At the Jan. 17 Town Council meeting, Councilmember Skillicorn insultingly demanded, without evidence, that every Councilmember bare their soul to him, confessing whether they had taken bribes in a criminal scheme to influence their zoning decision.   

I’ll bet Allen would have been super-duper hopping mad if somebody on the dais said they had received a $267,230 loan from the developer for a Prevost Le Mirage XL Marathon luxury motor home and instructed to pay only interest for a while.   

Gaskets would have been blown when they confessed further the developer then decided they could stop making the interest payments and just forget about repaying the principal on the loan. The town official excuses the kerfuffle proclaiming, “the developer thought I had paid enough in interest. Chillax, my good man, it had no influence on my vote!”  

The super-duper indignation (may) have increased when the next person stood up and said, “I took many luxury vacations with the developer. Get this: On one trip I took his private jet to Indonesia and island-hopped on his 162-foot yacht. It was awesome!”  

This vacation, if paid for by the town official, would have cost over $500,000. However, the town official blandly excuses the trip saying, “I knew the developer way before I was elected. We are just good friends!”  

Allen would have been turbo-dialing the Attorney General’s office as the next town official calmly stood up and said the developer paid $100,000 for their child’s private school tuition but, not to worry, this was way before the developer had even thought about this project and in no way affected the zoning variance request.  

These exact scenarios apply to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He votes on issues much weightier than zoning variances. Why no boiling public outrage from Skillicorn here? 

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.