Sun Lakes Republican Club Minutes
When : September 10, 2025 6:30PM-8:30PM
Where: Sun Lakes Country Club Phase One Navajo Room
Who: Approximately 130 in attendance
AGENDA
- Chairman Michael Tennant greeted and welcomed the guests and led them in the Pledge of Allegiance. Then he asked Linda Gorman to pray a special Invocation for Charlie Kirk and his family. (Charlie Kirk had been assassinated that day in Utah.)
- CUSD: The first speaker was Barbie Brasch who informed us about a new bond issue that the Chandler school board (CUSD) is trying to get passed. It is an example of “bait and switch”. The bond issue that was defeated at the polls last year was essentially asking for the same amount of money. The only difference is that this new one is just spreading the money out over a shorter period of time. There is still no accountability as to how the funds will be spent. She also started petitions around the room to get Congressman Andy Biggs on the ballot to run for AZ Governor, and for Sindy Martinez-Reich to run for Chandler School Board and Kurt Rohrs to run for reelection to the school board.
- AZ House Representative Julie Willoughby spoke next about her run for the AZ Senate. She also mentioned that Jeff Weninger who is also in the AZ House of Representatives, is running for Chandler Mayor.
- AZ Senate update: The following speaker was AZ State Senate Legislator JD Mesnard who told us he will announce his future plans after being “termed out” of the House and Senate, in the near future. Meanwhile he talked about some of the bills that were introduced in the Senate this past spring. One bill that passed is requiring the State “to divest from anything relating to China”. The bill that did not pass was his that he introduced that would have streamlined the vote counting on election day. He also spoke of his disappointment with the way there is division within the Republican Party down at the capitol, and said that whoever runs for Governor from our party needs to be supported by the party as a whole, or Katie Hobbs will get reelected, which, he said, would be a disaster.
- The “Keynote Speaker” this evening was County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan. He and the captain who is over our District One in Sun Lakes, Captain Jesus (Chewy) Jerez, spoke about the Sheriff’s Office and the many responsibilities it oversees. They showed us a 5 minute video which was like an overview of these responsibilities. It was very impressive! The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is the 4th largest IN THE NATION. Sheriff Sheridan then went on to tell us that of their deputies, 75% are employed in the jail system and 25% in law enforcement. The jail system holds prisoners until after sentencing, after which they go on to the prison system. The prison system is not under his purview. He informed us that they need 4000 deputies to function at optimum capacity, but presently they only have 3000. It takes one year to train new deputies they hire. So the gap is being filled but it will take time. He said Sun Lakes has the lowest crime rate of the 9 districts within the County, consequently we have the fewest number of deputies assigned to our area. We also have the Sheriff’s Posse that is a volunteer organization that fills in the “gap”. Here is a brief list of other topics covered in the speeches of Sheriff Sheridan and Captain Jerez: (1) Home Safety is best attained by simple measures like keeping all doors locked, closing garage doors all the way, and keeping cars in the garage or locked in the driveways with no garage door openers or keys inside them. Block Watch is an effective tool and his office helps communities start these. If you are interested in getting involved in Block Watch look for “Sun Lakes Neighborhood Watch” on the app “Nextdoor”. (2) Fraud is on the rise, especially among the elderly. Fraud is best avoided by not answering or responding to calls from phone numbers or email from addresses you do not recognize. “The best way to prevent it is to delete it!” was his motto. (3) Animal Cruelty: Of the 33 individual departments in the Sheriff’s Office there was no department to deal with animal cruelty until he got elected. Now there is a separate department that takes care of animal abuse cases. He says consequences for offenders needs to be increased if we want to see the number of cases go down. This has to be done legislatively. He also informed us that he is only answerable to us – the ones who elected him. He is not answerable to the State or Federal government because he was elected not appointed.
- Raffle: The last business of the evening was the 50/50 Raffle. The winner won $65 and she donated $30 of her winnings back to the club.
- Annual Christmas Event: There were seats being sold at the meeting for the annual December “Old Fashioned Christmas” dinner dance event. The seats are selling out quickly. Last year we were “sold out” by the end of October! This year the HOA is only allowing 24 tables of 10. That will be approximately 30 people less than last year due to overcrowded spaces that were hard for the servers to navigate.
- October SLRC meeting: The next public meeting will be Wednesday October 8th. More information on that meeting will be coming out soon by email.