\u201cPrime Minister’s Question Time,\u201d also referred to as PMQs, is a weekly staple during House of Commons meetings. To cheers of support from their party mates or exaggerated groans and heckling from opponents, elected officials are invited to question U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n
Can you picture a variation of that here in Scottsdale?<\/p>\n
Mayor Lisa Borowsky can.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 3, hours after a \u201cbloc\u201d vote that changed some public comment and other Scottsdale City Council procedures, Borowsky sent out an email titled \u201cBait-and-Switch: How the Scottsdale City Council majority betrayed the public trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
She lashed out at the bloc \u2013 representatives Adam Kwasman, Barry Graham, Kathy Littlefield and Jan Dubauskas \u2013 for eliminating an open public comments section at the beginning of meetings and other moves.<\/p>\n
Using herself as an example of free speech promoting, Borowsky pointed out the two town halls she held this year, \u201cto engage with residents and hear what matters to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
She then took it a few steps further:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2026, I will be relying on the City Charter authority, vested upon me as Mayor, to hold special council meetings whereby our residents are invited to openly engage with their elected council members, akin to the British House of Commons PM question time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kwasman\u2019s response?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the mayor wants to participate in a question-and-answer period akin to the British House of Commons,\u201d he said, \u201cI suggest she move to London.\u201d<\/p>\n
Insisting he is focused on issues important to Scottsdale residents, Kwasman added, \u201cI will not be participating in the mayor\u2019s political circus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the mayor\u2019s question-and-answer idea, Graham \u2013 specifically accused by Borowsky of \u201cpolitical gamesmanship\u201d in the public comments changes \u2013 was more diplomatic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe respect the City Charter and her authority as presiding officer,\u201d Graham said. The first-term councilman is running for reelection in 2026.<\/p>\n
Mayor v. bloc<\/strong><\/p>\n Borowsky took particular aim at Graham and company for eliminating a public-comments section that has been a long-standing anchor at the beginning of Scottsdale City Council meetings.<\/p>\n The \u201copen\u201d or \u201cnon-agendized items\u201d public comments section at the end of meetings will remain.<\/p>\n Reducing public comment open periods from two to one was part of a staff presentation by Luis Santaella, the interim city attorney, and City Clerk Ben Lane.<\/p>\n \u00a0They also recommended reducing speaker time from three minutes to two minutes and the allowed number of speakers from 10 to eight \u2013 but the Graham-led bloc rejected both of those.<\/p>\n Councilwoman Maryann McAllen received backing from Borowsky and Councilwoman Solange Whitehead on her motion to have a study session on Santaella\u2019s proposals \u2013 but the bloc passed on that.<\/p>\n Borowsky was the lone vote against requiring citizen petitions to be submitted two business days in advance.<\/p>\n Borowsky ranged from snappy to sarcastic on another procedural change: a proposal from Santaella that \u201cif the Mayor is going to be absent from the city for more than 72 hours or otherwise unavailable, the mayor shall notify the City Council and charter officers of the mayor\u2019s unavailability and\/or absence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think the mayor should have to inform anyone if she’s out of town for 72 hours,\u201d Borowsky complained.<\/p>\n \u201cShould I get an ankle bracelet next, and, you know, an air tag so that everyone knows my whereabouts?\u201d<\/p>\n Borowsky then snidely suggested the bloc is \u201cvery hell bent on showing we’re all equal,\u201d and wondering why she was being singled out.<\/p>\n According to Santaella\u2019s introductions, the updates \u201care based on feedback from councilmembers and city staff\u201d \u2013 he declined to tell Borowsky who brought up the idea of language for the mayor\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n With input from Kwasman, Dubauskas made a motion to amend the changes to \u201cabsent from the state\u201d for 48 hours and adding that City Council members should also notify the city clerk \u201cof their unavailability or absence.\u201d<\/p>\n That motion passed by \u2013 the usual \u2013 a 4-3 vote.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cPrime Minister’s Question Time,\u201d also referred to as PMQs, is a weekly staple during House of Commons meetings.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":448493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[179695,5229,5643,1587,166900,206287,206288,138901,12176,1589,57937,7600,46683,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-448492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-adam-kwasman","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-az","12":"tag-barry-graham","13":"tag-bloc","14":"tag-british-house-of-commons-pm","15":"tag-lisa-borowsky","16":"tag-mayor","17":"tag-phoenix","18":"tag-prime-minister","19":"tag-scottsdale","20":"tag-scottsdale-city-council","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115723268575658140","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}