Two incumbents in Maricopa’s City Council race found themselves the targets of ethics and campaign complaints at the start of election season.

The complaints alleged Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr and Vice Mayor Vincent Manfredi each engaged in unethical behavior in their roles as members of the council, according to a public records request obtained by InMaricopa.  

Both complaints were dismissed by city leadership due to filing deficiencies and no evidence of wrongdoing.  

Knorr and Manfredi each called the complaints “frivolous” and a byproduct of being involved in politics. Both have been accused of ethics violations in the past.  

“Politics is what it is, and it’s the nature of the position,” Knorr said.  

Manfredi had a similar take.  

“It was just another frivolous complaint by people who get kind of nuts during the political season,” he said. 

What the complaints alleged 

The Feb. 10 complaint made against Knorr came through an anonymous letter mailed to Mayor Nancy Smith, alleging the councilwoman used her position to influence construction times occurring near her day job at Exceptional Community Hospital. Knorr works as Director of Marketing & Public Affairs for the hospital. 

The letter writer asserted hospital employees complained about noise from the construction and “Knorr chose sides with the hospital employees against the construction company and Maricopa residents.”  

“Knorr abused her limited authority as a city councilmember to provide favors for her workplace at the hospital and induced or directed employee(s) of the City of Maricopa to make the construction companies halt daytime work and replace it with nighttime work, causing harm to them and to the public,” the letter read.   

Manfredi’s complaint came from a repeat complainant, Province resident Terry Clark, who posted about his complaint on social media several times. In an April 13 email to City Clerk Vanessa Bueras, Clark and his wife Rebecca claimed Manfredi “failed to report his campaign advertising expenses on his first quarter financial report as required by law.”  

“We are not sure if this violation would disqualify him for the upcoming election or void any and all signatures collected via the add attached. Please consider this email as a complaint of a campaign violation,” the email read. 

His evidence included a screenshot of a Facebook advertisement that read “Paid for by Vincent Manfredi – Maricopa, AZ.” 

Complaints called ‘deficient,’ ‘frivolous’

In a March 17 memo, City Manager Ben Bitter informed council members “there does not appear to be any wrongdoing by Councilwoman Knorr as alleged in the complaint.” He confirmed there was no conflict of interest and the city received similar complaints about traffic from other nearby businesses. 

“On or about Jan. 27-28, 2026, Councilwoman Knorr contacted the City Manager regarding construction … [which] was causing traffic issues in that area, especially around the time that Maricopa High School and Maricopa Wells Middle School released kids for the day,” the memo read.  

Instead, the city found “the contractor was not in compliance with the approved traffic plan” and a new permit required “certain work be done during non-peak hours due to the previous violations and the type of work to be completed.” 

Knorr called the complaint “frivolous” and “unfortunate.” 

“My concern for that traffic situation was completely based off of citizen complaints that were coming to me personally and also on Facebook,” she told InMaricopa. 

In Manfredi’s case, Bueras sent a letter to Clark that same day only stating “the complaint is deficient” of required information and did not acknowledge the claim of incorrect finance reporting. 

Election campaign finance reports are required by candidates who file a statement of organization and must follow state statute.  

In his committee campaign finance report dated April 1, Manfredi reported his $4,950 advertising expense dated Jan. 21 with 85239 Com, the business name for InMaricopa. Other expenses included $980 in campaign signs from Mesa Sign Shop and $100 for booth space at City of Maricopa.  

Manfredi said he has filed his reports the same way for years.  

“I file my finance reports, which I’ve done every year. It’s my own money … and I list exactly where I spend it,” he said. 

DOA (dismissed on arrival)

City leadership acknowledged each complaint simply did not meet the minimum criteria according to city and state code for a full investigation. This includes complaints filed by an eligible complainant, statements submitted under oath and supported by sufficient detail and documentation.  

Knorr said that while residents have a right to air their grievances, “both complaints are outside the current ethics process.” 

“If people want to complain about that, that’s their right … I think that having an actual name attached to a complaint is more desirable because then you can understand the motives of the other person,” she said. 

Manfredi related the complaints back to election season.   

“In reality, there’s complaints made by constituents every single day about different council members and staff members,” Manfredi said. “I don’t think either of us did anything wrong. It’s just the world we live in today, where politics has divided us to the point where we look to hurt instead of heal.” 

Vincent Manfredi owns InMaricopa.