We wrote before about the amusing announcement by the very weird John Karolzak that he wants to run for Mayor of Scottsdale. Click here to read.
We note that he describes himself on social media as a “health care executive.” What a disservice to the words health, care and executive. Dude was a lobbyist for an ambulance company. At the state level. At local levels throughout the Valley and region. Records are easily available through a quick search.
We’re not sure Scottsdale has ever had a lobbyist run for Mayor, let alone serve as top dog on the dais.
Is his profession alone disqualifying? Of course not. But ask 2014 Democratic nominee for Arizona Governor Fred Duval what it was like to get tattooed with the lobbyist label by Doug Ducey. Television ad after television ad derided Duval for his lobbying. And Duval was actually a good lobbyist for many good causes. Karolzak? He’s never been considered the ethical steward of the profession and often carried water for ambulance companies with shortcomings.
John The Lobbyist. Probably not the last time you’ll hear that phrase if the guy actually runs.
We return to whether his long-time work is a non-starter. That’s ultimately for voters to decide. And there are exceptions to what happened to Duval. Consider Jon Kyl. In 1986 he ran for the United States Congress and was ridiculed by his opponents for being a lobbyist for Salt River Project. Kyl not only overcame the attacks but he went on to serve Arizona with distinction, and still does.
But to compare Karolzak to Kyl is to, paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, to compare Dan Quayle to Jack Kennedy.
If Karolzak’s deficiencies were but being a lobbyist his quixotic bid shouldn’t be described quite as such. But we did invoke the plural. So stay tuned for more of the Karolzak Chronicles. We hope we don’t run out of Roman numerals.