The mood at City Hall is feisty – again.
The off-and-on battle between Councilman Adam Kwasman and Mayor Lisa Borowsky seemed to be cooling down, but now the two are again crossing – with a feud heated by a “deep fake” video.
After being mocked in the social media video, Kwasman accused Borowsky of being part of a “toxic inner circle,” demanding she “denounce” its supposed members.
He primarily targeted Sue Wood, who insisted Kwasman lobbied for an unneeded crosswalk in front of his temple.
Led by Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, Congregation Beth Tefillah is on Shea Boulevard near 66th Street.
While others have criticized the $600,000 crosswalk – Wood’s artificial intelligence-fueled protest lit Kwasman’s fuse.
Around noon Sunday, May 3, Wood posted on her Protect Scottsdale Facebook page, which has 14,000 followers.
The text:
“When the audience finds out that Adam Kwasman is getting a special crosswalk for his Temple, in the proposed budget at a cost of over 1/2 Million dollars.”
The real-looking – to outsiders, at least – video was an AI-generated “deep fake,” showing a crowd rising in astonishment as an apparent caricature of Kwasman throws his hands up in victory.
Hours later, Kwasman ranted against the post on his X (formerly known as Twitter) page.
“The use of insanely weird AI in a FB attack on me over the weekend,” Kwasman wrote, “to accomplish one’s political goals tells you everything you need to know about the group ‘Protect Scottsdale.’
“Let me be very clear, this scene did not happen at all. It is completely AI fabricated. The audience, the weird fake me, standing up, all of it. Fake.”
Kwasman hardly stopped there, calling out Wood as “currently involved in an organization with disgraced, fired Borowsky Chief of Staff, Lamar Whitmer, to undo all of our incredible accomplishments in Scottsdale over the past year.”
The first-term councilman and former state representative insisted Wood and Whitmer are key members of a “tiny, but interconnected cadre of Mayor Borowsky’s inner circle.”
He said the Wood-Whitmer allegiance is behind “bar complaints, attacked CPA licenses, sent us multiple frivolous legal demand letters, and even, under false pretenses, made contact with our religious leaders to attempt to ostracize council members from their communities.”
Kwasman bypassed the background: He and fellow council representatives Jan Dubauskas and Barry Graham sparked a feud by complaining to county detectives over Borowsky’s “Parkingate” meetings. Early last year, the trio said they wanted the then-new mayor investigated over potential campaign and/or procurement violations, after she pitched campaign donor David Hovey Jr.’s alternate drawings for an Old Town parking garage.
Kwasman also failed to mention his texts last summer to Terrance Thornton, Borowsky’s chief of staff, stating the mayor “bailed on” an Axon meeting and is “(expletive) this whole thing up.”
Also via text to Thornton, Kwasman threatened to form a “supermajority” that would oppose Borowsky for the rest of her term.
“Let me be very clear,” Kwasman wrote, “if she (Borowsky) doesn’t make a deal … I’m going to take away her (expletive) physical office and give it to Jan.”
In his X post last week blasting Wood’s AI video, Kwasman insisted it was part of a plan “to destroy our conservative majority.
“I’m officially calling on Lisa Borowsky to publicly and once and for all denounce Lamar Whitner, Susan Wood, Yvonne Cahill, Crystal Carroll, and everyone else in your inner circle, who has consistently been the driving force of conflict over the past two years.”
Kwasman said he has been working hard at “building bridges with the mayors (sic) office,” but said the attacks from Wood and company are blowing up the bridges.
“I’ve spoken with the Mayor and her new Chief, Terrance Thornton multiple times about the behavior of those in the Mayor’s inner circle, and it consistently fell on deaf ears,” Kwasman complained.
“… Madam Mayor, your inner circle is toxic. They will do anything and everything they can to destroy you, the council, and the city of Scottsdale. It is time you publicly distance yourself from all of them. Once that occurs, I’ll be happy to resume working hand-in-hand with you for the city of Scottsdale.”
The Progress asked Wood about her post.
“I used AI in my video, just for fun,” she said.
Asked if she was trying to caricature Kwasman, Wood said she used an actual photo of a council meeting, “and the program Canva (made) a video out of it.
“I didn’t change the image, it’s just from the council meeting.”
The Progress asked Borowsky for her reaction to Kwasman’s allegations.
She did not respond by this edition’s deadline.
Crosswalk crosstalk
At the May 5 City Council meeting, several spoke in favor of the proposed crosswalk on Shea Boulevard, which is included in the 2026-27 city budget.
Dr. Ariella Friedman, “speaking as a mother,” said family members were nearly hit by cars as they crossed the busy boulevard headed to the temple.
She said the crosswalk will solve a “catastrophe waiting to happen.”
“It’s better to prevent than heal,” added another crosswalk supporter.
A few others objected to it.
Jason Alexander called out “the appearance of it being a pet project put forward by Councilmember Kwasman.”
He also criticized Kwasman for “running to the press.”
Hours after the meeting, Alexander did just that with a media-directed email titled “66th St Crosswalk and Kwasman’s History of Anti-Semitism Claims.”
“I was raised Jewish,” Alexander stated, “my opposition is about a pork barrel project.”
Another shot
After a recall petition was started against Dubauskas, Kwasman took another shot at the mayor. In a May 6 post, he again implied Borowsky was using a proxy.
“Make no mistake. This is the work of Lisa Borowsky’s office staff, teaming up with radical Democrats to oust Scottsdale’s conservative champion,” Kwasman wrote in his X account.
“The Mayor continues to wage outright war with the conservatives of the council. I’ve never seen a self-proclaimed conservative team-up with the radical left to defeat conservatives.
“There’s a word for it: Traitor.”
Borowsky did not respond to a request for comment as of this edition’s deadline.