It's an election year and so statistics on crime and homeless population create an opportunity for some and a need to defend for others.  This is true at any level of politics.  This leaves the door open for manipulation of the numbers.  It's done by both sides of the isle, but Democrats have perfected the technique.  Case in point on a national level is the Biden administration changing the way inflation numbers are calculated and the definition of a recession.  Everyone can see with their wallet that inflation is running hotter that 9% but yet that is what is reported.  Recessions have been defined forever as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, something happening right now.  Not anymore.  

Here in Fountain Hills, it's no different.  Our local incumbent democrat mayor, Dickey, has done a marvelous job of fudging the numbers on crime and homelessness to enhance her chances of being reelected.  She got a head start on this process when the town paid a consultant to survey residents on critical issues.  Key word here is PAID.  This consultant received $20K to tell the council what they wanted to hear and of course for Dickey to use later in a mailing to get reelected.  Add to this the fact that the mayor directs the town manager, and the town manager has spending power up to $50K without a public process.  You see where this is going.  Using a very small sample size, and without demonstrating who and where the questions were asked, they came up with 97.6% of residents feel very safe in their neighborhoods during the day and 91.3% at night.  The question to ask is where were these samples taken?  The front part of Fountain Hills?  The back?  Around the shopping districts?  Further examination begs the question, what would motivate a consultant to tell the hand that fed them bad news?  In all fairness to the consultant, they did find that most residents gave the town low grades for transparency.  That statistic, however, went largely unnoticed and underreported.  Does any of this surprise you?

So where are the detox houses and homeless concentrated?  Answer, at the front part of Fountain Hills, out closer to Shea Blvd.  Detox brings drugs which bring crime to buy drugs.  Homeless bring crime to buy drugs, alcohol and food.  The Alternative doubted that this area was surveyed in proportion, so we did our own.  People in this section of FH overwhelmingly felt less safe, day or night, especially around the residential detox houses where MCSO has responded to assault, theft, criminal damage, unwanted guest, welfare check (possible overdose) as well as multiple thefts from garages.  There have been 3 break-ins on Kingstree alone since July 1.

This section of FH also contains the highest numbers of homeless and transients.  This population also increases incidence of crime and causes feelings of being less safe.  The MCSO captain makes periodic reports to council and every report indicates an increase in smash and grabs in the shopping areas.  

With the voting nearing the finish line, August 3rd, The Alternative is asking all FH residents to consider whether solutions to the issue might be a better direction for the town than denying the problem by fudging the numbers.  Everyone has the right to feel safe and it is the primary job of public officials, nationally and locally. 

Current Mayor Dickey barely beat Joe Arpaio for the seat, 5420 to 5207, a margin of 213 votes.  However, the council has taken a decidedly conservative turn with victories by Toth, Kalivianakis and Skillicorn, who eked out a victory by 44 votes over the far-left candidate, Couture.  The PAC, Reclaim Our Town as well as The Alternative, exposed Couture from day one as her social media posts indicated her communist mindset.  The mayor, councilwomen McMahon and Grzybowski, along with Couture are all Democrats and members of the Liberal Ladies.  Remember that Allen Magazine, two-time ethics violator was her campaign manager, and his wife is the founder of the group.

Liberal Ladies organized a letter writing campaign to the other town publication with left wing supporters continually attacking both Joe and Skillicorn, while at the same time whining about truthful representations by the Reclaim Our Town PAC exposing the very nature of this group's intent and characterizing ROT's publication as unjust attacks.  You can always count on lefties to be victims.  These attacks by the left on Joe and Skillicorn were probably the reason for Joe's defeat and Skillicorn's narrow victory.  Perhaps ROT's relentless exposure of Couture's true nature led to her downfall.  

It appears that the election will not stop the left as before Councilwoman Elect Toth even takes office, the attacks have begun.  The left will stop at nothing.  We don't normally print material from the other publication but felt this necessary from a Jason Bolton letter entitled Ethics.  "For a new Council member, Hanna Toth, to join the Chamber of Commerce is a conflict of interest.  I call on her to do the right thing and resign.  The Chamber's primary function is to lobby the Council on behalf of the town's businesses.  Perhaps an investigation should be done into her ethics or lack thereof."    This was published before the election results were even declared final and of course printed by the other publication.   We know that if Ms. Toth resigned, who would be appointing the new councilperson?  Of course, Mayor Dickey.  And who would she appoint?  You guessed it, Cindy Couture, once again flipping the council back to the left.   This is a much-used tactic by this group.  Toth was just trying to get a job and earn a living.  The job she took was "event planner" and had nothing to do with lobbying the council.  This same group has organized boycotts of FH businesses owned by conservatives as well as trying to have a FH resident who teaches in the SUSD fired for his conservative approach.  The Alternative would like to hear from Bolton, with a picture of course, as our research reveals he is not a registered voter in the FH legislative district which indicates he may not be a real person but just another liberal lady phantom.

