In a recent letter, mayoral candidate Cecil Yates states that it’s great to see democracy at work, in relation to the vote defeating the property tax. Fascinating that he loves voting in a democracy regarding the property tax but refused to let Fountain Hills residents vote on his soon-to-be vacated seat on the council.

By hanging onto his council seat for an extra 30 days, Yates kept the filling of his position off of the ballot and now his fellow councilmembers can appoint someone to fill more than two years of his term; more than half of the term he was elected to. Why did he bother to run for council if he wasn’t even going to fill half of his term?

Does Mr. Yates not see the irony that he loves democracy and voting regarding a tax, but not on his council seat? Just more proof of his lack of respect for voters (we’ll leave out the ridiculous spending decisions he was part of on the council for now – a big part of why the property tax didn’t pass). No council member should be appointed for over two years.

Shame on him. Voters will remember in August. If he is unwilling to let voters elect his replacement, they should be unwilling to elect him as mayor.