NE Valley Times

Fountain Hills Councilman Allen Skillicorn said council incumbents may be in trouble after a 6-1 vote tabled a proposal that would prohibit discrimination stemming from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles.

Skillicorn, with support from the Goldwater Institute, proposed the resolution to ban DEI practices in Fountain Hills town hall, inspired by alleged abuses in the Town of Gilbert's DEI department. 

“What it would do is prohibit DEI – which is the diversity, equity and inclusion – policies in our town,” Skillicorn told NE Valley Times. “It would prevent taxpayer resources that go to DEI discrimination training. It would prevent the town from using that type of discrimination in its hiring practices.” 

He said, contrary to popular belief, DEI practices actually encourage and reward discrimination due to the intense focus on intangibles such as race, gender and other identifiers. 

“Instead of hiring people based on merit and or rewarding people based on excellent, what they do is they hire people based on superficial characteristics, like the color of their skin, like their, their marital status, like, you know, the other things that they might use to identify themselves as instead of merit, instead of how skilled they are at a job," he said. 

“And then from the reward standpoint, instead of rewarding someone for a job well done and obtaining they might reward someone based on their, their social profile, or their pronouns. What would do is reform this particular anti-bias.” 

Skillicorn was the sole supporter of the proposal. He said he did not expect to be the only council member voting in favor of abandoning DEI, noting the “mayor is a liberal Democrat.” 

“I actually did try very hard to get something done,” he said. “I was very surprised. We missed out on an opportunity. Even if it was voted on and it failed, let's say we voted on.”

Skillcorn told NE Valley Times that the outcome of April 16 does not reflect the will of voters. 

“We have a primary on July 30th, we have a general election in November and, a couple of people that we're on this roll call are incumbents and that is going to be on the record now,” he said. 

Vice Mayor Brenda Kalivianakis led the motion to suspend the proposal pending further guidance from the state legislature, citing similar legislation in progress. 

The decision came after debate over the necessity of the policy, with concerns raised about the potential implications on hiring practices and ideological teachings. 

Skillicorn, who introduced the proposal, expressed disappointment, labeling those against it as "cultural marxists," while Kalivianakis, known for her right-leaning stance on issues like free speech and Israel support, supported tabling the proposal for further review.

Austin VanDerHeyden from the Goldwater Institute presented on the topic at the meeting. 

Skillicorn put out a press release in the wake of the defeat. 

“We had the opportunity to protect the taxpayers from woke bureaucrats. We let down the people of Arizona and Fountain Hills,” he said in the press release. 

Skillicorn also noted the issue on social media. 

“Long Live #DEI in #FountainHills. Last night the cultural marxists won 6 to 1. We had the opportunity to prevent DEI discrimination and fumbled the ball on the 5 yard line. Kalivianakis, Toth, Freidel, Grzybowski, McMahon, and Dickey all voted to quash common sense,” Skillicorn said on X.