As is always the case, the left is never a gracious loser, and this reporter expects this is just the beginning.  That's how they roll.  Fountain Hills residents will have to wait until 2023 to judge the new councilmembers but losers of this election have already judged, and the smear campaign is in full swing.

 A 'dirty' small-town election campaign shows how partisan politics seeps into Arizona communities (yahoo.com)   

Read the article and laugh unless you are who Rod Serling is talking about.  It's just another reason to abandon the mainstream media and newspapers throughout the US.  But first a little history for those who are new to Arizona.   "Pulliam, who bought the two Gazettes as well as the Republic, ran all three newspapers until his death in 1975 at the age of 86. A strong period of growth came under Pulliam, who imprinted the newspaper with his conservative brand of politics and his drive for civic leadership. Pulliam was considered one of the influential business leaders who created the modern Phoenix area as it is known today."   Keywords: conservative, leadership, influential.    

Now owned by Gannett.  "In local elections, it endorsed in recent years Democratic candidates such as former Arizona Governor, former Secretary of Homeland Security, and now President of the University of California Janet Napolitano; and former Arizona Congressman Harry Mitchell.

On September 27, 2016, the paper endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential election, marking the first time in the paper's 126-year history that it had endorsed a Democratic candidate for president. Previously, the paper had only withheld its endorsement from a Republican nominee/candidate twice in its history."  Declining circulation, credibility, profitability, and content.   Now that you know who they were, and who they are now, YOU KNOW WHY THEY WROTE WHAT THEY WROTE ABOUT THE RACE IN FOUNTAIN HILLS.

After interviewing a single conservative candidate, a select few conservative PAC members, lumping multiple PAC fundings together and getting all that wrong with misquotes from interviews, the candidate forum itself, and false numbers, they then interview the single candidate on the Democratic side that absolutely lied to the public about her beliefs, then reprinted her lies while making her a victim.  Sprinkle in a few town staff stooges acting as the mouthpiece for the mayor, falsifying budget numbers and legal precedent and you have exactly what you expect from the AZ Republic and why no one serious reads it.

Journalist (term used loosely, you'll soon see why), Sam Kmack of the AZ Republic created a misleading headline and then missed the entire central core of the article, what was supposed to be nonpartisan, while calling the election "Dirty".  

With that, the Alternative fact checked random pieces of the so-called nonpartisan Fountain Hills election campaign. and found at its very core to be partisan to the extreme and that the "Issues PAC", ROT was in fact issues oriented with verifiable numbers obtained from the town financial sources, MCSO crime stats and elsewhere.  Four conservative candidates ran as conservatives, telling everyone who would listen to vote for them because they would govern as a conservative.  On the other side of the coin, Ms.  Couture scrubbed her Facebook page so no one would know her radical left-wing beliefs.  The Alternative uncovered this months ago and reported on it in the April 23rd edition which can be viewed again under the articles tab.

This is the last breath The Alternative is going to spend on this lunacy.  Slanting left can be done by leaving facts out as well as misquoting.  So, without belaboring the point here are a couple of highlights:

1. AZ Republic reports Couture as posting about prosecuting anti-vaxers but leaves out "for murder".  That is much more radical and then they report that she is just some nice, retired schoolteacher forgetting she attended a pro CRT seminar sponsored by the Liberal Ladies of which she is a member.
2. Conservative Councilman elect Skillicorn did not call Cindy Couture a liar which is harsh but true.  Here is the actual quote.  "So, everyone here is partisan, everyone in this room is partisan.  Some people have said some things online that are a lot different than what they are saying here on the stage.  There's three of us who are telling the truth, there's one of us that is not."  At that point it was not, as Sam Kmack reports, " The race got so heated that an entire angry audience was removed during a candidate forum earlier this year"....  The initial outburst was started by a woman in a Couture T- shirt named Sheri James, a Liberal Lady.  Skillicorn then went on to quote Ronald Reagan who was joking at the time, "It's not so much that liberals are ignorant, it's just they don't know so many things that aren't so."  At this point all the Couture T-shirts in the room created the disruption that cleared the room while normal people tried to get them to stop so they could hear the candidates speak. 

