A Scottsdale councilman insists one of Scottsdale\u2019s largest \u2013 and easily most prestigious \u2013 companies is trying to run the city.<\/p>\n
Councilman Barry Graham says the “Bye Bye Barry” signs going up around Scottsdale are sponsored by a \u201cbig bad bully\u201d: Axon Enterprises.<\/p>\n
Graham, who is running for reelection, ramped up his long-running feud with the Taser maker<\/p>\n
On June 23, Graham \u2013 joined by his unofficial running mates Bob Littlefield and Michelle Ugenti-Rita \u2013 fired off a letter to the Axon board of directors. The three who are running for Scottsdale City Council complained Axon executives are targeting them with “attack ads.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWe write with deep concern regarding what appears to be a direct effort by senior Axon executives to influence the outcome of the 2026 Scottsdale City Council election,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n
The Progress asked Axon to comment on the letter sent to its board.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t be responding,\u201d said Josh Isner, Axon\u2019s president who has publicly blasted Graham on social media.<\/p>\n
Later the same day, the Progress posted a photo of a “Bye Bye Barry” sign — along with a smaller sign next to it, stating “funded by Axon.”<\/p>\n
In an escalating string of comments to the post, Graham first claimed Axon has a plan to double its planned apartments in North Scottsdale.<\/p>\n
Graham then flat-out stated the Taser maker is out to tyrannically run the city: “…an Axon takeover means future City Councils will have to get permission from Axon before making major decisions.”<\/p>\n
Axon also did not respond to a request for comment on Graham’s claims. The company is approaching $3 billion in sales and its stocks have been rocketing.<\/p>\n
Graham summarized the letter: \u201cIt formally requests that Axon\u2019s Board review what appears to be an effort by senior company executives to influence the 2026 City Council election \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
This echoed allegations reported in a June 22 Progress story, which quoted a Graham Facebook post: \u201cAxon has officially entered the Scottsdale City Council race.<\/p>\n
Graham alleged Axon \u201cwants to destroy my resident-friendly reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The June 22 story quoted former Axon spokesman and current Better Together treasurer David Leibowitz. He scoffed at Graham as \u201cmaking stuff up\u201d and \u201chypocritical.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Progress reported last year, Axon Enterprises and Axon founder\/Chief Executive Officer Rick Smith each contributed $500,000 to Arizonans for a Better Future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Isner chipped in $100,000 to the political action committee.<\/p>\n
The new PAC Better Together filed with the state June 5. Baker is its chairman.<\/p>\n
Leibowitz, who as recently as May 14 responded to a Progress question as Axon\u2019s spokesman, is listed as Better Together\u2019s treasurer.<\/p>\n
Baker and Leibowitz have similar positions with Arizonans for a Better Future.<\/p>\n
According to the Graham\/Ugenti-Rita\/Littlefield letter, the Arizonans for a Better Future PAC \u201cengaged in significant political activity, including support for legislators who backed the Axon Bill and attacks on Councilman Barry Graham, one of the two councilmembers who voted against the rezoning proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn June 5, 2026,\u201d the letter to Axon\u2019s board continues, \u201c… the same officers formed Better Together PAC. This new committee has launched an aggressive campaign \u2026 targeting the only three candidates in the race who have consistently supported retaining Axon’s headquarters in Scottsdale while opposing the apartment component of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Response<\/strong><\/p>\n Responding to Graham saying Better Together is funded by Axon and attacking him, Leibowitz told the Progress last week:<\/p>\n \u201cAxon is not \u2018officially\u2019 or directly involved in the Scottsdale Council races.\u201d<\/p>\n Leibowitz also took a dig at Graham\u2019s June 9 approval vote of a One Scottsdale request for 350 additional \u201chousing units\u201d for a booming complex across the Loop 101 from Axon\u2019s planned development, calling him \u201chypocritical.\u201d<\/p>\n Graham opposed the original 2024 Axon rezoning for 1,900 units, as well as a \u201cmemorandum of understanding\u201d with the city earlier this year, which reduced the apartments to 1,200.<\/p>\n Both passed, with Councilwoman Solange Whitehead \u2013 also up for reelection \u2013 enthusiastically expressing her support for Axon\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Graham has been alleging Axon is aiming to \u201cfile another application and push it right back up to 2,500 units or more.\u201d<\/p>\n After a series of “Barry bashing” posts last year, Isner went quiet, regarding Scottsdale politics.<\/p>\n A few days ago, he broke his trolling silence, re-posting something from Graham \u2013 and accusing the councilman\/candidate of cringy self-promotion using fake accounts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea of Barry logging into all his burners to like and retweet his own posts,\u201d Isner posted on X June 24, \u201cwill never not be amusing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Scottsdale councilman insists one of Scottsdale\u2019s largest \u2013 and easily most prestigious \u2013 companies is trying to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":900524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,4193,359089,1587,166900,364710,189881,270103,1589,46683,364711,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-900523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-axon","tag-axon-enterprises","tag-az","tag-barry-graham","tag-councilman-candidate","tag-josh-isner","tag-michelle-ugenti-rita","tag-phoenix","tag-scottsdale-city-council","tag-scottsdale-council","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116832837936077384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900523","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=900523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}