Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker announced this morning that he will give up his duties as mayor to focus exclusively on his Congressional campaign.
Parker, Paradise Valley's first black mayor, will hand over his duties to members of the Town Council on Thursday as he attempts to become Arizona's first black congressman.
"Paradise Valley was an incredible community before I became Mayor and I hope I played a small role in keeping it that way. I have every confidence the next Mayor will lead us not just through challenging times but to incredible opportunities as well," Parker says in a statement released this morning.
Parker is running in the crowded GOP primary to replace outgoing Congressman John Shadegg.
According the last poll we could track down, Ben Quayle, the 33-year-old son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, and Jim Waring, a longtime member of the Arizona Legislature, are leading the pack.
A poll released in March gave Waring an 18-point lead over any other candidate in the race, with 43 percent. The closest to Waring was Quayle, with about 25 percent.
That poll may not be the most accurate barometer, though.
The poll was conducted by The Summit Consulting Group, a political-consulting agency with plans to work on Waring's campaign.
In a different poll conducted about two weeks earlier by the Lincoln Strategy Group, Waring still held a small lead but he was in a statistical dead heat with Quayle and Parker.
We gave Parker's political flak, Jason Rose, a call this morning to see if there were any more-recent poll numbers, but he didn't immediately get back to us.
