FOUNTAIN HILLS MAYORAL RACE – THE RESULTS ARE IN: MAYOR DICKEY EXCELS; CHAMBER BOARD IS UNDERWHELMED BY ARPAIO AND FRIEDEL
Over the course of May through June, the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce invited candidates for Mayor and Town Council to participate in a questionnaire and interview process to both enable candidates to provide greater insight of themselves, their ideologies, and their visions while offering voters deeper context with which to consider those looking to serve #FountainHills. The process culminates in a published “Legislative Report” providing the Chamber Board’s evaluation of the candidates. The extremely detailed report is accessible via the link below.
The Process
The Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, a volunteer group of advocates for Fountain Hills consisting of business owners, entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders and community volunteers, compiled letter grades based on three graded components: blind survey scores (written responses to seven questions posed to candidates, assessed without knowledge of the candidate and with answers scored anonymously), 65%; board interview scores, 17.5%; and candidate element scores, 17.5%. A “linear transformation curve” was then used to compile letter grades for each candidate based on their weighted scores.
The Mayoral Race: Highlights
Mayor Ginny Dickey seeking reelection excelled, earning an overall “A” grade, and commendations for:
- Most Favorable Board Interview
- Most Favorable in Written Survey, and
- Most Favorable Candidate Elements
Mayor Dickey’s responses to the written questions submitted by the Chamber show the depth of her understanding of the Town’s challenges and opportunities.
For example, in discussing future development, Mayor Dickey wrote:
“My hope is to overcome the broad-brush negativity associated with growth. Always one to preserve views and neighborhood integrity, I have long recognized, though, there is need for careful ‘smart’ development, as without more competitive housing and zoning changes for different levels of commercial use, we may not progress.”
Mayoral candidate Gerry Friedel, supported by ROT, was awarded a “C” by the Chamber Board, which must have come as a shock to him given his frequently touted ties to the Fountain Hills business community. After all, you can see him standing in the front row at every ribbon-cutting ceremony.
It may be that the “C” awarded by the Chamber’s Board stems from Friedel’s inability to articulate a vision for the future of Fountain Hills, a topic of primary importance to the business community. This lack of vision is demonstrated by Friedel’s response to the same question posed to Mayor Dickey:
“My vision for our town’s population is a definite need for growth which will help our sustainably (sic). We need more heads in beds as they say.”
#FlourishFountainHills would award Friedel a “D” based not only on his lack of vision and leadership skills, but also on his failure to support the School Bond, his lack of integrity, and his racist, sexist, and bigoted social media posts.
Mayoral candidate Joe Arpaio, endorsed by ROT in 2022, was graded a “C” by the Chamber Board.
Like Friedel, Arpaio was unable to articulate a vision for the future of Fountain Hills, as illustrated by the following written response to the same question posed to Mayor Dickey and Councilmember Friedel: “Anything that doesn’t grow, dies. Our age demographic and housing prices make it a reality that we can only grow so much…Also, we need more babies who will live and grow in the community.”
Flourish Fountain Hills would award Arpaio a “D” based, in part, on his lack of experience in local government, his hubris in continuing to brag about decisions he made as sheriff that resulted in a $317,000,000 loss to taxpayers, his announced desire to bring a posse to Fountain Hills, and his attendance and speech at an AFPAC white nationalist conference.
Flourish Fountain Hills thanks the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce for its time and commitment in providing this valuable service and thorough assessment and report. We also thank all candidates for participating in the process.
Full report: https://publuu.com/flip-book/12824/1271423/page/36
Last Day to Register to Vote: July 1, 2024 @ 11:59 p.m.
Early Voting Begins: July 3, 2024
Last Day to Mail Your Early Ballot (suggested date): July 22, 2024
ELECTION DAY: July 30, 2024