Partisanship and development in Fountain Hills elections
OPINION — Why is it so difficult for some to grasp Fountain Hills is a conservative town, as
evidenced by 8,505 registered Republicans and 3,729 registered Democrats? It’s not surprising Republicans vote for like-minded candidates, as do Democrats.
Screaming “non-partisan” doesn’t work, as it merely means there is no “R” or “D” on the ballot. Candidates can and do identify themselves and opponents by party affiliation in elections.
It doesn’t work for liberal Democrats to self-identify as moderates to try to fool low-information voters when supported by all the Democratic party activists. Plus, liberal candidates have social media posts that are simply not moderate. Republicans will and do push back.
Republicans can and do identify themselves as conservatives/Republicans, not moderates, because Republicans have a huge registration advantage. So, this leaves liberal Democratic leaders in quite a pickle if they insist on trying to sneak candidates they choose and support into office.
I suggest that both sides look down the road at what just happened in Scottsdale, with the issue is high-density development. In the recent election, a developer is accused of putting up $300,000 of dark money. $52,000 supporting a high-density council candidate and $250,000 destroying three anti-high-density candidates. It worked.
If you don’t think this could happen in Fountain Hills, you are sadly mistaken. In Scottsdale, there are people from both parties working together to stop the high-density madness. If they lose another seat, Scottsdale is vulnerable to more extreme high-density development.
It doesn’t matter what your political affiliation is! If developers get their four candidates in, it’s curtains. You can’t undo overdevelopment. Think about it
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