It is the duty of any elected official to represent his or her constituents without bias or conflict of interest. Our system of government requires a fundamental trust that our leaders are representing the needs of our citizens at all times.
This is why I, and many other Paradise Valley residents, continue to be troubled by the seemingly divergent interests represented by Councilman Mark Stanton.
Councilman Stanton’s day job is to serve as president & CEO of the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce. Paradise Valley residents often have a great deal of common interest with our friends and neighbors in Scottsdale.
But not always.
The most recent example of the potential conflict of interest Councilman Stanton has in his dual roles came over the issue of short-term rental properties.
These properties have been a scourge in Paradise Valley that have negatively impacted our property values and quality of life. Our Town Council has been united in our goal of returning local regulation of these properties to municipalities so that we can mitigate their impact on our residents.
The Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, however, welcomes short-term rental property owners and managers to its organization and indeed pledges to lobby on their behalf. This puts Councilman Stanton in a position where his day job and his role as an elected official are in direct conflict.
An attorney was asked to review the matter and determined that Councilman Stanton does not have a legal conflict of interest. But there’s a difference between a “legal” conflict of interest and an “ethical” conflict of interest. Councilman Stanton has repeatedly been asked to clarify his position on this matter, and has yet to do so, saying simply that he considers the matter “closed.”
But I don’t think Paradise Valley residents consider the matter closed when we are left to wonder if we can trust Councilman Stanton in dealing with some of the most critical issues facing our community today.
We find ourselves in a position where we have to question the influences and motivations of one of our seven elected leaders and hope that he will represent our interests when he makes key votes, not the interests of those who pay his salary.
It shouldn’t be left to the residents of our town to hope that their elected officials are not biased in their representation of our community. This is the second time Councilman Stanton has had to bring in an outside attorney to determine if his position constitutes a legal conflict of interest.
And, importantly, the last legal opinion received by the Town on Councilman Stanton’s potential conflicts pointed out that a legal conflict could potentially exist if the Scottsdale Chamber brought on a short-term rental company to its compensation committee or board of directors.
Are we now in a position where we have to monitor the operations of the Scottsdale Chamber in order to ensure that they do not create a conflict with the Town of Paradise Valley that we’re not otherwise aware of? Should that be the job of the Town Council or the residents of the Town?
We keep having to ask Councilman Stanton to clarify these matters because, quite frankly, he has not been transparent about the lines between his service on Town Council and his work with the Chamber.
We’ve repeatedly asked questions about the short-term rental issue, for example, that Councilman Stanton has said he will publicly respond to, and he has not as of this writing. This lack of transparency is troubling.
If you keep having to ask the questions, the answers end up becoming pretty clear.
There’s nothing wrong with Councilman Stanton representing Scottsdale's business interests in his work with the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce. But there is something wrong when his day job actively works against his town position, and when Councilman Stanton won’t answer simple questions about whose side he is on.
It’s the very definition of a conflict of interest, and if the members of the Scottsdale Chamber won’t make him clarify where his allegiances lie, then the residents of Paradise Valley should.
Editor’s note: Mr. Dembow is a member of Paradise Valley Town Council
