Why don’t elected officials tackle the big issues more? It’s a constant refrain one hears about elected officials whether its foreign policy or Social Security in the nation’s Capitol Hill or Scottsdale visionaries lamenting the lack of a next great thing.
That can’t be said of Glendale City Councilman Gary Sherwood.
The city is a cauldron of upside finances and distrusting peers.
From Michael Bidwill and rich gaming tribes to transient new owners of the Phoenix Coyotes and a spring training complex with the worst mathematics in baseball there is no escape from tough votes and issues in the capital of the West Valley.
Enter first-term Councilman Gary Sherwood.
Last summer he led the charge for an annual $15 million subsidy allowing the now Arizona Coyotes to stay in town. But for his championing and vote the franchise would have skated away, as it likely will anyways several years from now.
And in the heavyweight title bout surrounding a new Glendale casino and involving the largesse of a Tucson gaming tribe and one right here in the Valley Sherwood flipped his vote to favor the new casino. We disagree with some of Sherwood’s decisions. But he deserves credit for not ducking the big issues. Her certainly doesn’t fear them.
He’s in the middle of them all. Negotiating. Leading. Compromising. That’s political courage in short supply. And that’s terribly refreshing in this day and age when politicians too often cozy up to the easier decision.