The cameras were not pointed at the back of the room where the Couture supporters had all moved to but a little investigation into eye-witness accounts reveal the truth of who cleared the room.  Over what?  The truth of course.  The Alternative reached out to Meyers, and he pointed out that he had provided Kmack with verifiable information on partisanship and that it was never printed:

1. LD3 Democrat Precinct Committee - Ginny Dickey, mayor.   Sharron Grzbowski, current councilwoman.  Cindy Couture, defeated council candidate.  Sherri James, candidate forum lead disruptor. 
2. Democrat Club Board - Peggy McMahon, current councilwoman.  Sherri James, disruptor.  Cindy Couture defeated council candidate.  
3. Liberal Ladies - Ginny Dickey, mayor.   Sharron Grzbowski, current councilwoman.  Peggy McMahon, current councilwoman. Cindy Couture, defeated council candidate.  Sherri James, candidate forum lead disruptor.  Cynthia Penrose Magazine, founder and wife of 3-time ethics violator and current councilman, Alan Magazine.

Meyers also gave kudos to the Times who ran all of the "Dirty" ads saying that paper fact checked every word and message that was printed verifying truth.  Consider this the correction to the rag.  Understand that "Dirty" is used by the left to describe the process of exposing the truth.  Know who is dividing this town and the country in general, beginning with Obama, Democrats.  Finally, know that Democrats cannot win elections without hiding who they really are.  The sin is not being who you are, the sin is in hiding who you are in order to deceive the electorate.  On full display during the 2022 Fountain Hills elections.  And that's the final word, January cannot come soon enough.

In a long and on the surface, mostly boring September 6th council meeting, a common theme emerged.  Toiling well into the night in a meeting that ended 4+ hours after beginning to a room void of Fountain Hills residents, it ended right where it began, with the mayor clinging to what is left of her control before a more conservative council is seated at the end of the year.  In one evening, all her campaign claims were exposed as false regardless of her slim 200 vote mayoral victory.

The meeting began with what Dickey does so well, present awards, recognitions, and issue proclamations.  She also excels at ribbon cutting.  Next up, the economic development director's report where from the dais for the first time ever, outgoing conservative Councilman Spelich pressed Director Jacobs on recruiting a core light industry from a tax burdened state to set up shop in town.  His list of suggestions was extensive but apparently not extensive enough for the mayor as she added her favorite, wellness, "and of course healthcare and the hospital and such".  What hospital?  Surely, she is not clinging to the idea of the publicly hated detox hospital.  Or is she?  There is no other standard hospital that would ever come here with Mayo right over the hill and Honor Shea 9 miles away and our population base so small.  Tell #1 from Mayor Dickey.

On to the regular agenda which was a large list of expenditures necessary for needs.  Millions of dollars.

1. $1MM+ for the Panorama standing water issue.
2. $1.85MM in capital projects, $800K just to finish off this year in concrete from Vincom over the next few years.  $275K in concrete work to remediate the water intrusion issue after spending $800K in renovations.  More dollars will be needed to fix the interior from water damage.
3. Increasing the current contract with Visus by $100K for storm cleanup.
4. $2.5MM for Tanner just for crack and sealing of roads.  This does not include the large number presented by the streets commission which may run $60MM to catch up and stay current in road maintenance.

  (552) September 6, 2022, Town Council Meeting - YouTube .  1:42:00 into the recording is where the mayor begins her sales pitch.  But first, the presentation by Justin Weldy, Public Works Director.  The alternative assesses that no one else would put their name on this ridiculous recommendation for approval so Grady Miller pushed it past John Wesley down to Justin Weldy.   The alternative cannot confirm this but several things in the report seem to indicate this to be true.  In all fairness to Grady Miller, town manager, this abomination probably originated in the mayor's office.    Agenda - View Meetings (destinyhosted.com)   The Alternative encourages readers to click the link supplied here to read this truly idiotic waste of town money pushed by the mayor and her liberal followers.  How do we know she is behind this lunacy?  Climate impact is in the report.  Here is a brief review and short rebuttal by the citizens who called out the craziness.

