Torgeson, Jim

Meet the Candidate

Running For:
Town Council
Political Affiliation:
Republican
Phone:
480-228-0309
Age:
57
Occupation:
Mesa Sign Shop - owner
Education:
UCLA Graduate
Biographical Info:

I grew up in Glendale, CA. As I mad my way through college, I played guitar in a band for the entirety of my 20’s.

When I moved to Arizona, I opened a business and married Lauri whom I had been dating since college. We have two children, Rex (26) who is an executive at a tech company that is going public and Jenna (20) who is a contemporary ballet dancer.

Currently, I own Mesa Sign Shop (Sign King) and am building a guitar manufacturing business.

A few of the interesting parts of my back ground include my Great, great… maternal grandfather (Abraham Pierson) was the founder of Yale (the Collegiate School). My paternal grandparents immigrated from Norway in the 1920’s and the extended family played professional sports for the Yankees, Braves, White Sox, Chiefs and Redskins.

Life is a journey.

Statement:

It has become increasingly apparent that our Town Council has lost it’s compass.

Just last night, they voted to increase or taxes again including a 69% levy increase.
Just a few weeks ago, they moved money from the utility fund and raised Gilbert Water/Waste approximately 36%, then followed up by giving staff a blanket 5% raise without regard to merit.

Previously, Council gave $2000 bonuses to staff without individual merit… and 3 Council members voted to have the Town use it’s self insurance to pay for “sex affirmation” surgery for any interested staff and their families.

Another extremely irresponsible action was in regards to a fraud claim that they settled with a vendor. This is too complex an issue for this forum, but I was asked by two Council members to investigate some strange purchases and I was able to demonstrate, as the Town Manger put it, “malfeasance” and the Town Attorney called it fraud. The current Council basically swept this multi million dollar vendor issue under the rug rather than do a true overhaul and demand refunds.

These are all fiscally irresponsible and lack value judgment.

Add to this the unruly explosion of apartments, traffic and zoning changes and the actual standard of living in Gilbert has been compromised.

Survey

Response Legend

  • SSupports
  • OOpposes
  • *Comment
  • −Declined to respond
  • †Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question Response Comments/Notes
1. Denying government funding to "sanctuary cities" that do not comply with federal immigration laws S* We have to great a problem with illegal immigrants to ignore it.
2. Allowing all parents to use tax credits, vouchers, or education savings accounts to enable children to attend any public, charter, private, homeschool, or online academy S* Parents need to have options.
3. Expanding background checks to include guns purchased from private individuals O* Expanding background checks for private party transactions is another method of tracking gun owners.
4. Using taxpayer funds to support any organization that provides, promotes, or provides referrals for abortion O* Abortion is a misuse of tax dollars.
5. Prohibiting abortion except when it is necessary to prevent the death of the mother S
6. Providing tax breaks to certain industries over others O* I may be oversimplifying this, but it is redistribution of wealth. A non-starter for me.
7. Adding "sexual orientation," "gender identity," or "gender expression" to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination ordinances O* No. Just no. I am very opposed to special classes.
8. Protecting a parent's right to seek professional counseling for their minor child with same-sex attraction or gender identity issues to help them reach their desired outcome S* No one should be raising your children but you.
9. Setting minimum wage above the state minimum wage O* Every time minimum wage rises, cost rise proportionally and the small business owner becomes the victim.
10. Protecting individuals and businesses from being required to use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their conscience S* I just want to point out how silly it is to require someone to make your cake if they don't want to. There are about a million jokes to make here, but the best analogy is "offend the waiter and he spits in your food."You cannot regulate "tolerance."
11. Requiring any government entity, including schools, to inform parents about their child’s physical, emotional, or mental health S* If I am understand this correctly, no gov't entity should withhold information from a family.
12. Establishing electric retail competition to eliminate the current monopoly system for electric utilities S* Competition is the heartbeat of capitalism.