Phoenix takes 6 years to seat an ethics board. Meet its new members

The Phoenix City Council finally appointed members to the city's ethics commission on Wednesday, but they include a former mayor with a checkered past who now lobbies for clients he won't disclose.

Appointing the ethics commission — established in 2017 to enforce the city's ethics code for elected officials and employees — took six years and numerous ethics compliance complaints to make it happen.

Until the Dec. 13 council vote to appoint the commission’s first five members, Phoenix was the only city among the 10 largest in the U.S. without an ethics board.

“In an effort to preserve our democratic values and to continue fostering good governance, I am excited that the Council has seated a group of community leaders dedicated to transparency and accountability at City Hall,” Mayor Kate Gallego said in a press release.

Phoenix Deputy City Manager Inger Erickson, who was responsible for seeing the commissioners appointed, said the Judicial Selection Advisory Board made eight recommendations to the city council, which then conducted interviews with candidates and decided who to nominate.

A lobbyist, a university professor and a vice president for sales at a popular job search website are among the five appointed individuals.

What we know about Phoenix ethics commission members

One of the newly appointed commissioners, Louie Lujan, is a Democrat and former mayor of La Puente, a small California city. In 2010, he resigned from office and was sentenced to three years of probation and received a $1,000 fine for misreporting campaign finance statements. The terms were part of a plea deal that barred him from holding office in California.

In 2013, a California court allowed Lujan to withdraw his plea, which resulted in the case being removed from his record.

“My experience, while embarrassing and difficult, was a learning experience, and it makes me a better commissioner, I feel,” Lujan told Phoenix New Times. “It was over a decade ago; I learned from it, and I’m ready to move on.”

He said the case brought against him was politically motivated and excessive for a violation that usually results in a small fine and a request to amend forms.

Lujan said he is a lobbyist at Summit Government Affairs, which he founded. However, in a phone call with New Times, he said he couldn’t discuss who he lobbies on behalf of.

Carlos Galindo-Elvira, who withdrew for personal health reasons in early December. Erickson said the council interviewed Lujan before Galindo-Elvira dropped out.

Jose Samuel Leyvas III will join Lujan on the commission. One of two Republicans appointed, Leyvas was previously considered as a candidate by the city’s Judicial Selection Advisory Board in 2020. However, just like in 2017 and 2018, candidates for the commission never made it to a formal city council vote.

Leyvas is the vice president of corporate relations and social responsibility at Valley of the Sun United Way. According to his biography, he is a “longtime Valley nonprofit executive” who has worked at HomeAid Phoenix, First Things First and Arlington, Virginia-based Stand Together Foundation.

Like Lujan, his term expires in 2026.

The second Republican appointed for the commission is Cheryl Pietkiewicz, a communications instructor at Grand Canyon University, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Pietkiewicz, whose five-year term expires in 2028, was one of the candidates considered by the city’s Judicial Selection Advisory Board in 2020.

Patricia Sallen also was appointed for a five-year term as one of two Democrats on the commission. According to her website, Sallen is a legal ethics consultant and lawyer and has worked with the State Bar of Arizona, the Arizona Supreme Court and Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Rounding out the commission is Peter Schirripa, who is vice president of sales at ZipRecruiter, according to his LinkedIn profile. His term is five years and he fills the commission seat for a member with no political part affiliation. The ordinance establishing the ethics commission mandates the five seats go to two Republicans, two Democrats and a person with no party registration.

A six-year drought

Even as several ethics controversies embroiled the city’s officials and employees, councilmembers failed to appoint a single person to the commission for six years. Without a functioning ethics commission, there was no independent body to investigate complaints about unethical behavior from elected officials and city employees.

Reporters at Cronkite News reported in June that ethics complaints virtually disappeared into a black hole or were reviewed by the city attorney prior to the commission. That procedure is questionable considering city attorneys also provide legal advice to the mayor, city council and other employees, according to the city’s website.

Cronkite also detailed the bold, suspicious activity of a developer who voted on zoning changes as a volunteer member of one of Phoenix’s local planning commissions while also profiting from those decisions. Without an ethics commission, the activity went unquestioned, despite substantial public backlash.

Several attempts were made over the years to appoint commissioners, a vote that requires the approval of seven out of nine councilmembers. In 2021, the council voted no on appointing candidates. Then Councilmember Sal DiCiccio opposed the commission entirely, while current member Betty Guardado said it needed more power.

After the long-awaited appointments, concerns about the commission’s limited power remain. If the commission finds an ethics violation, seven out of nine councilmembers must affirm the violation and set a punishment, or else the complaint is dismissed.

Per city code, ethics commissioners do not receive any salary or compensation.