1.  Safety
2. Traffic-calming, in general
3. Pedestrian safety and ADA Accessibility
4. Bicycle safety
5. Driver safety
6. Traffic flow
7. Minimization of the amount of disruption caused by construction
8. Climate impact

Items 1-6 reveal a complete fallacy. Why would cars not stopping be safer than cars that have to stop?  Cars that are stopped are certainly calmer than cars moving around a roundabout.  Pedestrians and handicapped individuals are safer crossing the area when cars are stopped as opposed to moving vehicles around a roundabout.  The same is true for bicycles and what is safer for drivers than a stop sign.  Then the item of traffic flow.  Bart Shea, Park Place developer revealed a traffic study required by FH for the park Place development which he has provided to the town long ago, with updates, that the town manager failed to reveal to the council which shows that there is not enough traffic on the busiest day of the year to warrant a roundabout.  Whoops!  Item 7, what construction?  This town council just for all intents and purposes cancelled the Park Place construction agreement and now is being sued by Shea.  And last but not least on the ridiculous list, climate impact.  Incoming councilwoman Kalavianakis put that absurdity to rest with an apt analogy to the impact of changing to a roundabout being equated with a nanoparticle.  

What's the takeaway from all of this?  The mayor and her liberal followers have not given up on this waste of money.  The PAC, ROT, was correct pointing to this during the campaign and was called liars and mean.  This council majority cannot go away fast enough to save us all from the usual liberal destruction here in Fountain Hills.  In the mayor's words, this is postponed but not for too long.  It will be back in November hoping to pass this farce before an incoming conservative majority is seated and kills it for good.  You cannot make this stuff up.  

Dori Wittrig, founding member of the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy, welcomed the 6th such class having been founded in 2016.  FHLA, as it is known, is ultimately a good idea and excellent teaching tool for citizens to get involved in town affairs and occupy seats on commissions, committees, and even the town government.  Absent any politics, FHLA would be a real asset for the town.  Unfortunately, FHLA was infiltrated by one of the most partisan councilmembers, Peggy McMahon, as she became the Chair of Admissions.  True to her form, she began a policy of rejecting conservative applicants.  More on that in a moment.

Nonpartisan is a word most used by the Democrats when they want to distract from the truth.  Case in point is the most recent FH town elections where 4 candidates ran openly as conservatives in order to regain control of the council from the liberals.  The mayor and her handpicked candidate ran as nonpartisan and moderate.  The Alternative uncovered and made available radical and damning social media posts from candidate Couture, reported on the mayor leading a BLM march in town, which ultimately defeated Couture while Dickey barely beat Arpaio for mayor with a conservative majority having been restored.  This means the mayor, McMahon, and Grzybowski, all Democrats, are marginalized for at least 2 years when it comes to the town agenda just as Republicans have been for the last 4.

This reporter has taken a look at this academy and their choice for candidates and has uncovered some interesting information.  It has been revealed that Democrat Peggy McMahon campaigned harder to become chair of admissions committee than she did for her council seat.  In so doing she had considerable influence over just who gets in and who doesn’t.  Initially 4, yes 4 conservative candidates, were rejected and received notifications to that effect. Clearly political bias was in play, why? Probably to stack and pack this class with people that the Democrats could promote to future boards.  commissions, council or even the mayor’s seat. Under the leadership of current Chairman and President, Larry Cole, and founder Dori Wittrig, there appears to be discrimination against conservatives applying for the program.  Of course, this would be the logical outcome when having a person of McMahon's persuasion as the Chair of Admissions.  To the credit of the 4 rejected conservatives, they were not silent on this and were eventually accepted for admission.     On the opening night of introducing the new class cofounder Dori Wittrig made a statement about how no political bias would be accepted or allowed in these classes.  This vocalization from the 4 apparently prompted Wittrig to declare that the Academy is a "politics free zone".  This reporters experience has been that if something has to be denied, it is usually taking place, leaving Wittrig's statement somewhat in question.

This encounter begs the question then, how long has this been going on at FHLA since it is a relatively young organization?  From inception?  Without profiling everyone, the Alternative dug up the list of all the graduates of the Academy since 2016 and found quite a list of notable lefties.  It includes the likes of Clayton Corey (2016, current P&Z commissioner chosen by mayor Dickey a Liberal Lady, LD3 Democrat Precinct committee person herself), Cynthia Magazine (2017, founder of the Liberal Ladies organization), Amy Arnold (2017, Liberal Lady and infamous left-wing lunatic on social media), Sharon Grzybowski (2019, Liberal Lady, LD3 Democrat Precinct committee, current councilwoman), Peggy McMahon (2020, Liberal Lady, Democrat Club Secretary, current councilwoman).  Another question would be, why would Peggy McMahon be chosen as the Admissions Chair if the intent was not to stack and pack the town government, commissions, boards and committees with left leaning individuals?  

Our information revealed that there is to be a review of all applicants by the entire current class.  Under McMahon they would not disclose who is reviewing the applications and what the qualifications are.  Case in point, why would a decades long volunteer and supporter of FH conservative Republican Woman of the Hills, Gina Waldo, be rejected in favor of Rory Wilson, expecting to graduate ASU in public service and policy along with sociology?  The Alternative would like to see what criteria are used to determine who makes the cut. Come clean come with transparency to the table.

