Meet Kevin Robinson, Sam Stone: Phoenix City Council District 6 candidates
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Phoenix voters in north-central Phoenix, Arcadia, the Biltmore area and Ahwatukee will elect a new City Council member in March.
Councilman Sal DiCiccio, the longtime representative for District 6, is term-limited. Voters have two very different options for his replacement: Sam Stone and Kevin Robinson.
Stone is DiCiccio's former chief of staff. He has vowed to continue DiCiccio's legacy of fiscal conservatism and has said he will offer balance on the left-leaning council.
Robinson served in the Phoenix Police Department for many years. During his campaign, he has stressed consensus-building and pragmatism.
Stone is endorsed by DiCiccio. Robinson is endorsed by Mayor Kate Gallego.
The winner will join the city's seven other council members, plus the mayor, in overseeing the nation's fifth most populous city.
Kevin Robinson
Kevin Robinson, 63, is a criminal justice professor in Arizona State University's Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. He grew up in the Maryvale neighborhood of west Phoenix and graduated from Trevor Browne High School in 1977.
He joined the Phoenix Police Department in late 1980. He worked for the department for 36 years, making his way up the ranks from patrol officer to investigator, commander, spokesman and, eventually, assistant police chief. As assistant police chief, Robinson oversaw several high-profile cases, including those stemming from the Baseline Killer and serial shooters Dale Hausner and Samuel Dieteman. Robinson's retirement in 2017 made news because he received a record payout of $944,287 via the state's Deferred Retirement Option Plan.
Leading up to the November election, Robinson faced criticism from another District 6 candidate who said Robinson was claiming to be a district resident while living in Scottsdale. Candidate Moses Sanchez tried to knock Robinson off the ballot in court, but a judge ruled in Robinson's favor.
Robinson acknowledged that he and his wife, Michele Halyard, moved to Scottsdale during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he rented a home in District 6 to be able to run for City Council and always intended to purchase a home in the district. Maricopa County records show he and Halyard purchased a condo in the Biltmore area in September.
Robinson lived for years in Ahwatukee and sent his kids to school in Arcadia. An Arizona Republic article from 2008 headlined "Assistant chief oversees village that he calls home" documents Robinson's oversight of the Ahwatukee precinct as a 10-year resident.
On the campaign trail, Robinson has stressed his skill at bringing people together to find consensus and says he'll hear all sides before making a decision. He would like to add more police officers and firefighters, change zoning rules to address the affordable housing crisis and invest in new technology to recycle and conserve water, according to his campaign website.
Robinson also says he wants to advance the Phoenix ethics commission, which the City Council has failed to bring to fruition despite approving it six years ago.
Robinson has been criticized for his affiliation with Gallego and his background as a police officer. Gallego asked Robinson to run, endorsed him and has rigorously campaigned and fundraised on his behalf. Robinson's skeptics, namely supporters of Councilmember Carlos Garcia who are frustrated that Gallego is working to oust him, question whether Robinson will act independently or serve as a rubber stamp for Gallego. They also believe Robinson will defend the Phoenix police to the point of rejecting reforms requiring more department accountability and oversight.
Robinson, for his part, said his background as an officer will be beneficial. He said he knows how things work in the department and thinks he'll lend a level of balance and expertise that can move the needle in terms of public trust.
In 2020, Robinson penned an opinion for The Republic in which he said community concerns over police behavior and use of force "should not be ignored." The piece came days after the council approved a civilian review board to oversee the Police Department. Robinson stopped short of endorsing the board, instead calling it "an opportunity" for officers to re-establish trust and saying officers would rise to the occasion.
Sam Stone
Sam Stone, 47, is a Republican political consultant, co-host of a conservative radio show and podcast called "Breaking Battlegrounds" and former chief of staff to District 6 Councilmember Sal DiCiccio, who is term-limited.
Stone grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York where, he said, he kept a 2,000-pound bull named Bucky as a pet. He had previously befriended a bull named Little Lord Fauntleroy, who mysteriously disappeared. A few weeks later, when his mother prepared veal for dinner guests, he realized what had happened. He told The Republic he ran away crying, so his father let him keep the next bull, Bucky.
He said his Jewish upbringing in a predominantly Christian, conservative town led to some interesting encounters.
One of Stone's closest friends in high school told Stone earnestly that he was saddened that Stone was "going to hell" because he was Jewish, Stone recalled, chuckling. Stone said he replied, "Well, we have a slightly different interpretation of that, but in the meantime, we can still be friends."
Stone's ability to maintain friendships with people with whom he disagrees continues in his adult life, he said. He likes having liberal friends and stoking debates with them. Stone said that he gets along with some of the City Council's left-leaning members — although he's sparred with Vice Mayor Yassamin Ansari, who has endorsed Robinson — and that he made a habit of hiring young liberals to work in DiCiccio's office.
His political resume and style, however, don't always foster good relationships with people across the aisle. He was the policy director for Kari Lake, the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate who is closely aligned with Donald Trump and continues to allege corruption in Arizona's election systems. On Twitter, Stone has made offensive comments, including a degrading sexual remark about a female White House reporter whom he believed was biased in favor of President Joe Biden.
Stone had no qualms about the tweet nearly two years later. It was "gross" and "admittedly offensive," he acknowledged, but that was "exactly my intent," Stone said. Prior tweets where he criticized journalists for softball questions received far less engagement, he said. His tone was meant to cut through.
Stone describes city politics as his passion and says he's running to counterbalance what he sees as an overly liberal City Council that's too eager to spend money and launch programs Phoenix cannot afford. He wants to focus on the city's current operations, as opposed to adding to its list of responsibilities, he said in a recent Twitter Spaces interview.
"Do you want a city that follows the path of coastal cities, or someone who can push back on their worst ideas and bring good ideas to counter them?" Stone said of the District 6 race. If Robinson wins, he added, the mayor "is going to have five baked-in votes and can pass basically everything she wants to do. If I win ... the council will have to continue to compromise, and I think that's really critical right now."
Reach reporter Taylor Seely at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @taylorseely95.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Robinson, Sam Stone: Phoenix City Council District 6 candidates
