By J. Graber
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An ethics complaint against city council member Barry Graham for allegedly trying to unilaterally delay funding for a $3 million sidewalk project on 68th Street will move forward to an ethics panel for review.

Retired Judge Kenneth L. Fields has scheduled an administrative meeting with the review panel focusing on procedure for Friday, April 18.

The move comes after Graham was formally allowed to respond to the complaint against him, which was filed March 24 by Scottsdale resident Laura Norton.

In Graham’s response to the original complaint, his attorney Tim La Sota calls Norton a “liberal Democrat political activist” who is attacking Graham, which he describes as a “conservative Republican.”

“In addition to this overall political animus, Ms. Norton has lobbied city council on several occasions, including for the controversial 68th Street road diet, for the 68th Street sidewalk project, against merit-based hiring and promoting of city employees, and for “green” construction code mandates,”

La Sota wrote. “Council member Graham opposed the 68th Street road diet and other efforts to artificially restrict vehicular traffic capacity and voted for merit-based hiring and promotions.”

At the heart of the complaint though is wording in the city charter that says,

“The council and its members may interact with such employees for the purpose of inquiries. However, neither the council, any of its members, nor any member of an appointed public body shall give orders to any such employees, either publicly or privately.”

And that’s where La Sota makes his legal stand.

He claims, according to a chain of emails from city staff about the project, that Graham merely “requested” city treasurer Sonia Andrews’s staff to push back funding, but did not “direct” or “order” it.

As such, La Sota claims Graham was merely practicing his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

He then lays the fault at Andrews’ feet for misinterpreting what was said.

“I hope he will do a thorough investigation, possibly talk to the staff to understand whether Councilman Graham was demanding a change in the (capital improvement projects plan’s) priorities,” Norton said.

Norton and Harold Back, who co-wrote the initial complaint wither, claim Graham is trying to kill the project by delaying funding indefinitely.
Norton, who is co-president of the 68th Street Sidewalk Committee citizens’ group with Back, have been trying to get the city to put in a stretch of sidewalk on 68th Street between the Arizona Canal and Camelback Road for the last five years.

Back actually initiated the effort when he got off of a bus at the intersection of 68th Street and Camelback Road the day he graduated from “blind school.”

He tried to walk home but found, “you can’t. If you go to walk that, there is no even surface and you’re forced to walk in the street.

“It is the most dangerous thing you could do,” Back told Daily Independent March 26. “I could touch the cars driving by me at high speed.”

After talking to some of his neighbors, Back learned there had been an earlier petition created by parents who lived in the area to get that piece of sidewalk completed. That effort had failed so Back and Norton started the 68th Street Sidewalk Commission and began lobbying the city council to complete the work, which the council put on the five year capital improvement plan in fiscal year 2023-24.

The plan was to begin work on the project later this year but things took a turn when Back called in to the city in March to check on the status of the plan.

He was told that the project was going forward but certain people on the city council were working to undermine it.

That’s when Back and Norton began filing public records requests for staff emails about the project, which ultimately led to Norton filing the complaint.

It’s not the first time Graham has formally come under attack. He is also specifically mentioned in three open meeting violation complaints filed with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office against the Scottsdale City Council since the new council took office Jan. 14.

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