“Drain the swamp” is fun to say, and it makes for a great slogan for an election campaign. But too often, that’s where it stops. How many times have you heard politician after politician use such a phrase only to be elected and leave the swamp intact—or make it murkier? But now, it’s 2025. President Trump is back in office, and he is setting a standard of excellence when it comes to draining the swamp—especially on some key issues. And Scottsdale’s newly elected city council is following his lead.
President Trump unleashed a torrent of Executive Orders that have unleashed fossil fuel production in America, rolled back the Green New Deal climate cult fantasy, ended DEI and other race-based hiring and employment practices, and is taking a sledgehammer to the administrative state by letting Elon Musk identify and eliminate billions in wasteful spending.
As we have watched the Trump team move at warp speed to deliver on their campaign promises, we were curious to see if any other state or local governments would follow Trump’s lead at plowing ahead with DOGE-style meaningful reform. Here in Arizona one city has: Scottsdale.
After years of Scottsdale governance that was far more liberal than its electorate, voters ousted all four incumbents on the council, replacing them with conservative firebrands ready to put their predecessor’s far-left agenda into the woodchipper.
Of course, this didn’t stop the lame-duck council from trying to set up roadblocks for their replacements. Immediately after their defeat, Scottsdale began passing all sorts of woke policies before the end of their tenure. One of those policies, championed by former Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega, was the city’s sustainability plan. Passed in the 11th hour before the new city council took office, the plan called for the city government to:
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- Reduce citizens’ household trash output by 90% in 15 years.
- Ration citizens’ electric usage—regardless of power source.
- Ration water usage for single-family homes while giving businesses and apartments a pass.
- Outsource local control to the agendas and politics of county government.
- Redirect your tax dollars to speculative environmental programs.
- Subject citizens’ home and business to monitoring and auditing.
Reduce citizens’ trash by 90%?!? Ration water for families—except for businesses and apartments?!?
The plan was a complete nightmare, and thankfully, the new city council didn’t waste any time. Immediately after taking office, it voted to repeal Scottsdale’s Green New Deal sustainability plan. This is a huge win for Scottsdale residents, but the new city council wasn’t done yet.
Earlier this week, the Scottsdale City Council also voted to end discriminatory “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies. In its place, it adopted a new ordinance that will ensure city employees are “hired, evaluated, and promoted based on merit.” What a concept! You mean an organization should hire someone based on their qualifications? It’s amazing that it takes an ordinance to make this happen, but welcome to 2025.
On top of this, Scottsdale will also be restoring sanity by no longer wasting taxpayer dollars on DEI programming, trainings, and other initiatives—including the Office of DEI. And if that’s not enough, city employees will be required to return to in-person work.
We’re just over a month into the Trump administration—part two—and conservative majorities in key areas around the state. With big wins at both the federal and local level, we can’t take our foot off the gas. President Trump has taken the lead, and it’s good to see city councils like the one in Scottsdale following with strong leadership and a firm commitment to restore sanity. Now it’s time for every jurisdiction throughout Arizona to get on board and follow Scottsdale’s blueprint to drain the swamp.
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