Back to McMahon as Chair of Admissions.  Accused by one of the rejected applicants, incoming councilwoman Toth, of ethics violations along with councilman Magazine when the two of them bullied a local business for allowing hers and another council candidates signature sheets to be made available at their counter.  Formal complaints were filed and while the reviewing attorney found Magazine guilty on 3 counts, he determined that while McMahon's offense did not rise to the level of Magazines guilty findings, she certainly acted inappropriately as a sitting councilwoman.  The Alternative has previously reported on this, and the article can be found in the archives. The alternative has had reporters witness her walking out on citizens she disagrees with at council meetings and continues to this day to put her head down and refuse to listen to a host of citizens who speak in opposition to her positions.  This is obviously an arrogant and disrespectful woman who should not be near any leadership position, let alone Chair of Admissions.  It was reported by another Republican Woman of the Hills that McMahon confronted conservatives at the "Know Your Government Class" saying, "You were not invited."  Of course, Dickey, Grzybowski, Magazine and Scharnow were all invited dispelling all myth about nonpartisanship.  They stayed for the meeting of course, as was their right.

The Alternative will be keeping a close watch over this group going forward.

The long cold winter of liberal rule  at long last ended with the swearing in of 3 new conservative council members.  In a brief but telling meeting to a packed house, remarks from the outgoing members, Magazine, Scharnow, and Spelich were followed by remarks from those remaining behind, McMahon, Dickey, and Grzybowski before swearing in the new council.  Councilman Magazine who has been serving the town in one capacity or another for nearly two decades lead off with a respectful goodbye.  Councilman Scharnow closed out his service with a quote from Teddy Roosevelt,  long  known for his "rugged American individualism".   Councilman Spelich, campaigned on the massive MCSO contract fraud perpetrated on the town of FH during Penzone's tenure as sheriff and worked to uncover but unsuccessfully collect the large sum for FH the entirety of his 4 year term.   Finance staff  have reported the sum may exceed a million dollars.  Spelich as well as Friedel have been stymied and marginalized for all 4 years by Mayor Dickey, a friend of Penzone ,  and the left wing Democrat majority on the council.  With the help of  town manager, Grady Miller, nothing ever became of the discovery.  But Councilman Spelich delivered a parting gift to Mayor Dickey asking one last time that she collect the money owed to the town by MCSO and her friend Paul Penzone.  

Then everyone was treated to an attack of the PAC, Reclaim Our Town, by Grzybowski proclaiming that leftists don't ruin towns,  as the PAC signs read, rather," individualism ruins towns".  Then the tears began to flow as she was overcome by emotion perhaps realizing that her dream of turning FH into a collective was over since a majority of conservative individuals had been elected replacing the lefties.  The mayor shed a tear as well perhaps realizing that what goes around comes around as she completes her next two years on the  receiving  end of the marginalization that  she and her left wing cabal had dished out to Spelich and Friedel.

And without delay, the mayor's greatest fears were confirmed as newly sworn in Councilman Skillicorn  sat right down in David Spelich's seat, said hello, and made a motion to request that the invocation be brought back and the discriminatory sign ordinance be placed on the January agenda for review.  Just  like that, the door was shown to the left to end 2022.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and the Happiest of New Year.

Well there definitely is a new "sheriff" in Town!  In fact there are three of them.  They are the recently elected and newly installed Fountain Hills Councilmembers .  Their first Council meeting was Tuesday, January 4th and you can watch it on Channel 11, or the You Tube stream,  (830) January 3, 2023 Town Council Meeting - YouTube , it's truly something to behold.  

This new team comprised of Brenda Kalivianakis an attorney and successful business owner, Hannah Toth who brings a new generation of Fountain Hills citizens to the Council, and Allen Skillicorn a skilled, experienced former State Legislator from the mid west along with their "quarterback", the seasoned Councilman Gerry Friedel, of the banking industry,  brought their A Game this past week.  Frankly the most entertainment you can enjoy for FREE in Fountain Hills is attending the first and third Tuesday's 5:30 PM Council Meetings, sit in the front row so you can really enjoy the reactions on the faces as the Mayor and her two liberal members on the Council continue to see that it's no fun being in the minority.  

