As her term runs through 2028, Mayor Lisa Borowsky was not on the July 21 primary ballot.<\/p>\n
But she is certainly an interested onlooker \u2013 and hardly partial, judging from a blistering attack on a Scottsdale City Council candidate.<\/p>\n
After Borowsky blasted Councilman Barry Graham \u2013 including that he \u201cstated a lot of false statements\u201d and uttered \u201ca flat-out lie\u201d \u2013 at a July 1 meeting, Graham may have figured he was safe from further mayoral scolding, since City Council is on break until the end of August.<\/p>\n
Not so.<\/p>\n
In a hotter-than-the-weather July 12 email, Borowsky stated Graham has \u201cbrought shame\u201d to Scottsdale City Hall, urging voters to reject Graham\u2019s reelection effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe persistent, disturbing conduct of Councilman Barry Graham has created a toxic environment that is palpable throughout City Hall,\u201d Borowsky wrote.<\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s hint to voters:<\/p>\n
\u201cScottsdale should not reward such an individual with a second term.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham\u2019s response?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo comment,\u201d he told the Progress.<\/p>\n
Echoing critiques from the pro-Axon PAC Better Together, the mayor\u2019s venomous email underlined an independent panel\u2019s finding that Graham violated the city\u2019s code of ethics. Borowsky also seconded unproven allegations that Graham is the mastermind of the nasty troll \u201cScottdale Voter\u201d \u2013 aka \u201cScottsdaleVoter\u201d \u2013 and related anonymous social media groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only has Mr. Graham brought shame to the office he holds, by way of ethics violations and overt marginalization of residents and business owners, he is also an active participant, if not the sole director, of incessant, vicious attacks on our residents, our business owners and, of course, his fellow elected\u00a0 \u2013 officials \u2013 launching grotesque missives daily from his \u2018anonymous\u2019 blogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
On cue, the X (formerly Twitter) account SV\/ScottsdaleVoter responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cMayor Lisa Borowsky just dropped a confusing, whiny hit piece on conservative incumbent Barry Graham days before the primary,\u201d he\/she\/they posted.<\/p>\n
The anonymous troll insisted Borowsky begged Graham for an endorsement when she ran for mayor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe unpopular first term Mayor urges residents to vote for anyone, including Axon Dems Whitehead, Ethan Knowlden, and Raoul Zubia, over Graham,\u201d howled SV, who has 2,866 followers.<\/p>\n
Indeed, after a long tirade against Graham, Borowsky offered \u201ca brief outline\u201d of the other seven candidates running for three City Council seats.<\/p>\n
Bob Littlefield and Michelle Ugenti-Rita are unofficially running with Graham on a \u201cconservative ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet Borowsky had little criticism to offer the other two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She did call out Bob Littlefield for helping to block the Borowsky-led attempt for an early election on the Axon referendum. A City Council vote rejected that idea \u2013 and later state legislation neutered the TAAAZE-led referendum.<\/p>\n
\u201cGraham and Bob Littlefield needed a campaign issue to run on and having the election wait until this November suited their needs,\u201d Borowsky wrote.<\/p>\n
The mayor said she pushed for an early vote multiple times, \u201cbut Mr. Graham killed the idea all three times.\u201d<\/p>\n
She then returned to her earlier accusations about Graham have a slippery relationship with the truth:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is lying to you about wanting the referendum election \u2013 he wanted his own political self-preservation more,\u201d Borowsky wrote.<\/p>\n
Without giving an outright endorsement, Borowsky was most positive about Crystal Carroll.<\/p>\n
The mayor called the political newcomer \u201ca successful and proud business owner \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cMs. Carroll\u2019s priorities include supporting local businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Borowsky was also supportive of Ethan Knowlden, another newcomer to Scottsdale politics:<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Knowlden\u2019s support for advanced water recycling distinguishes him from several candidates who oppose that approach,\u201d Borowsky wrote.<\/p>\n
Though Bob Littlefield \u2013 a former councilman who chaired the Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions PAC to challenge Axon\u2019s development plan \u2013 was highly critical of Borowsky for not supporting his effort, Borowsky takes a middle ground in her voting guide.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn his candidate statement, Mr. Littlefield identifies overdevelopment as a major challenge facing Scottsdale,\u201d Borowsky\u2019s July 12 email stated.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Borowsky described Eric Sloan\u2019s campaign as \u201ccentered on public safety, fiscal responsibility and preserving Scottsdale\u2019s quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor states Michelle Ugenti-Rita, a former state representative, \u201copposes high-density residential development projects she believes are incompatible with Scottsdale\u2019s character, including the proposed Axon development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Borowsky had somewhat surprising summary of Councilwoman Solange Whitehead, running for her third term:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Councilwoman Whitehead and I have parted ways on significant policy decisions, her professionalism and preparedness on City Council related business are indisputable.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Raoul Zubia, the mayor states, \u201cZubia reports his top priorities as protect neighborhoods, responsible growth and restore decorum to City Council.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ironically, the tone of Borowsky\u2019s anti-Graham screed was rather uncivil.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Graham,\u201d Borowsky insisted, \u201chas cemented himself on City Council as both the baby and the bully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hardly the case, according to ScottsdaleVoter and their followers.<\/p>\n
\u201cLisa is by far the most disappointing local office holder,\u201d Derek Helbert commented, in reply to SV\u2019s defense of Graham.<\/p>\n
As usual, SV got in the last word:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hear that about Axon groveling @MayorBorowsky all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As her term runs through 2028, Mayor Lisa Borowsky was not on the July 21 primary ballot. But…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":953740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,166900,5310,48495,138901,12176,1589,7600,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-953739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-barry-graham","tag-city-council","tag-councilman","tag-lisa-borowsky","tag-mayor","tag-phoenix","tag-scottsdale","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116968713681870217","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953739","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=953739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}