Reporter:  Janet Mohr

Cave Creek is a town made up mostly of Independent thinkers with Conservative values.  Six years ago, Republican precinct committeeman Bruce Arlen pushed for Dark Sky International certification, a seemingly benign environmental move. Mayor Ernie Bunch saw through it as a surrender of local control to a third-party group. Instead of yielding, he directed staff to create a stricter, homegrown lighting ordinance, preserving our autonomy. That should have ended the debate.

Yet, inexplicably, Arlen recently revived the Dark Sky push, forcing Cave Creek to waste time and energy battling this misguided agenda again. This distraction diverts us from pressing local issues. More concerning is the behavior of Arlen and his ally, Councilmember Dusty Rhodes. Both have labeled steadfast Republicans as “RINOs” (Republicans In Name Only), fueling division within Legislative District 3. Their actions beg the question: Who are the real RINOs? By promoting agendas aligned with external, progressive interests, they undermine the conservative principles of limited government and local control that they claim to champion.  Not only that, Mr. Arlen created a 501(3)c called Cave Creek Dark Sky in which his business partner was a woman who ran for Corporation Commission as a Democrat who wants to turn our state BLUE!

The true measure of a Republican lies in one’s actions.  The fight for government “by the people”!  The citizens of Cave Creek, not some international group with a woke agenda. Thankfully, this was voted down in Monday’s meeting.   If we do not fight things like this, we WILL LOSE our Republic.

The opinions above are those of the author/reporter