By Alexander Lomax
Photo Credit: Brian Hancock
When the Scottsdale City Council and Mayor met last Thursday, in most ways it was a normal, even boring meeting. There were a few nominees for boards that needed to be voted on, there were some budgeting and zoning items that were agreed to by consent. But in some ways it was very different.
That meeting will be the last one for Mayor David Ortega and several outgoing city council members: Betty Janik, Tom Durham, and Tammy Caputi. They were offered the chance to each give remarks and opine on their four years leading Scottsdale.
Indeed, the last four years have been interesting. All four were elected in the same year when voters seemed to desire change. Mirroring what happened at the Presidential level, the electorate had seemingly chosen to reject some of the potentially more bombastic forces in local politics and voted in a degree of positivity, at least on the surface.
In reality, Mayor Ortega’s tenure began as a rocky one. For a little while it seemed as though there was no fight he wasn’t willing to participate in, including with a councilmember that most thought would be an ally, Councilwoman Caputi. But even then, Ortega soon learned that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar and dramatically shifted his tone and tenor throughout his tenure.
It’s not easy to enter the arena of public service. Every flaw is maximized and some are invented for the sake of political gamesmanship. You often become public enemy number one as part of someone else’s pursuit of power, and you and sometimes your family have to deal with misdirected slings and arrows. You have to find ways to work together with people who have no interest in working with you. All of that for a little bit of glory and stature…it’s called public service for a reason.
These four individuals have done this for four years, and I for one have seen plenty of mean-spirited things that have been said about them publicly. There have been unflattering things said about them on this blog. And they shouldered it without lashing out, without generating witch hunts, without abusing their power to seek revenge. They served the public.
We have spoken often about this iteration of Scottsdale City Hall, and often we haven’t spoken in the most glowing of terms. But it has consistently come together with grace and decency, which is not something that can be said about every council dais. And for that we are grateful.