Sal DiCiccio must not like working
If you guessed how many days Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio showed up to work over 20 months, you'd probably be wrong.
Sal DiCiccio, the controversial outgoing Republican Phoenix City Councilman, only spent 17 days at city hall over the 20 months between January 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022 which is by far the lowest among his elected colleagues.
This is according to badge scan records I obtained from the City of Phoenix for all eight city councilors and the mayor.
DiCiccio scanned into the Downtown Phoenix building 9 times in all of 2021 and just eight times across the first eight months of this year not even averaging one day per month over the entire time frame, which is totally wild.
He and all other Phoenix council members earn $61,600 annually.
When Phoenix New Times looked into this data in 2018, it also found DiCiccio was not showing up to his office. He scanned in on 29 days during that calendar year and apparently thought that number was too high so started to show up even less.
DiCiccio is not running again due to term limits and will be replaced by one of several candidates on the November ballot in the city’s District Six. Somewhat ironically, his former chief of staff –– and current Kari Lake campaign staffer –– Sam Stone, who is also running to replace his former boss, made a big deal over Adrian Fontes’ badge scan records while at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office only to see that his boss at the time was showing up far less than Fontes did.
I previously reported on the badge scan records of statewide officials as well as Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
By any metric, showing up on just 17 days in 20 months is truly terrible and unbecoming of an elected official –– even if utilizing remote work, but especially in comparison to DiCiccio’s colleagues.
To put into perspective, Councilmembers Ann O’Brien (District One) and Yassamin Ansari (District Seven) didn’t join the council until April 2021 after winning their respective elections.
O’Brien scanned in for a total of 177 days across the same 20 months (96 days in 2021, 81 days in 2022 through August); Ansari scanned in 214 days (124 in 2021 and 90 in 2022 through August).
Councilwoman Debra Stark, who scanned in the most times in 2018 with 155, dropped her 20 month total to 127 days split into 75 in 2021 and 52 in 2022, which was good for third worst.
Mayor Kate Gallego finished in between Stark and DiCiccio with 41 days in 2021 and 16 days in 2022 for a total of 57 days, but Gallego, as the mayor, has a security detail that typically buzzes her in as was the case in 2018 and for previous mayors.
Carlos Garcia, the District Eight Councilor, buzzed in the most often with 158 days in 2021 and another 99 in 2022, or 257 days overall.
Here are the remaining members’ totals:
Jim Waring (District Two)- 174 days (127 in 2021, 47 in 2022)
Laura Pastor (District Four)- 188 days (110 in 2021, 78 in 2022)
Betty Guardado (District Five)- 229 days (140 in 2021, 89 in 2022)
The City Council is supposed to have a meeting later today, so we’ll see if DiCiccio will be there in person or call in. At a less than once per month rate, he roughly has about four in-person working days left1 of his time at City Hall, wouldn’t want to waste it.
I assume one of those days will be when he has to return his badge.