By Alexander Lomax
Susan Wood
The City of Scottsdale won a significant legal victory on July 19. The City seeks to place an initiative on the November ballot, which if approved, creates a sales tax to fund maintenance, personnel and capital improvements to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, the city’s 44 parks and WestWorld. The Goldwater Institute sued the City on behalf of former Mayor Jim Lane and local activists Susan Wood and Yvonne Cahill, claiming the ballot language was misleading. The suit was dismissed with prejudice.
No sooner had the ink dried on Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael D. Gordon’s decision than Plaintiff Susan Wood took to social media to complain about the ruling. A certain degree of frustration is to be expected from anyone on the losing side of a legal case. Projecting a spirit of indomitability and conviction to one’s audience is a key element of advocacy. Wood, however, took her defeat too far. She cast a stream of insults and conspiracy theories at the Judge, the City Council, and citizen volunteers. “I guess it is ok for your city officials to lie to the voters” whined Wood. She accused Councilwoman Solange Whitehead of “deception”, and trying to “hoodwink” the voters. Wood put citizen volunteers on blast – including Preserve pioneer Carla, former Mayor Mary Manross, and respected chair of the Coalition of Greater Scottsdale Sonnie Kirtley – denouncing them as a “band of thieves.”
Seeking redress through the courts, only to attack the integrity of the very institution when one loses fairly, is disingenuous. Goldwater’s attorneys responded professionally and civilly. But for Wood, this tantrum was in character. She often belittles the Scottsdale General Plan’s passage as the result of trickery by her unfavored City Councilmen. Wood has frequently accused the City Transportation Staff and Planners of hiding information, and being compromised. Whether targeting the City’s IT staff for a brief signal outage, or moderators on Nextdoor for blocking propaganda on the platform, Scottsdale has come to expect the airing of grievances from Susan Wood.
An engaged electorate sharing differences of opinions is far better than not being engaged at all. Out of our passionate disagreement comes stronger public policy. But childish red-faced feet-stomping reveals a fundamental disdain for the process of governance. If one can not accept outcomes gracefully, its clear they are only interested in autocracy. It can be a slippery-slope to storming the Capitol. And for that reason alone, Judge Gordon’s ruling to let the voters vote should be praised.