Wow, just wow, is all that can be said about the hodgepodge of names and laws that Cecil Yates gave to The Times last week to try to obfuscate the fact that he refuses to let Fountain Hills residents vote on his replacement on the town council. He couldn't even get that right; thanks to The Times for correcting him for including Kyrsten Sinema in his list of names (none of which have anything to do with our town election for mayor).

No one has ever said it was illegal for him to wait until the end of May to resign (as required by law). The simple fact is that if he would resign by the end of April, voters would choose his replacement, not the mayor and council. No one should be appointed for two years. Voting for our representation is how a democracy works. It is “legal” to wait until May to resign, but it isn't the right thing to do if he respects voters.

Mr. Yates’ comments at the end of the article are almost incoherent. He says his opponent’s supporters “do not want to run against a sitting councilman.” What does that even mean? Ginny Dickey has already been running against Yates for months while he is on the council, and he won't be on the council for the remaining months.

Giving voters the right to vote on his council replacement has nothing to do with Ginny Dickey running against him for mayor.

If Mr. Yates was trying to prove he is unqualified to run, he definitely proves it with last week’s article in The Times. Confusing the facts, getting basic info wrong and trying to make his devious actions all about his opponent are not the qualities we want in a mayor.