Dan Frazier

P.O. Box 22324

Flagstaff, AZ 86002

April 15, 2004

Steve Venker

Planning and Zoning Manager

City of Tempe

P.O. Box 5002

Tempe, AZ 85281

Dear Mr. Venker:

Yesterday I wrote to you about Tempe Planning Zoning Commissioner Michael Crusa and his potential conflicts of interest. For a partial list of his firm’s many corporate and political clients, visit www.summitgroupnet.com.

Today I am writing to you to share additional information about Mr. Crusa that may have a bearing on his ability to serve as a Commissioner. As indicated by the enclosed press clippings, Mr. Crusa appears to have been involved in the 1991 AzScam scandal. As you may recall, this political corruption investigation made national headlines. A slew of state legislators were indicted in the wake of a bribery sting operation.  Mr. Crusa was an aide to Senator Deconcini at the time. He got mixed up in AzScam when he took $10,000 from state Representative Sue Laybe, a central AzScam figure who was later indicted on numerous charges. The money was to have been laundered through a national Democratic committee, and then funneled back to Arizona Democrats.  When the AzScam indictments started making headlines, Crusa asked Deconcini what he should do with the money. At Deconcini’s direction, Crusa turned the money over to the attorney general. Crusa then resigned from his position as Deconcini’s state director.  Crusa’s resignation was front-page news in the Arizona Republic. (Feb. 27, 1991. See also March 14, 1991.) Crusa was granted immunity by prosecutors in exchange for his testimony.

You may wonder why I have taken such an interest in Mr. Crusa. The answer is that Crusa’s firm, The Summit Group (a.k.a. Summit Research) has lately been involved in a scandal that has been rightly covered by every major media outlet in my community of Flagstaff. As explained in the enclosed clipping from the Arizona Daily Sun (April 8, 2004), Summit Research has been conducting a potentially illegal push-poll. The poll is designed to influence the upcoming election, which includes several open-space-related questions.  One of the questions in the poll is extremely misleading, and has little connection to the facts. The City of Flagstaff is considering legal action against Mr. Crusa’s firm and/or the sponsors of the poll because the poll amounts to political advertising. Under most circumstances, it is a violation of Arizona law to attempt to influence the outcome of an election though advertising without disclosing who is paying for the advertising (ARS 16-912.01).  Even when questioned directly, Summit pollsters do not disclose who is paying for their so-called poll. You may wish to contact Margie Brown, City Clerk for Flagstaff, for an update on the status of potential legal action at (928) 774-5281.

The above scandals, combined with Mr. Crusa’s many business alliances with various entities that regularly may have business with the Planning and Zoning Commission, should be cause for concern, if not alarm. Can you really expect Mr. Crusa not to use his position on the Commission to further his personal and financial interests when he is known to have taken $10,000 as part of a money-laundering scheme?  Do you trust someone who told an ethics committee that he still respected Sue Laybe, a woman with 17 counts against her, including charges of bribery and conspiracy? Do you really expect full disclosure from Mr. Crusa about his many business entanglements when his firm won’t even tell voters the truth?

Sincerely,

Dan Frazier