Unfortunately, recent events have revealed a very dark side to our beautiful town. We have become a microcosm of our once great country. The local Republican bureaucracy has become a very divisive presence. It started in 2016 when Mayor Kavanagh and Joe Arpaio invited Donald Trump to speak at Fountain Park.

The present Fountain Hills Republican Club’s website is replete with slogans like “Wake up Democrats, your party has turned Communist on you.” At the May 21 club meeting, Council candidate Allen Skillicorn claimed there are Communists on the Council and Cindy Couture (Council candidate) is a Communist. He pledged to get all the Communists out of Fountain Hills. He was applauded by his audience.

The Republican bureaucracy is solidly Republicans in name only. They are not the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, John McCain, Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The present Republican party has gone to POT (Party of Trump).

The President of the club proudly wears his MAGA hat around town. His two choices for Republicans of the Year, Nancy Plencner and Crystal Cavanaugh, are big MAGA supporters. The FH Tea Party just had Arpaio speak. On their website, one is invited to “join the Resistance to save America from the evil clutches of the Left and their disgusting radical agenda.”

Hannah Toth, Council candidate, works for a local PAC whose political action plan reads “we expose the difference between Leftist ideas that enslave and cripple communities.” She accepted a $2,500 contribution from Jim Lamon, who has given millions of dollars to a far-right PAC which claims the Capital insurrectionists were “tourists.”

Our upcoming election is non-partisan by state law. Both Skillicorn and Toth have disqualified themselves. They do not deserve the vote of Fountain Hills’ true Republicans/Conservatives.