NE Valley Times

Councilman Allen Skillicorn motions to fire town lobbyist, Jack Lunsford, and leads vote to terminate the contract of the Lunsford Group

Every city in the Phoenix Valley was represented by a lobbyist except Guadalupe, AZ until Tuesday January 17th. Councilman Allen Skillicorn added the agenda item to fire the lobbyist. Fountain Hills paid lobbyist Jack Lunsford $20,000 a year to represent the town in front of the legislature and Maricopa Board of Supervisors. Skillicorn presented that each councilperson and the mayor are more than capable of contacting legislators and representing the wishes of the people. Skillicorn pointed out Senator John Kavanagh regularly drops into meetings and used to be a councilmember himself. During debate Mayor Ginny Dickey admitted to being a professional lobbyist. Mayor Dickey voted to keep paying for the lobbyist. The Fountain Hills Council voted to terminate the lobbyist contract four votes to three. 

Council members Allen Skillicorn, Hannah Toth, Brenda Kalivianakis, and Gerry Friedel voted to fire the lobbyist.

Council members Peggy McMahon, Sharron Grzybowski, and Mayor Ginny Dickey voted to keep the lobbyist.

After the meeting Councilman Allen Skillicorn said, “Tonight we changed how Fountain Hills does business. No more lobbyists making backroom deals. Now the people are represented by their elected representatives. No need for a hired gun when our town is already represented by excellent public servants Senator John Kavanagh, Representative Joseph Chaplik, and Representative Alex Kolodin. I own a phone and can easily call our legislators, so can everyone else. To bring representation back to the people, we need to change way the state does business. This is about people making our state better, not the lobbyist class and the agenda of elites. More cities should cut out the middleman and reap the benefits of more accountable government.”

During debate Mayor Ginny Dickey admitted to being a former lobbyist, “Mayor Dickey according to the Secretary of State website, you used to be a lobbyist yourself,” stated Skillicorn

Link to the Secretary of State website:

https://apps.azsos.gov/scripts/Lobbyist_Search.dll/ZoomLOB?LOB_ID=3604037 

Council quote:

"Priorities have to come first. We have to learn to do more with less." by Councilperson Gerry Friedel.

"I feel very good about the decision we made tonight. Although there were some benefits in paying for a lobbyist, tonight we showed the people we respect their priorities and refused to continue to finance the status quo." by Councilperson Brenda Kalivianakis.

"Fountain Hills' memberships in GPEC, MAG, LACT, and EVP not only provide us with regular updates for the State Legislature, but also give the Town a seat at the table in the network of Arizona state and municipal governments. It is for this reason that I believe the $20,000 contract with a lobbyist created a redundancy and represented one of the many costs that is financially prudent to cut out as we head into a time of economic recession. I believe last night's vote was a step toward fiscal responsibility in Fountain Hills." by Councilperson Hanna Toth.