By Councilmember Tom Durham Does Adam Kwasman plan to slash your services from the City of Scottsdale by over 50%? Well, he says he does. He told AZCentral, “I know there are hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful spending” in the General Fund. The General Fund is the primary operating fund of the City. It is used to pay for … Read More
Scottsdale’s Dirty Little Secret: “Conservatives” and “Tax Increases”
By Ronald Sampson We’ve all seen this movie before in Scottsdale: when any sort of tax is mentioned in any capacity, so-called conservatives come out of the woodwork and tell you about how the money will be wasted, how it’s unnecessary, etc. Time and time again, regardless of the merits of the tax, lobbyists set the messaging and political candidates, … Read More
It’s Official: Councilmember Tom Durham is Sacrificing His Own Campaign to Knock Out Kwasman
We had heard rumors, we had heard speculation, but it’s all just that until confirmed. When we had heard that Scottsdale Councilmember Tom Durham was going to “quiet quit” his race for re-election, we took it with a grain of salt. Now we can confirm that our sources were indeed correct. In a recent City Council candidate forum, Durham … Read More
The Battle for Scottsdale Unified: What to Expect for This Year’s Campaigns
There will be a number of very important races in this year’s election, ranging from the obvious (President and the US Senate) to local legislative races that may determine the partisan fate of the state of Arizona. One local race may have very significant ramifications but threatens to be lost in the pile of bigger ticket races however. Scottsdale voters … Read More
2nd Shooting in a Week and Arizona Democratic Headquarters: How Do We Turn the Heat Down?
In what could only reasonably be considered an unfortunate form of political intimidation, the office that houses the Arizona Democratic Party headquarters was shot at last week. While it was overnight and clearly not intended to hurt anyone, it also follows a similar incident with a pellet or BB gun earlier in the week. Mind you, local political junkies will … Read More
Guest Editorial: Forward Thinking 30 Years Ago Has Preserved More than 30 Thousand Acres in Scottsdale
Propositions 490 and 491 Would Ensure The Future Of The McDowell Sonoran Preserve For Generations By Mary Manross The future of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is in the hands of Scottsdale voters this election day as they decide on Props 490 and 491. It’s more than 30 thousand acres, and it all began 30 years ago on October 3rd, 1994. … Read More
Leaving an Unfortunate Legacy: What Bob Littlefield has Wrong About Prop 490
By Alexander Lomax For those of you who have followed Proposition 490 and Scottsdale politics as a whole, you probably have noticed some familiar teams shaping up. Where absolutely anything related to tax dollars comes to a vote, the Goldwater Institute will pipe up and go to war against it, no matter how much it’s in the best interests of … Read More
Guest Editorial: Why Won’t Adam Kwasman Face Voters?
By Councilmember Tom Durham Adam Kwasman bailed on the Candidate Forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce last Monday night. Now he says he’s not coming to next Thursday’s debate, sponsored by the Arizona Digital Free Press, despite earlier saying that he would. That’s unfortunate because he owes you answers on many of the positions he has taken. Why has … Read More
Handicapping the November Elections: the County Sheriff’s Race
As you know, for the last few weeks we’ve been highlighting some of the more interesting local races of note and how they may play out in the November election, and few are more interesting than the race for Maricopa County Sheriff. The role got national prominence and later a degree of shame through the bombast of long-time Sheriff Joe … Read More
Guest Editorial: Update on the Protect and Preserve Ballot Initiative
By Councilmember Tammy Caputi I’ve always been a strong proponent of our parks, Preserve, and open space, and the value they bring to our city. What makes us great is the unmatched outdoor amenities we provide our residents. I applaud past Councils for the foresight to purchase the pristine desert landscape which would become Scottsdale’s greatest asset. Council was very … Read More