For months, Scottsdale residents watched a deep-pocketed group push around three council candidates. Now someone with a badge is paying attention. According to The Arizona Republic, the Attorney General’s Office is reviewing a complaint that Better Together, a PAC with close ties to Axon, failed to properly disclose its donors on signs and ads. As we asked back in July, … Read More
Former Scottsdale Planning Commissioner Christian Serena Weighing in on the Scottsdale City Council Race
I served on Scottsdale’s Planning Commission when Axon asked us to approve roughly 1,900 apartments at Hayden and the Loop 101. I read every page of the plans. I listened to the residents who filled our hearings. And I voted no. What followed was documented in a letter from the city attorney: pressure aimed at my private employer over that … Read More
Scottsdale Residents Take Their David vs. Goliath Fight With Axon to the Appeals Court
By Alexander Lomax The fight over Axon’s Scottsdale headquarters has entered another round, and it’s still a fair question who is winning. Last week, a group of residents filed an appeal seeking to overturn the state law that blocked a public vote on the project. Their argument is simple. Lawmakers cannot erase a constitutional right to challenge a decision at … Read More
Speaker’s Corner: Katie Hobbs Only Believes in Democracy When It’s Convenient
By Ronald Sampson Katie Hobbs stood in front of reporters on August 20 and told them she’s worried about the citizen initiative process getting eroded, while in the same breath standing by her override of the Axon vote. Voters gathering signatures to put a question on the ballot, she said, that’s sacred stuff. She opposed messing with it back when … Read More
Guest Editorial: Graham And His Allies Are Misleading Voters
By Raoul Zubia In an August 7th op-ed on this very website, Barry Graham attacked me over a $5,000 contribution from Axon President Josh Isner. The claim was that I said I hadn’t received contributions from Axon in a June 29th forum, and then two days later I received a donation from Mr. Isner. Yesterday, a new piece from a … Read More
Scottsdale Voters Deserve Accountability, Not Special Interests
By Terry Babb Scottsdale voters want candidates who answer to them—not special interests. With three candidates remaining for two City Council seats, I am increasingly concerned that residents are not the top priority for one of them. At a June candidate forum, Raoul Zubia assured voters that his campaign finance reports would show “there’s nothing that says Axon on it.” … Read More
How Axon Made Barry Graham a Martyr
By Ronald Sampson Political money sometimes buys outcomes. Other times it manufactures the opposite. The campaign against Barry Graham may end up as a case study in the second category. Axon and its allied committees spent heavily to remove him from the Scottsdale City Council. What they produced instead was his clearest identity in years. Graham was not cruising before the … Read More
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 … Read More
Solange’s Scottsdale Salience
By SongBird No matter how the elections turn out Tuesday for Scottsdale City Council, or in November, Solange Whitehead is a Hall of Famer. Amongst the contemporary rancor over Axon, out of state funding, apartments, development, transparency, elections and parking garages, one can forget her many, many contributions to the city over the past decade. That shouldn’t be. She serves with … Read More
Guest Editorial: Final Thoughts from the Campaign Trail
By Councilman Barry Graham