Carney: Selecting the right candidates for Paradise Valley

Our family has been residents in Paradise Valley for over two decades, and we feel very blessed to have raised our six children here in this special town. But unfortunately, due to our busy lives, we never really paid much attention to our local Paradise Valley politicians and assumed those elected to our Town Council represented our community well.

Since my wife, Amy, is running for a seat on the Scottsdale Unified Governing Board, we were invited to attend the recent Eagle Society monthly gatherings to hear from the candidates running for Paradise Valley mayor and Town Council. Being new to the local political scene, we were excited to meet new neighbors and learn more about those interested in serving our community in this capacity.

We observed at the Town Council candidate forum nothing like what was described in the recent opinion piece by supposed longtime resident Phyliss Patterson. She is correct that the leaders were easy to identify but what she got wrong is that our current Council member Paul Dembow was not one of them.

Mr. Dembow did not present himself as admirable or professional as he spent his time at the mic demeaning the women running alongside him in this race. It was evident that Mr. Dembow feels threatened that he may not retain his seat on the Town Council after over a decade of service.

Otherwise, why would he spend his time in front of the crowd speaking negatively about others, especially with voters in the room whom he does not know? Not PV’s finest.

We should not stand for anyone with this behavior representing the residents of Paradise Valley. I urge you to meet with and do your due diligence on the candidates running locally and vote for leaders who reflect you and your values and desires for our town. We are certainly grateful we had the opportunity to meet and learn from these candidates, and I urge you to do the same.

We should not trust what we read in a newspaper but instead what we see with our own eyes.