‘Cave people’: Hot mic catches Tempe officials ripping arena opponents
Beware the hot mic. City officials in Tempe, Ariz., were caught mocking residents who did not back a proposed arena deal for the Arizona Coyotes as “cave people,” the Phoenix New Times reported on Wednesday.
Beware the hot mic.
City officials in Tempe, Ariz., were caught mocking residents who did not back a proposed arena deal for the Arizona Coyotes as “cave people,” the Phoenix New Times reported on Wednesday.
Mayor Corey Woods was among members of Tempe City Council involved in a closed-door meeting to discuss “their personal observations of Tempe residents conveying support” in which opposition leader Ron Tapscott was referred to as a “crazy uncle.”
Audio from the meeting on Dec. 15, 2022, was released in response to a public records request from a Tempe resident on Jan. 10, then shared with the newspaper.
The meeting was one of three deemed illegal by the Arizona attorney general since the public was not allowed to observe. However, it was the only one to be recorded.
“Ron is your crazy uncle forwarding a chain letter,” Woods said during the meeting. “I mean, at some point, people begin to tune you out because it just becomes … he just won’t stop ranting about it. It’s like, Oh my God, we know you don’t like it, just vote no in May and leave us alone.”
In the end, however, the “crazy uncle” and his “cave people” won out. Voters overwhelmingly rejected a plan to support a new home for the Coyotes in May 2023.
Less than a year later, Ryan Smith purchase the team and relocated it to Salt Lake City, where it now plays as the Utah Hockey Club.
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