InMaricopa owner files ethics complaint against councilwoman Gusse

An ethics complaint has been filed against Maricopa City Councilwoman Julia Gusse by Scott Bartle, owner and publisher of InMaricopa.

Bartle filed the complaint April 16, citing a heated email conversation with Gusse that took place in November 2018. He accused her of using her office to damage his business.

The email exchange came after Bartle reached out to city council members regarding renewal of their ad in the annual New Resident Guide. The correspondence was through public channels and on the record. But Gusse’s response, also on the record, asked for details of the media company’s hiring practices “before our City moves forward with any advertising.”

She cited the firing of an employee with a criminal record. Bartle accused Gusse of “strategically” making his private business a matter of public record. He accused her of stirring up trouble and bullying instead of trying “to help make city policy, manage the city budget and supervise the city manager.”

“Your job on council does not include playing favorites with area news or advertising organizations, and it is certainly not telling local business owners like me how to run our companies,” he wrote in a Nov. 13, 2018 email. “Please concern yourself more with what the citizens elected you to do and less with my business and me.”

In response to that email, Gusse accused Bartle of “mansplaining” her job to her to put her in her place and added, for safety reasons, “who you hire is 100% my concern.’

“Am I to scurry away now with your permission? As you are well aware, the pen is mightier than the sword!” she wrote.

Bartle responded with a lengthy email outlining his concerns that she might be “imposing ad hoc regulations” on a private business outside the realm of the council as a policy-making body and painted her actions as a threat to withhold revenue. The company’s “hiring processes comply with all applicable laws and high business ethics standards,” he wrote.

That conversation ended nearly a year and a half ago, but Bartle said he filed the complaint because Gusse is running for re-election with a previous ethics sanction.

Contacted Thursday afternoon, Gusse said she could not comment on the complaint or her allegedly hostile relationship with InMaricopa for legal reasons.

“I hope it is resolved in some way when we talk about it at the next council meeting,” she said.

Gusse has played a role in every ethics complaint to come before council, either as a complainant and a respondent. She is the only member in council’s history to be sanctioned for an ethics violation.

In October 2014, City Council determined that Gusse violated the code of ethics and issued her a warning as a sanction for the violation. She had called former Councilman Carl Diedrich a bully and questioned his ethics during his May 29 public interview for a city council appointment. The council issued a public apology to Diedrich.

Gusse, who was part of the committee that created council’s first Ethics Code, has filed two ethics complaints against other councilmembers, including Vincent Manfredi, Bartle’s partner in InMaricopa ownership.

She had filed a complaint against then-vice mayor Edward Farrell in 2014 in response to the Diedrich incident, and again against Manfredi in 2018. In the first case, Farrell apologized for using profane language during an executive session, and the council did not pursue sanctions. In the latter, Gusse withdrew her complaint after an apology from Manfredi for criticizing a reporter on his council social media page.

“Had she not run for re-election I would have left these ethics code violations up to the mayor,” Bartle said. “Ironically, I hate being in the news and was hoping to avoid this altogether. But the right of voters to be fully informed combined with my lack of patience with bullies eclipse my desire to be anonymous.”

In the email exchange with Gusse, Bartle said she had made it clear for a long time she was “not a fan” of InMaricopa and that played into her actions as councilmember.

“I want our elected officials to be accountable, and I want voters to know as much about the candidates as possible when they cast their ballots,” Bartle said this week. “I also want the City’s decisions of doing business with my companies based on the merits of the services I provide and not influenced by a councilmember’s personal biases.”

Manfredi was not involved in the email exchange between Bartle and Gusse.