by Alexander Lomax
I’ll be honest: I’m not always a fan of Scottsdale Councilman Barry Graham. I’ve been critical of him before and will continue to do so when it’s warranted. But I’m also fair and will give credit where it’s due, and I will always give credit to a good judo move in politics.
Judo seems like a pretty random comparison, right? Well I like judo as a comparison because it is a sport where you use your opponents weight against themselves. You can be significantly outsized, but if they make a wrong move and have the wrong momentum, then that size and momentum can become a liability. And certainly Axon has the size and some degree of momentum (in their own head at least).
So what did Graham do? Well you may have seen their shots back and forth, with Axon President Josh Isner acting like a teenage bully that just discovered social media. Graham hasn’t shied away from the fight, and in this recent post he is actually using Axon…to fundraise.
And to be honest, it’s a bit surprising that others haven’t done so already; in such a polarizing subject, where tens of thousands of Scottsdalians are ticked off at the specter of Axon’s apartment megacomplex being dumped in their neighborhood, with an incredible increase in traffic and associated congestion almost sure to come with it, it is rife for the taking. And now that Axon is apparently willing to pour north of a million dollars into campaigns to vanquish anyone who dared stand up for the citizenry, it will apparently be necessary.
Considering the constant blowout quarters where Axon beats revenue and earnings estimates, they are the Goliath, with millions of dollars available to toss into any race to get what they want. And the David to that Goliath will never be able to match that money, but they now have a large base of tens of thousands of pissed off voters with expendable income, so now is the time to try.
So hopefully this is the first of many such fundraising opportunities, and other like-minded opposition candidates should learn from what may have been a very successful judo flip by Graham. Never let a good crisis go to waste, and never let a bully push you around with getting a few shots in yourself.