Take this week's gathering.  Skillicorn, skillfully (sorry it was just too tempting doing a play on words!) maneuvered the Agenda to his benefit, as well as the  packed chamber of onlookers, and drove the Town's Rent An Attorney crazy with his parliamentary expertise moving the matter of reinstating an Invocation instead of a moment of silence  to the top of the Agenda. Mayor Dickey had quietly replaced the Prayer with a moment of silence in her quest for equity, inclusiveness and not to offend a single living soul.  She did this when luxuriating in her woke majority not bothering to get a Council vote on switching the Prayer for the Moment of Silence .  Now I'm not interested in anyone's religious beliefs, that's personal, but replacing a Prayer with a Moment of Silence?  Way different.  A moment of silence is not communing with your higher power, praying for wisdom or asking for guidance.  Nope, most observing the Moment of Silence are mentally reviewing their grocery list, wondering if they will get home in time to watch their favorite show, or dreaming of a beautiful glass of wine. 

But as Tuesday letters the Mayor had rounded up from the Democrat Club and her fellow members over at the Liberal Ladies decrying the evil of prayer poured in,  the call for Prayer vote was made and the score.....Prayer 4  Moment of Silence 3!  That was just the beginning of the jam packed Agenda; approval for an upscale indoor shooting range, it too passed....the toxic topic of commercial detox ventures in residential neighborhoods was set for further review, and on and on the evening went as reality began to set in.   

Fountain Hills has, well I should say HAD, a very onerous sign ordinance especially burdensome on small businesses.  Within the Ordinance was a clearly unconstitutional restriction on political sign placement along major thoroughfares.  It was aptly tagged the Mayor's Incumbent Protection Act.  As an incumbent she had the advantage of name ID and exposure while her challenger was dramatically restricted where his signs could be placed.  The ordinance was so convoluted it opened the door to selective enforcement.  Dickey unleashed Town Code Enforcement to demand candidate signs be taken down, even removing them without notice, garage sale signs were snatched off corners and town businesses suffered. The majority Councilmembers fearlessly came to the rescue and voted to totally rescinded the  Sign Ordinance.  It was as if it were the 4th of July all over and a solid vote for Free Speech.    

Frankly, Tuesday's meeting was just a warm up for the next couple of years, as the new Council commits to dismantling much of what had been implemented over the past few years of liberal leadership.  Mayor Dickey rightfully must be uneasy as the calendar rolls by and she has to stand for reelection in 2024.  Yes she is hearing footsteps behind her of those interested in taking her seat.  

The only improvement in the entertaining evening at the Town Council meeting would be if popcorn and gummy bears were sold in the Town Hall's lobby!    

Even after voters decide to change direction, no matter the level of government, Democrats never relent.  When Republicans follow the will if the voter, they are contentious.  They are partisan.  They have a personality conflict. They are always the problem.  "Council chambers is also nonpartisan"-Councilwoman McMahon just last meeting.  It's always nonpartisan as the left pushes their agenda. Remember this as you read the following report.

It's almost February and time for another Town Council Retreat.  February 28th and open to the public. That seems innocuous enough, hearing from the various departments within the town and the projects that our tax dollars (sales tax) are paying for.  This is not a new event.  It predates this mayor and council.  It has always been facilitated by the town manager.  Until now.  Fountain Hills is paying nearly $10,000 to Social Prosperity Partners to facilitate the upcoming retreat.  Why?  Who are they, what is their role,  and who decided the town needed them?

Let's begin with who they are.  Their name really tells you all you need to know.  Woke agenda advocates. Their website tells you the rest as most do, if one takes the time to do the research.  "We're collaboration and strategic planning experts".  That sounds reasonable and innocuous enough, until you read from the website (buried deep inside and much more sinister):

So do words. So does listening. So does acknowledging that best intentions don’t make up for past insufficiencies. So does learning. So does recognizing injustice. So does accepting responsibility. So does taking action.

We named our firm Social Prosperity Partners to describe how we help people in communities, organizations, and companies address their challenges and opportunities in ways that are widely-inclusive, deeply-thoughtful, extraordinarily-creative, and profoundly-purposeful.

Leading “courageous conversations” is the work we do, but today we recognize that conversations are not enough.

The great ideals of our nation are stained by a 400-year history of oppression and injustice. We voice our shared sadness and outrage with people who are disenfranchised, marginalized, and victims of disrespect and violence. We believe #BlackLivesMatter. We recognize our personal and professional responsibility to do the hard work of correcting systemic racism.  (italics added for emphasis by reporter)

Courageous conversations are a good start, but they’re just a step toward achieving actual social prosperity.

We’ve got work to do.  We’ve all got work to do.  Let's get to work."

