Skillicorn Leads Successful Fight To Fire Fountain Hills Lobbyist

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Fountain Hills Councilman Allen Skillicorn led a successful fight to fire the Town’s lobbyist, Jack Lunsford, and terminate the contract of the Lunsford Group. Fountain Hills will now be exceptional due to the fact that nearly every city in the Phoenix Valley pays to be represented by a lobbyist.

On Tuesday January 17th, Skillicorn added to the the Council’s agenda an item aimed at eliminating the cost of a lobbyist.

Fountain Hills paid Lunsford $20,000 a year to represent the Town in front of the Legislature and Maricopa Board of Supervisors.

Skillicorn argued that each Councilperson and the Mayor were just as capable as a high-priced lobbyist to contact legislators and represent the wishes of Fountain Hills residents. Skillicorn also noted that the Town has representation at the Legislature in the form of Arizona State Senator John Kavanagh, who regularly drops into meetings and used to be a Council member himself.

During the debate, Mayor Ginny Dickey argued to keep the lobbyist despite the fact that she herself is a professional lobbyist.

In the end, the Fountain Hills Council voted to terminate the lobbyist contract on four to three vote. Council members 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 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.”

“Priorities have to come first. We have to learn to do more with less,” said 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,” said 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,” stated Councilperson Hanna Toth.

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