Mud and the mudslingers who sling it.

I have lived in Fountain Hills for nearly all of the past 25 years. There’s been acrimony in past council and mayoral campaigns, but I have never before seen the likes of the dirty hit pieces run in a recent Times, sponsored by the ironically named “Good Government Committee.”

How absurd to paint Ginny Dickey as “opposed” to school safety measures. You may remember when Sheriff Joe conned the school district into permitting “training” at the old Four Peaks school grounds without disclosing his intent to turn the day into a media circus, starring Joe and his buddy, Steven Seagal, a movie “actor” known recently for his adulation of Vladimir Putin and applying for and being granted Russian citizenship (as well as the many reported sex offenses). There were many residents who opposed such self-promoting antics, and I don’t believe that any of them oppose school safety measures.

Certainly not Ginny, who both while on the school board and on council has always supported having armed professional school resource officers on campus. She has not advocated against bona fide officer training – just the publicity/exploitation aspects of the Seagal media spectacle and the Sheriff’s failure to communicate his plans to the district.

You may want to consider the source of those ads. The Good Government Committee was originally started by John and Linda Kavanagh, but received nearly all ($2,000) of its funding from Cheryl Shea, the wife of Park Place developer Bart Shea.

On the other hand, Mr. Yates, who also has received a large ($500) donation from Bart Shea, has been accused of conflict of interest with respect to the Shea/Park Place development (realyates.com).

If it’s good government you’re looking for, I urge you to vote for Ginny Dickey.