So now we know the WHO, obvious enough.  Moving on to the WHY.  "FROM CONFLICT TO CONVERSATION"-Matt Lehrman, the facilitator. In August the voters of FH chose a new path by electing a more conservative majority to the council.  The mayor escaped by just 200 votes but now resides in the minority.  Of course there was no conflict when her liberal majority bullied and marginalized the two conservatives, Spelich and Friedel for 4 years.  Now since Dickey, McMahon, and Grzybowski are the minority, she sees the agenda of the majority as conflict, personality conflict more specifically, which of course needs resolution.  The resolution the left always seeks is do as we say when we are in power, and work with us to do as we say when we are not.  This occurs top down, every level, national, state, or local.  Pushback is prohibited and of course it is your personality that needs the modification.

WHO HIRED THIS GROUP?  The mayor did for the obvious reasons.  How did she find out about these people?  The Alternative reached out and found they find employ by other communities with this same environment.   The mayor reached out, spent the town's $10,000 to try and continue pushing her agenda under the umbrella of an uncooperative and contentious majority at a council retreat which generally no citizen pays attention to.

The Alternative had not yet come into existence when the council retreat of February 2021 took place.  A little review of history shows that in the 7th hour of a long 8 hour day, the detox industry agenda of overrunning the residential neighborhoods with housing for addicts of one form or another was quietly revealed.  The mayor, Ginny Dickey.  One small group of citizens took note and began the fight.  For nearly 18 months Dickey and the liberal council majority fought to allow this to happen to FH, finally acquiescing to the will of the people but with a watered down ordinance regulating the industry and somewhat protecting residents.  Some say she gave in knowing the election was upcoming.  Others say it was the issue which changed the majority on the council.   It is history.  Mayor Dickey and her two Democrat compatriots are the minority and they don't like it.  But wait, they scream nonpartisan.  Of course they do, that's what they do:

• Councilwoman McMahon-Democrat Club member and corresponding secretary, member Liberal Ladies 
• Councilwoman Grzybowski-LD3  Precinct Committee Person, Palisades, member Liberal Ladies, member Democrat Club
• Mayor Dickey-LD3  Precinct Committee Person, Saguaro, member Liberal Ladies, member Democrat Club

Not so nonpartisan as one can see.  Social Prosperity Partners, supporters of Black Lives Matter,  self professed Marxist organization with criminal inclinations (misappropriations of millions) one partner a former town manager of Scottsdale dismissed for questionable ethical activities,  hired by Mayor Dickey to further her woke agenda in FH.  BIRDS OF A  FEATHER, FLOCK TOGETHER.

Click the picture to see the entire Social Prosperity Partners website and see where your $10K is going.

 First, thank you to the Alternative for allowing me to report. There is no way this can be expressed in 300 words and contrary to the other publication’s assertion that material found here is misleading, I assure you, this report is not. That is why I took a witness with me to the meeting to confirm accuracy.  We do lend our own certain perspective, everyone does.

As the “Republican of the Year”, a title I neither sought nor tout, I had the opportunity to visit the Fountain Hills Democratic Club meeting and the Republican Club last week within two days of each other. So, I thought, this is the perfect time to comment on my observations, especially since the Dems chose to proclaim my attendance as some sort of monumental achievement in a post that is here for your reading pleasure. I’m not on social media so I rely on screenshots sent to me by those who are, and perhaps it’s not the entire message, but enough to get the drift. I’ll admit in this post they presumed correctly that we “were there to learn about the complex issue of homelessness.” And that’s where it ends. 

The ladies at the door were friendly enough and greeted my friend and me with smiles and the usual recruitment effort but once inside the Democrat Club meeting room, it seemed mostly filled with people full of rage and anger, unhappy people. I’ll get back to that in just a bit. We thought the presenter on the homeless was going to be an employee from the organization and I did have a few questions that I was prepared to ask, but I was quick to learn that they were just an intern, not that there is anything wrong with that. I did not think they would have answers at my level. The more the presentation progressed it became apparent that it was basically a sales pitch for donations to support the New Leaf and some warm and fuzzy success stories which the bobbleheads in the room really enjoyed. That’s OK too.

