Arizona House gives a middle finger to Scottsdale voters and their rights | Opinion
It's fitting if voters' constitutional rights are stripped away to a company formerly known as Taser International. Because this vote is stunning.
Laurie RobertsThe Arizona House just gave a middle-finger salute to citizens.
Granted, it was the citizens of Scottsdale, so a fair number of lawmakers likely got a kick out of disenfranchising them.
After all, how dare Scottsdale’s residents think their constitutional right to have the final say on a massive rezoning project should trump the right of a well-connected developer to build the state’s largest apartment complex?
This, in a city that already is being overrun with apartments?
The House on April 10 approved the “Axon” bill to block Scottsdale voters from deciding whether Axon’s development should go forward.
Scottsdale lawmakers balked. They were ignored
Not a single legislator representing Scottsdale voted for the bill.
Rep. Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, called it “scandalous.”
“When we carve out special legislation for one special interest to profit, that is wrong,” a visibly furious Chaplik said during the April 9 debate on the bill.
“When we let them come in here and talk to every one of these members which, I will admit, three or four of them have come to me and said they were essentially offered campaign funds if they vote yes, for their next election, by the company. … I’ve never seen something so scandalous in my five years here.”
The tire tracks running over Chaplik resemble the wheelies done on the Arizona Constitution. The vote was 40-19.
House Bill 1542 would require that any city with a population between 200,000 and 500,000 be required to allow hotels and apartments on the campus of an international headquarters built on land zoned for light industrial use.
No public input needed — or welcomed.
Axon hired a platoon of lobbyists to get its way
Axon, which makes Tasers and police body cameras, wants to consolidate its U.S. operations on a 73-acre campus at Loop 101 and Hayden Road. In addition to its headquarters, the company plans a hotel, seven restaurants, and 1,900 apartments and condos.
It’s the apartments that are the sticking point.
The rezoning was hastily approved in November by a lame-duck Scottsdale City Council that just days before had been tossed out by voters.
But it was put on temporary hold in January after more than 25,000 residents signed petitions demanding that the city’s voters get the final word, as the state constitution allows.
So, Axon hired a platoon of lobbyists to convince the Legislature that economic development in the state will make like a tumbleweed and bounce away unless the company is allowed to build 1,900 apartments and condos.
It worked.
“This bill sends a clear message that Arizona means business,” said Rep. Tony Rivero, the Peoria Republican who sponsored the bill. “If a company is willing to bring thousands of high-paying jobs, invest in local infrastructure, and help solve the housing shortage for its workforce, we’re not going to let red tape or political games block that progress.”
Political games ... meaning constitutional rights?
If the Legislature shafts Scottsdale, it'll shaft others
Count the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry among those applauding the April 10 vote to disenfranchise Scottsdale voters. It’s now just one Senate vote away from heading to Gov. Katie Hobbs.
“This is about the future of the entire state, ensuring we send a message that Arizona is open for business and that out-of-state special interests won’t derail significant job-creation projects here,” Chamber Executive Vice President Courtney Coolidge said in a statement.
This isn’t about out-of-state special interests.
This is about Scottsdale residents being stripped of their constitutional right of referendum — the right to have the final word on a rezoning project approved by city leaders.
And if this can happen to Scottsdale voters, well ...
Still, perhaps it’s appropriate that if voters’ constitutional rights are to be so cheaply sold away, it’s to benefit Axon, a company formerly known as Taser International.
Because this vote? It’s stunning.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @laurieroberts.bsky.social.
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