A few days ago, the Scottsdale city clerk notified 2016 candidates that the National Association of Realtors out of Chicago had donated a staggering $72,000 to their favorites in our city election: An Independent Expenditure Notification form has been filed with this office by the National Association of Realtors Fund. The notification reports independent expenditures […]
Korte: The Original Phony
Incumbent Scottsdale city council member Virginia Korte has been inundating social media with pre-election messages that suggest she invented the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Virginia–and a LOT of other folks–were “involved” in the process leading to the creation of the Preserve. But I note with some humor that in 2014 she pushed for a moratorium on […]
Shady Lane’s Legacy of Lies
I can’t remember who sent me this photo, and I have no idea where it was taken. But I’ve been saving it for an appropriate moment. Given the way the Lane4Mayor campaign has been circling the drain lately, I figured now is as good a time as any to share a photo of Mayor Swirly. […]
Scottsdale jail employees demoted, police commander suspended after investigation | 12NEWS.com
Scottsdale Police Chief Alan Rodbell seemed blindsided by the revelation that [former City of Mesa police lieutenant Rick] Van Galder [who had been convicted in Gilbert of super-extreme DUI and sentenced to three days in jail] was allowed out of his [Scottsdale] cell, had food delivered and his wife visit, and was even given a […]
Department of Translation: “Divisive”
For those of you who haven’t heard of Dan Schweiker, he’s a recent carpetbagger from Paradise Valley running for Scottsdale City Council with a ‘nuggets of nothingness’ campaign (shades of Virginia Korte). Dan hopes you’ll vote for him because he’s a nice guy and because his name is very similar to another ‘tea’ guy, David […]
Desert Discovery Center and a Venetian Blind | Phoenix New Times
Someone mentioned the “Canals of Scottsdale” project in a Facebook comment this morning pertaining to the Desert Discovery Center controversy. Boy, did that kick off a little trip down memory lane. I moved to Scottsdale shortly after a grass roots effort had crushed this silly “Venice in the Desert” idea at the ballot. Here’s a little […]
Scottsdale’s incumbent mayor quotes Einstein…but like the mayor, it’s a fake.
In an effort to explain a political flip-flop wherein he first opposed a citizen vote on a massive, expensive, and unwanted commercial intrusion into a billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded nature preserve before he supported citizen input (only after it was clear it wouldn’t have council majority support anyway, I might add), Scottsdale’s embattled incumbent mayor, Jim “Shady” […]
Quote of the Day: Demagogue
The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. H. L Mencken, “The Sage of Baltimore,” satirist and author of The American Language.
Lane’s Big Tax Lie
In a campaign press release yesterday, embattled incumbent Scottsdale mayor Jim “Shady” Lane crowed that “Tax Rates Are Low.” In addition to refuting that claim based on what I know about our situation with property tax rates versus total tax collected, I did a little more digging on the general subject of Scottsdale taxes. What […]
Parking Garage for Luxury Retailer Not Legit Use of Taxpayer Credit
Embattled incumbent Scottsdale mayor Jim “Shady” Lane frequently brags about Scottsdale’s “AAA-rated bonds,” supposedly as a sign of what a good job he’s been doing. If you been reading my drivel for awhile, you know that I frequently point out that Lane is wrong, insofar as not all of Scottsdale’s bonds are actually AAA-rated. Now […]