The presenter herself left much to be desired, a vapid skull full of mush filled by our very own FH education system. In the introduction we learned, as a graduate of Fountain Hills High School, she was responsible for inviting the Phoenix BLM (Black Lives Matter) to the town for a march in January of 2021.  BLM, a known criminal organization responsible for death and destruction within communities during the riots, and embezzlement of millions of dollars of donations to purchase real estate for their leaders. This organization is actually responsible for racial division in our society, not unity. “Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers. We are trained Marxists.”-Patrisse Cullors, 2015, speaking of herself and fellow BLM leader, Alicia Garza.   The organization more or less extorts huge sums of money from corporations seeking “woke approval” including but not limited to the now mismanaged and defunct Silicon Valley Bank ($74MM), which we taxpayers bailed out. Further, she went on to achieve a degree in social something or other from our esteemed state university, ASU. In my opinion a worthless and non-productive degree ultimately ending in a career on the taxpayer dole, government work, or maybe in a corporation’s diversity department, producing nothing nor providing any service actually advancing society or in demand by consumers. Topping it all off, I found out later she is one of the chairs of our Leadership Academy here in FH. This is who we chose as a leader? And then I remembered who was leading the country and that solved that puzzle.

So, with that as the backdrop, I kept my question in my pocket, which was, what is New Leaf’s primary function? Of course, never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to is a legal credo and I am sure no one in the room did any background research. Here is your answer. Licensing Facilities and Providers (azdhs.gov) State licensing of New Leaf, Inc. shows that 5 of the 9 facilities are outpatient treatment centers, with 3 more child behavioral health facilities. I don’t find any of this troubling but wouldn’t that be an important part of any presentation about this organization and lead to a more in-depth discussions of why society is so addicted. Could it be from all the drugs pouring across our open southern border? And who might be responsible for that? And how big a problem is this in FH? 

I had another question, or narrative as it may be, that I thought would possibly stir a debate. If you are a FH resident and something bad happens to you or your family, medical bills, job loss, something financially catastrophic, would you go from resident of FH straight to homeless in FH? I doubt it, smart people downsize their lives until they get things turned around. Maybe they move to a more affordable town, Mesa, Gilbert, somewhere less expensive until they get things going again. That’s what is known as a hand up. This prompts a couple more questions, where are these homeless people coming from that are in FH? How did they get here and why? Are they looking for a job to get back on their feet? We don’t really have a lot of job opportunities here compared to other places in the valley with larger populations. All this begs the question are they looking for a hand out rather than a hand up? 

I’m not sure as the meeting never got there. Absolutely no rational discussion ensued. Instead, anger and rage. The second speaker of the night was to be Captain Kratzer of MCSO to give a report on the homeless situation in FH dovetailing with the New Leaf presentation (homeless shelters). As in we need a homeless shelter in FH? But alas a council person requested that Kratzer refrain from presenting reports to any political organizations where the information could be twisted to fit a narrative, left or right.  And so, the rage began. Stirred up by defeated council candidate Couture, speaker after speaker grabbed the mic and railed on the council bullies, of course ROT (Reclaim Our Town), and in general, anyone who disagrees with their narrative. “I saw a few from the ROT PAC in the back table near entrance…I think between 3-5.” – Rory Wilson. That would be me sitting with some Dems. Math is not a strong requirement in the pursuit of a social something or other degree from ASU. At one point one woman demanded names and pictures of the council people responsible so they could confront and attack them in the supermarkets. Can you say Maxine Waters when she urged Democrats to target Trump supporters in “stores and gas stations?” To his credit, the MC and I believe the president of the club curtailed the lunacy after this as the night was getting long in the tooth and really nothing had been accomplished save the virtue signaling and name calling. We’re all good people and they are not (Republicans)! Then I wondered why, when looking around the room at all these good and virtuous people and thought, there’s probably enough people in this room to each take in one homeless person in FH in their back bedroom and all of them would be off the street and there would be homes to spare.

I left with my friend, both of us realizing the narrative was probably to build a homeless shelter in FH. “If you build it, he (they) will come” – Field of Dreams, 1989. Just as the detox issue before, if you don’t have a problem, import it and ruin the great town that we have. Import addicts, homeless, crime and we’ll be…..well, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore. Need I go on? All once great cities turned blue and ruined.

On to the Republican Club meeting. People were laughing, joking, generally happy. Not happy with the state of our once great country, but looking for solutions to turn things around. This, generally is how every Republican Club meeting goes. This one Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, running for Senate in 2024 spoke about the moral decay which is leading to the societal issues that we face. Much of the same ones that were not spoken about at the Democrat meeting. border, drugs, education, nuclear family, crime, inflation.  But why would they?   All this has increased under Democrat control. And through all this, no audience member grabbed the mic and demanded names and pictures to attack anyone in the supermarket here in town.  All in all, much less entertaining than watching the divisive rage at the other meeting.  

Now, if it goes as it usually does, after reading this, I'll be viciously attacked for reporting what I saw and heard.  I don't know most of the Democrat club members, but I'll enjoy learning  when someone sends me a screenshot of their social media post .