Kimball recall addressed at council meeting

Two sides of a recall effort against Councilman Bridger Kimball came to a head Tuesday during the Maricopa City Council meeting as residents for and against Kimball’s removal from office expressed their opinions on the issue.

Councilman Leon Potter is leading a recall effort against his fellow council member because of a DUI Kimball was arrested for in December 2012.

The opinions on the issue spilled out during a call to the public at the beginning of the meeting. The husband of one resident who spoke claimed his wife felt threatened by an email Kimball sent her last week.

That resident, Gina Hull, who wants Kimball to resign, addressed the council saying residents must expect “a high standard of integrity” from their elected officials and “we cannot continue to think that it’s OK for a public leader to drive while drunk.”

Hull later added: “My intention’s not to pick a fight with Mr. Kimball or beat him down anymore, but to ask him to take responsibility for messing up and humbly step down as councilman.”

Hull’s husband, Tim Hull, also addressed the council – not about the recall effort – but about the email Kimball sent his wife, which he said caused her not to go to work and have a panic attack.

Gina Hull sent out an email to community members on Feb. 24 with the subject line, “Email Bridger Kimball and ask him to step down as Councilman, super extreme DUI.”

In the email, Hull said she planned to lead an effort with the help of Potter to pressure Kimball to resign because of the DUI.

“He was recklessly drunk at .285, three times the legal limit and basically just got his hands slapped,” Hull wrote. “Mr. Kimball doesn’t think Maricopa residents care that he got a DUI while holding public office.”

Gina Hull then requested the email recipients forward the message to other residents and email Kimball asking him to step down.

Kimball sent an email back at 12:28 a.m. on Feb. 25 that said he read her email and she should “get your facts straight before sending something out that talks about the ‘facts’ of the case.”

“I was not recklessly driving when I was pulled over,” he wrote. “I didn’t get just a ‘hand slap.’”

Kimball also wrote in the email he has “a very interesting and insightful story to tell for those who will listen” – a story he told to a Maricopa High School graduating class.

Kimball also listed his various punishments for the “‘hand slap’ as you called it.’”

Sarcastic comments followed some of the items he listed. For example, after “24 hours in jail,” Kimball put in parenthesis “Super fun times.” After “interlock on my car,” Kimball wrote “really extra fun times.”

“The email started out with short, angry defensive remarks and then continued with sarcastic remarks,” Tim Hull said. “It then concluded with his name, Bridger Kimball, with Caswells Shooting Range and then his cellphone number underneath.”

Kimball works as the general manager at Caswells Shooting Range in Mesa. He sent the message to Gina Hull using his work email address.

Gina Hull previously told InMaricopa.com it was Kimball’s email signature that caused her great anxiety.

At the end of the call to the public, Mayor Christian Price gave Kimball an opportunity to respond. During his response, Kimball said he spoke to Tim Hull on Monday evening and said he “never intended to be threatening.”

Most of those in support of Kimball – including his dad, justice of the peace candidate Russ Kimball – weren’t planning to speak. However, once comments were made against Kimball, those in support of the councilman offered their opinion.

Russ Kimball talked about his son’s upbringing and principles, saying he and his mother raised their son “to take personal responsibility for his actions and give back to his community.”

Russ Kimball, who has a law enforcement background, said he supports Bridger not only because he is his son but because he knows he was raised with the “correct principles.”

“He knows in his heart that I would have arrested and booked him as well,” he said.

Scott Blevins, a friend of Kimball’s who worked on the councilman’s campaign, said after the meeting he decided to speak “because I’m loyal to my friend in need and I believe there’s nobody in this room tonight who is perfect.”

Blevins admitted during the call to the public that he himself has driven after having drinks but he changed his lifestyle after having a daughter.

“I changed my life. I changed my lifestyle,” he said. “And to point out one person because of a mistake he’s made, I don’t think is fair. There’re folks in here who claim they’ve never had a drink and driven, but I tell you what, you don’t live a life of perfection.”

Thrown into the mix of speakers was a group of kids from the Maricopa Youth Recreation Center SADD Club who spoke about the consequences of underage drinking. SADD stands for Students Against Destructive Decisions. The kids who spoke wore orange T-shirts with the words “Why 21?”

Priscilla Behnke, program director of Maricopa Ak-Chin CAASA, which operates the youth center, said their presentation was not related to the recall effort and they had been planning to talk at the council meeting for about two weeks.

During his address to the public, Kimball explained he had publicly apologized for his DUI arrest more than a year ago, and during that apology explained he was going to “move forward with his case as expeditiously as possible.”

The councilman pleaded guilty, paid fines, spent a day in jail and completed other court requirements on top of speaking with high school students on the dangers of drinking and driving and sharing with community members the story of his arrest, he said.

“I don’t take what I did lightly,” he said. “I do apologize for what I did. I apologized at the time for bringing that to the city of Maricopa. I made a bad judgment. … that’s one night in my life I really wish I could take back.”

Kimball said he would like to tell his story to anyone who has time to listen. He added that he appreciated the comments that were made during the call to the public.