It’s a pretty narrow view of representation when incoming Council members tout they will represent the “majority.” In fact, that is untrue; and further, not at all being “representative.”

For instance, Republicans are only about 8,100 citizens of the nearly 25,000 residents in Fountain Hills. Admittedly, if you are only going to represent your party, you can claim some kind of victory. But shouldn’t you promise to represent all residents? There are another almost 17,000 people out there you should care about.

10,627 total votes were cast in the mayor race, and Mayor Dickey received 5,420. There are only 3,800 registered Democrats. So clearly, with 60% voter turnout, not all Republicans voted, and of those who did, along with Independents, thousands supported Ginny.

Representation should be bigger than political party, not some lock-step routine. Have they predetermined they will always vote the same, like some state or national caucus? No question, some tried to turn the recent election to be only about political preference. But that leaves more than half of our residents with only the hope of true representation, even when they didn’t or couldn’t vote.

Those are the facts. Newly elected leaders must realize we have Open Meeting Laws in Arizona. No vote-counting collaboration allowed. And hopefully they learn that party politics don’t always present the best solutions for our community. Most past councils and mayors figured that out. They did their best to represent everyone. Listen up!