Respect the voters in Fountain Hills

OPINION — The election is over. The voters have spoken. Mayor Gerry Friedel has been re-elected, and Matt Corrigan, Dan Kovacevic and Ben Larrabee have earned seats on the town council. Whether one celebrates or laments those results, they deserve respect.

Unfortunately, some post-election commentary has suggested something quite different. One recent letter implied that nearly 4,000 voters chose “respect, decency and civility,” while the larger majority chose the opposite. That is a curious way to interpret an election.

Election results reveal many things. They do not divide a town into the virtuous and the deficient.

There is an old political habit of treating electoral defeat as evidence that the voters simply misunderstood what was best for them. It is a habit worth resisting.

The campaign settled more than who will govern. It also tested one of its defining promises: restoring civility. Throughout the campaign, I questioned whether “restore civility” was a governing principle or simply a campaign slogan. Elections have a way of separating marketing from performance.

The Flourish slate repeatedly asked voters to trust its pledge to restore civil discourse. Yet during the campaign, Jeff Tate publicly dismissed a Christian viewpoint as a “Jesus conspiracy theory” before adding, “you can't fix stupid.” When his running mates were asked whether those remarks reflected the civility they promoted, none provided a direct answer. Voters had the opportunity to compare the promise with the record.

The losing candidates were not rejected because the voters opposed civility. They were rejected because the voters were unconvinced that the campaign’s promise matched its conduct.

Democracy asks something of both winners and losers: respect the voters’ judgment, work constructively with those elected and move Fountain Hills forward together.

The voters have rendered their verdict. The most civil response is to accept it.

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