How Not to Lose: David Ortega Does No Favors for His Legacy

by Ronald Sampson

Photo Credit: City of Scottsdale

Many times history won’t judge you based on how you act after you win, but how you react to a loss. It’s easy to be gracious after a victory, but after a bitter, grueling effort that results in an unfortunate outcome, do you offer best wishes for your opponent or do you claim malfeasance and attempt to undermine a well-earned victory?

Former Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega often got a pugnacious reputation during his time in the mayor’s seat; for a while it seemed as though he was not only happy to attend any argument he was invited to, but to set the table and invite others to new conflicts of his making. Around halfway through his term it seemed as though he started to understand his reputation and cool off of the conflict some, but perhaps his term may best be known by how it ended.

But in the aftermath of Lisa Borowsky’s surprise win, the sheen seemed to wear off of the former mayor’s mood. First, in a world where concession speeches wishing your opponent the best of luck in leading the city you love are the absolute norm, Ortega was in complete radio silence insofar as his campaign outlets were concerned as the outcome became more and more obvious. Only 14 words and a quick thank you on his personal Facebook.

What followed was far more unfortunate however. He has spent the time leading up to Borowsky’s swearing in, crying foul about the nature of her petition signatures to get on the ballot. He had spent time requesting copies of many candidate petition sheets in what appeared to be a witch hunt of some sort, and now we know why.

So where to start here? First there’s the nature of the complaint, calling it a “false” address on the back of the petition sheets, which would be cause for rejection…except that this precise angle of complaint has already been used and failed in court.

That goes to the second problem: Ortega isn’t an election attorney. A quick chat with one would have saved himself some public embarrassment. A criticism of Ortega in the past has been that he knows everything…just ask him. One could see why some had trouble working with him; overly confident in a wrong opinion.

But perhaps the most damning item? If this was true, there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it. The time period for challenging signatures and potentially getting Borowsky off the ballot is long, long gone. Why didn’t he do this when it mattered? What is the point now? The only benefit would ostensibly be sowing doubt in this upcoming administration, but in reality all he did was expose himself.

In one fell swoop, the outgoing mayor validated criticisms of him that otherwise would have been the realm of whispers and hearsay. He put egg on his own face and paraded himself around, bragging about it. He showed that voters were justified in choosing a different route. He put a sour cherry on top of his own four years.