Guest Editorial: Scottsdale Loses if Kwasman Wins

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

Repost: Finally, an Arizona politician does the right thing. He quits.

By EJ Montini (original article can be found here) Scottsdale City Council member Tom Durham did something Thursday night that anyone who follow politics on any level would find to be shocking, even bizarre. It’s called … the right thing. I know. I had a hard time believing it myself when I read the article by The Arizona Republic’s Sam Kmack. Durham … 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

Guest Editorial: Kwasman’s Reckless Agenda: What’s at Stake

By Councilmember Tom Durham Adam Kwasman has promised, if elected, to fire all of Scottsdale’s charter officers. Can you imagine the chaos that would result? Our charter officers have years of accumulated knowledge of how Scottsdale works—its operations, its budget, its services, its parks. Scottsdale regularly gets awards for the high quality of its services. But all of that would … Read More

Looking Forward to November: The Scottsdale City Council Race

The recent primary in Scottsdale offered some clarity on how the next iteration of the City Council will look, as well as one surprise: instead of fundraising favorite Tammy Caputi avoiding a run-off and winning outright, it was Jan Dubauskas who finished in first with enough of a margin to avoid a run-off, and as such will be the first … Read More

Early Election Results: Potential Shocks, Numerous Surprises

By Alexander Lomax The initial primary results have come in, and at the time of writing there are still a few questions but also a number of answers. There were a couple shocks, some more surprises, and increased clarity as to how the November elections will shake out. First off, Republican turnout was robust both locally and throughout the county; … Read More

Government Matchmakers: What if Scottsdale Followed Japan’s Lead?

For all the single people out there, would you like your government to help you find a mate? We’re going to garner a guess that nearly 100% of the responses would range from “No!” to “Hell no!”. But that is precisely what parts of Japan are doing to help stem their population decline due to low birth rates. Scottsdale has … Read More

How are the Scottsdale City Council Races Looking in the Final Stretch?

Now that Q2 campaign finance reports are in for all candidates, as are many of their required “pre-primary” reports showing financial activity between July 1st and 13th, we have gotten some additional insight into the strength of the campaigns of Scottsdale City Council candidates. Again, Tammy Caputi is dominating the competition raising an impressive nearly $89K during Q2 and spending … Read More

Guest Editorial: My Picks for the Scottsdale Primary

By Councilwoman Betty Janik Over the past several months, Scottsdale residents have had the opportunity to assess the agendas and goals of the candidates for City Council.  For me, the ideal candidate has actively participated in civic engagement, respects and listens to all voices, builds consensus with diverse groups, and does not shy away from compromise. The candidate has strong … Read More