Dear Editor,
This has been one of the ugliest local elections I have ever seen. It started out with District 1 Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter calling District 4 Supervisor candidate Jennifer Esposito childish names online such as “rabid dog” and spreading a despicable false rumor about his opponent Shawn Meisner, the former head grounds keeper at the Mohave County Fairgrounds.
Then it devolved into a “cat fight” between Supervisor Bishop and her former administrative assistant, District 4 candidate Marianne Salem, after Bishop came unglued on constituent and school board candidate Danielle Keck. No arrests were made, but Bishop hired a paralegal to send a threatening letter to Salem at work recently, where she’s still a county employee working for Lingenfelter.
Meanwhile, Salem’s husband Frank Puglia has been busy gay bashing candidate Logan Marsh. When Bishop convinced him to run, Marsh should have entered the race realistically expecting that might happen, considering the high percentage of Christians in District 4. Your life is an open book as a candidate.
Marsh was also the subject of an “anonymous” complaint to and Notice of Violation from opponent Gilbert Smaby’s Development Services Department, which coincidentally occurred after Smaby entered the supervisor race. Smaby is also the defendant in an abuse of power lawsuit for malfeasance and civil rights violations in his official capacity as a county enforcement official, in an unrelated matter.
It’s no secret to those paying attention that some candidates running to replace Bishop are her friends or relatives, who all entered the race after Esposito. You will never see them criticize her for the horrible things she’s done, in either her official or personal capacity. Like that time during her reign of COVID tyranny, where Bishop told “downwinder” documentary filmmakers her husband Dan had succumbed to the Wuhan virus when in fact he had committed suicide. You can’t really get much lower than exploiting the death of a loved one for political advantage. So, it really wasn’t a surprise that candidate Don Martin took a page from his cousin Jean’s play book and while publicly lamenting the untimely passing of his old lady for the sympathy vote Martin was unrelentingly attacking Esposito in private Facebook groups where his relatives and friends wouldn’t see his ugliness. Martin’s whole political campaign on Facebook has been months of baseless accusations against Esposito and he never missed a beat. If I lost my old lady I would be devastated and the last thing on my mind would be attacking people on social media the same week, but then again, I’m not a sociopath.
Supervisor Bishop’s Facebook profile proudly boasts a meme which says, “Y’all think I’m mean wait till I don’t like you,” and the long suffering constituents of District 4 have learned how true those words are. Many eagerly await her departure at the end of the year. And true to her meme, Bishop really doesn’t like Esposito. In 2020 when Esposito ran against her as a write-in candidate, after “mean Jean” knocked Rick Armstrong off the ballot in a legal challenge, Esposito received an impressive 1,230 votes despite no debates being held or candidate questionnaires distributed and published. Esposito had the wicked witch of District 4’s flying monkeys spreading lies about her in a well-coordinated attack then, too.
But politics makes for strange bedfellows, so to speak, and alliances can shift like the desert sands. Now a couple of Bishop’s co-conspirators have turned on each other and have posted evidence online exposing the previous and ongoing malicious conspiracy to libel Esposito. Does Bishop pay that woman in Bullhead City to make those horrible innuendo-filled YouTube videos attacking all the candidates running against the ones that Bishop supports? I doubt anyone would do it for free.
You know you’re over the target when you are under fire, and for 17 long months Esposito has been the recipient of a disgusting smear campaign. Curiously she has not been criticized for her platform, positions, or accomplishments on behalf of the people of Mohave County. The fact that critics don’t want to engage in adult debate with her on the actual important issues is very revealing. Like Trump, some people seem to suffer from Esposito derangement syndrome and no amount of facts or reason can reach them, while they mindlessly repeat a ‘blond woman bad’ mantra.
I really hope the voters see through the lies and deceit this time, and realize that Esposito only volunteered for another round of election cycle abuse to be their voice on the Board, and to protect their rights and hard earned money. If Gilbert Smaby or one of the other Bishop adjacent puppet candidates wins then everyone loses. We don’t need Bishop the sequel for the next four years while she pulls strings from behind the scenes.
End the cycle of abuse when you cast your vote by July 30. The winning team for Kingman and all of Mohave County is Jennifer Esposito in District 4 and Shawn Meisner in District 1.
Robert J. Mawhinney Jr.
