Are the North Scottsdale Democrats Getting Money from Axon to Attack Barry Graham? This is Suspect…

By Ronald Sampson

Barry Graham has a target on his back this election cycle, and the paint job looks familiar. Orange and black yard signs are popping up across north Scottsdale attacking the councilman, paid for by a group calling itself NorScoDems PAC, doing business as North Scottsdale Democrats.

Graham posted the signs to Facebook this week, along with the enlarged disclaimer proving they came from the group. He noted the PAC is also endorsing Solange Whitehead, Ethan Knowlden, and Raoul Zubia, three candidates who have shown little appetite for challenging Axon Enterprise’s expansion plans in this city.

A PAC That Historically Stayed Small

Here is where it gets interesting. North Scottsdale Democrats has never been a heavy hitter in Scottsdale politics. Campaign finance records show the group has raised roughly $33,000 and spent about $28,500 across its entire existence as a PAC. Its own top contributors are individuals giving a few hundred dollars at a time. Its biggest expenditures historically have been reimbursements to its own members and modest bills to local vendors and print shops.

This is a group that describes itself on its own website as all-volunteer, with no paid staff. It explicitly claims it receives no financial support from outside entities. That claim was true when the group was hosting coffee meetups and collecting signatures at Brown’s Ranch Trailhead.

A Sudden Shift in Aggression

But signage attacking a sitting councilman is not the same animal as a Facebook post about a candidate forum. It suggests money, design work, and a coordinated messaging strategy against Graham specifically. That is a real jump for a PAC whose lifetime spending would barely cover a modest ad buy in a competitive race.

Axon Enterprise or its principals may be pouring resources into Better Together PAC and Arizonans for a Better Future, directly or indirectly; both of which have shown a clear appetite for reshaping the council in a direction friendlier to the company’s Scottsdale ambitions. Graham has been a persistent obstacle to that agenda. Whitehead has not.

The Question Worth Asking

Nobody has produced a receipt showing Axon money moving directly into NorScoDems PAC. To be fair, that documentation may not exist and everything done so far seems to be legal, whether or not it should be. But when a historically small, dues-funded club suddenly finances an aggressive attack campaign against the one councilman Axon wants gone, and endorses the candidates Axon prefers, the coincidence deserves scrutiny rather than a shrug.

If Axon money or its allies are quietly propping up this PAC, that would mark a serious departure from what North Scottsdale Democrats has claimed to be. Residents deserve full transparency on where this sudden aggression is being funded, and why.