng Construction, Inc.

source: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/campfindocs/html/48111.html

Shipley Strategies, a pubic affairs consulting firm, has been paid out $14,626 from the Cave Creek ‘Action For Students’ PAC. This same consulting firm has a previous client list including the following politicians. These types of incestuous relationships contribute to the corruption and will likely create friction against legislative reform:
Allister Adel, Maricopa County Attorney
Eddie Cook, Maricopa County Assessor
Tim Dunn, Arizona State House, Legislative District 13
Mark Freeman, Mesa City Council, District 1
Gilbert Firefighters PAC
John Giles, Mesa Mayor
Steve Gilman, IAFF, 10th District Vice President
Mike Goodman, Pinal County Supervisor, District 2
Lea Márquez Peterson, Arizona Corporation Commission
Joe O’Reilly, Mesa School Board
Brigette Peterson, Gilbert Mayor
Julie Spilsbury, Mesa City Council, District 2
Mark Stanton, Paradise Valley Town Council

(source:https://shipleystrategies.com/work/clients)

Paul Ulan & ABEC (Arizona Business & Education Coalition)

Paul Ulan is Chairman of the Board of ABEC. Mr. Ulan is also treasurer or founder of many PACs that promote the Bonds and his company Primary Consultants gets paid by many of the PACs.
Paul Ulan is also running in 2022 for a board seat on Glendale Union High School District Board
ABEC Board of Directors includes contractors, AEA (Union), ASBA, etc.
ABEC is partially funded by substantial membership fees on the 3 different membership applications (Businesses, Government Agencies & School Districts)
Notice the Conflicts of Interest included in ABEC Benefits of membership. Contractors get to mingle with Legislators and School District Administrators:

Legislative Connection: (A “members-only” event) Members network with State legislators over lunch on the Capitol Lawn and share education policy agendas. This is the most popular event for our members.”
“ABEC Golf Tournament: (Four-person, scramble format) An ABEC fundraiser for participants to network with school administrators, business representatives, and elected officials. Proceeds fund in part, the work of ABEC initiatives.”
“ABEC Annual Conference: This event brings together business, education and community leaders to learn from each other and discuss some of the most pressing issues facing business and education today.”

The Solution

We must create State legislation and District and City Policy that prevents this contractor pay-to-play corruption and also disallow off-cycle elections.

United we stand, divided we fall. Each of us must participate in informing friends, family & neighbors of this corruption. An informed public is necessary to create needed change.

Legislation: The intent of this article is not to push any particular solution nor does the author assume to know the best solution. We should explore appropriate state legislation that prohibits this corrupt pay-to-play behavior. Part of the legislation should require that any cause of taxation should not be allowed to go to vote in any off-cycle election, but if so only if a minimum number of total votes cast is greater than 80% of the voter turnout for that voting district at the last general on-cycle election; while also requiring 60% or more votes to pass. In reality we should disallow all off-cycle elections.

School District and City Policies: School Boards and City Councils can immediately develop a ‘Conflict of Interest’ policy that states something like:

‘Any and all contractors (or their agents, employees or employee family members) who provide any financial or in-kind contribution towards or to benefit any Bond, Override, or other cause of taxation or school board candidate or politician either by direct donation or through a single or series of PAC(s), Non-Profit(s), other entity(ies) or through any other means are disqualified from consideration for any and all RFQs, bids, projects, services, etc with the District for a period of 10 years following. If it is discovered after the award of any contract that a contractor violated this policy, contractor agrees to repay 110% of all amounts paid to contractor by District’

Attorneys would word it better. Districts and cities don’t need legislation — they can implement this type of policy immediately — although this corrupt influence should be legislated as well at a state level. Create a policy that decapitates the contractor for corruptly influencing these elections and they will stop immediately.

School Districts and Cities should also stop taking advantage of their community by holding elections in off-cycle years.