By Gary Shapiro | Point of View
Woody Allen is famously quoted for saying “80% of success is showing up.”
The Arizona Digital Free Press invited me to be the official timekeeper for the community conversations with the candidates for the Scottsdale City Council and mayor.
Despite the fact that I was inexperienced as a timekeeper, I jumped at the opportunity as I recognized it would be a unique and special experience to sit on that side of the desk.
I arranged for handheld signs to be printed at OfficeMax with the numbers 60, 30, and 10 in oversized print so I could keep the speakers moving along and respecting the rules of the forum. I practiced a stopwatch function on my iPhone. I had my sport coat dry-cleaned.
The candidates were briefed in advance of the session to watch for the sign displaying the remaining seconds so they could present coherent, thoughtful, and complete responses to the questions.
As a co-founder of Scottsdale Leadership nearly 40 years ago, our organization has championed the principles of civil discourse for our community.
I’m proud to say the City Council Candidate’s Community Conversation was civil and made us proud to be Scottsdalians. Tammy Caputi, Tom Durham, and Maryann McAllen distinguished themselves.
The mayoral forum was a little more heated.
Incumbent Dave Ortega and challenger Lisa Borowsky’s session had a different yet productive atmosphere.
However, both forums were teachable moments in the proud history of our city. From my perspective, everything in life is or should be a teachable moment.
The ancient Athenian Code mandates that we all take part and do whatever is necessary to make future generations proud because it’s our duty to leave things in a better condition than how we inherited it.
Fundamentally, I was proud to be part of something that leads to better informed voters, more ambassadors of goodwill, more constructive stakeholders, and better public servants.
But what really hit home for me was an experience that took place after the mayoral candidates’ forum had ended.
Current City Councilwoman Tammy Caputi, who is seeking a second term, brought her teenage daughter to sit in the audience with her to listen to the two candidates seeking the mayor’s office.
I’d never met her daughter before, so I introduced myself after the meeting. I asked her a few questions about herself, and school, etc. She told me how proud she was of her mother.
Besides the fact that she should be proud of her mother, I shared my personal and professional observation about our democracy and governance model.
I asked her to go home that night and think about how special America is. I reminded her that her mother is running for re-election to public office. Her mother’s name will be on an official ballot in a community of a quarter million residents. Our neighbors and friends will get to choose who they vote for.
That’s simply amazing. There are so few countries in the world that enjoy the freedoms we have and cherish.
As an aside, I may not agree with the platforms, propaganda, and behavior of some of the candidates vying for my support and vote at the various levels of government. It’s not my place to mention their names here.
What I do appreciate, and support is the election process itself. It’s the envy of the world.
Think about it. You could run for public office. You too, or your brother, sister, mother, father, uncle, or aunt could be on a future ballot. That’s so cool.
I wish I could peer into a crystal ball to see what Tammy’s daughter ends up doing with her life. She’s a lucky lady with a bright future living in what is considered to be the gold standard of communities in America. She could be a future President of the USA.
Editor’s Note: Gary Shapiro is a longtime community advocate and resident of Scottsdale
