A very important distinction between the two candidates for mayor should be considered carefully.

Yates may be a successful commercial real estate property manager with various awards in that field (see ad in last week’s paper congratulating himself, paid for by himself). But does that make him the best choice for mayor, which is a public servant office?

Or would Ginny Dickey be the better choice, whose whole career has been public service on school boards, town council, at the state capitol and numerous community service committees in Fountain Hills for decades? Where are their biggest priorities?

Too often we have seen examples of people with high profile businesses, especially in real estate, get into office and get caught up in corruption scandals because the temptation to double dip, feather their own nest and exploit the office for personal gain is apparently just too great. The current APS/AZ Corporation Commission Federal case is one of many current and past examples.

If Yates is so great at commercial real estate, why did he let the commercial real estate developer of the downtown debacle try to intimidate the council to get out of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars the town desperately needs? When the town attorney tried to go after the developer for the money, Yates angrily admonished and voted to fire the attorney in a public meeting. Yates was also on board with the crazy and costly lagoon project going forward.

Yates’ real estate job is potentially a time and ethical conflict of interest and, therefore, is a liability, not an asset. Ginny Dickey’s whole focus is and always has been her love for making the town and community of Fountain Hills a thriving commercial, cultural and environmentally quality place to live. Please vote Ginny Dickey for mayor!