Complete BS

Here at the Arizona Progress & Gazette we support free speech to the fullest, and we are honored to give voice to a wide range of opinions. But free speech does not mean freedom from retort. We have a ton of respect for Betty Janik, who has earned that standing through a storied career of public service and honorable politics. But earned respect does not mean reflexive agreement.

The truth here is simple. Solange Whitehead voted to cancel the Axon referendum election to cater to Axon and avoid public humiliation. The voters would have made clear at the ballot box what the more than 26,000 people who signed to get the initiative on the ballot already told us: they firmly reject Axon’s apartment megacomplex plans and the petulant, bullying tactics the company uses to get its way.

Say the vote had been scheduled as it should have been, for November 2026. It was Axon’s own doing that it would have had to wait that long. The company sought approval for its megaplans during a lame duck session of the city council in late 2024. That timeline was a consequence of Axon’s own approach, not some bureaucratic accident.

Could the city council have called an earlier special election instead? Yes, but only at great taxpayer expense, and only as another favor for the largest apartment developer in Scottsdale’s history. She chose cancellation.

It should also be noted that Councilwoman Whitehead never once showed up at the state legislature to help block Axon’s push to strip away Scottsdale’s charter rights. Many others made that trip, including Mayor Borowsky. Whitehead was not among them.

Axon CEO Rick Smith. Photo Credit: Jim Poulin, Phoenix Business Journal

And yet it was Whitehead who cancelled the only election duly scheduled under Scottsdale’s charter and its routine procedures. Not delayed. Not rescheduled. Cancelled.

We admire Janik’s valiant attempt at spin in her recent submission. But that is all it is: spin. The facts remain the facts, regardless of how gracefully they are dressed up.

As the line often attributed to Sir Thomas More goes: “I don’t agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” We extend Janik that same courtesy here. We simply won’t let the record go uncorrected.

Whitehead didn’t dodge a hard vote. She cancelled the only one voters were promised, after sitting out the fight that could have protected Scottsdale’s authority in the first place. Janik can call that leadership. We call it what it is.

There are many reasons to support Whitehead’s re-election.  Janik’s sycophancy is not one of them.

Councilwoman Solange Whitehead voted to send the Axon referendum to the ballot.  Mayor Borowsky and Councilwoman Maryann McAllen also supported the vote.  Barry Graham – you led the effort to block it.

Your claim that off cycle elections are bad is  wrong.  These elections have been great for Scottsdale!

1. North Scottsdale’s (wonderful) Ashler Hills park was one of Councilwoman Whitehead’s successes.  It was funded by the 2019 Bonds approved overwhelmingly by Scottsdale voters in an off-cycle election.
2. General Plan 2035 co-written by Councilwoman Whitehead added barriers to urbanization, strengthened protection of the Preserve and NAOS.   Voters in every precinct ratified it in an off-cycle election.
3. The first vote to create the McDowell Sonoran Preserve was approved by voters in off-cycle election on May 23, 1995!!!

The City of Glendale had a referendum petition submitted the same time as Scottsdale’s Axon referendum.  Glendale residents got to vote in May 2025.  We didn’t.

I’m hearing that you and Bob Littlefield delayed the vote so you could run on it in November 2026 – so the State stepped in and took away Scottsdale’s rights.  See below quote from AZ Republic

Arizona Republic

“Some officials argued that it’s unfair to keep voters and Axon waiting. Those in the majority, however, have noted that off-cycle and special elections limit voter participation.

For (Bob) Littlefield, the Nov. 3, 2026, date is ideal.”

Betty Janik

Former Scottsdale Councilwoman

Sonoran Sage