Now We Get Down And Dirty (as if it weren't bad enough already...)

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Update: 3/07/2011 10:00am

Mayor Scruggs Confirms city's intentions to pursue legal action against the Goldwater Institute.

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On Friday ESPN reported that the City of Glendale had plans to file suit against the Goldwater Institute today.

ROCK ON GLENDALE!!! I certainly hope those "reports" are true.

Not only are they expected to file suit against the Institute itself - but specific members of their board as well. Namely Randy Kendrick - wife of Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick. Whose husband stands to lose the most should the Coyotes stay and prosper - supposedly.

Do I really believe she's trying to sabotage the sale? Not really. I don't think that the Coyotes have that much of an impact on the Diamondbacks attendance to make her want to do something so vindictive. We only play a few games a year at the same time the baseball team does - and our attendance typically sucks at the beginning of the season anyway. Could it be the competition for sponsorship deals? Maybe... but I'm not really feeling it.

I think there's someone else involved, not necessarily on the Goldwater board but perhaps financing their shady endeavors. Money talks, right?

It is evident that the Goldwater Institute has spent considerable time, effort - and someone's donated money in order to stall the sale of the Coyotes to Matthew Hulsizer. They are a private company and thus can keep their investors private. But I'd sure like to know who has been donating lately...

According to ESPN's report, the Goldwater Institute has contacted potential bond investors and warned them to stay away from the deal - threatening to file suit should the sale go through. What does that tell investors? You're buying "junk bonds". That's a lot of unnecessary effort, time and money spent on ruining a transaction that hasn't even occurred yet.

Goldwater says Glendale "withheld documents". Yet Mayor Scruggs was informed back in December that they had all the information they needed. Mayor Scruggs has also asked repeatedly to have a sit down with the Goldwater board - face to face - to explain the transaction and answer any questions they may have. They have repeatedly refused. If they were looking out for the interests of the taxpayers - as they claim - wouldn't they at least be willing to sit down and discuss this with the Mayor?

There is much debate regarding the parking rights and who actually owns them. Goldwater insists that the City still owns the parking rights and that they would essentially be purchasing nothing then. However, according to the lease that the City had in place with the old team owner (who's name shall no longer be found in my posts) - the team controlled the parking rights and added on a surcharge to our ticket prices - then paid the city from that.

A new lease agreement was entered into with the NHL when they purchased the team. I don't recall what all that lease arrangement entailed however... The NHL and the City - to my understanding - did not make huge changes to the lease agreement that was in place prior to the NHL's purchase of the team. The team is still - at this point - not charging people for parking. So one can reasonably assume that those parking surcharges are still being applied to our ticket prices and the NHL is paying the City as agreed in the prior lease agreement.

So... does this mean that the NHL actually owns the parking rights? Well in that case - Goldwater REALLY doesn't have a leg to stand on in a law suit. Never mind the trouble they are causing with their shady business practices along with the billions of dollars they are trying to rob Glendale residents of in unnecessary tax increases should the team leave - now they are also tampering and quite visibly trying to destroy a private business deal. Which is illegal, dear Goldwater - as you should know. The City is simply purchasing back their parking rights. Nothing illegal about that...