In an effort to differentiate herself from the candidates who have actually had effective, active involvement in the successful policies our town has realized, Lina Bellenir utilized that weak and obvious scheme, the red herring.

A red herring is a “figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a piece of information is, or is intended to be, misleading or distracting from the actual matter at hand.” It is said to have originated in the 1800s referring to herrings used by fugitives to veer bloodhounds off the trail.

During “Call to the Public,” Ms. Bellenir used the taxpayer airwaves for a campaign commercial spreading ideology and fear. Inexplicably granted extra time to speak, she managed to proclaim the risk of doing business with foreign governments (Canada) at the same time disparage our own U.S. government. Add to that name-dropping Reps. Gosar and Schweikert and you get a hat-trick of red herring strategies to distract from real local issues and goals.

Our Town Council intervened already on proposed water rates per recommendations from several sources, likely resulting in reasonable changes to us.

The water provider had prohibitive infrastructure needs before and after the sale…none of this should be a surprise to anyone who did research or is realistic.

Surprising, though, is the admonition in a pro-Lina Bellenir letter that the town should have purchased the water company. Do she and her supporters advocate raising taxes so the government can take over a private business?

The letter continued, “…having a Canadian company own it just can’t do us any good...we (might) have families who can’t afford water.” Is that how a council hopeful should view a service partner?

Protect the community, sure. Scare tactics and insulting Canadians who live, work, learn and recreate in Fountain Hills? Not so much.