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SCOTTSDALE — Opponents of a light-rail path through downtown Scottsdale are targeting the mayor and members of the City Council.

Fliers are being distributed accusing Mayor Mary Manross and council members Betty Drake, Wayne Ecton and Ron McCullagh of backing the construction of light rail up Scottsdale Road through Old Town.

On March 4, the council voted 4-3 to join Valley Metro Rail. The city will spend $50,000 a year to join Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Glendale and Peoria as members with hopes of participating in a study of future high-capacity corridors that might affect the city. The initial 20-mile light-rail line through Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa is scheduled to open in December.

More fliers, newspaper ads and television commercials against the four are being considered, downtown Scottsdale business owner and group leader Michael Fernandez said.

Three of the four are facing re-election in September. And Ecton, whose term expires in 2010, is the subject of a recall attempt.

The four called the flier misleading, full of distortions and scare tactics and a desperate attempt to interject what they see as a "dead issue" into the Sept. 2 city election campaign.

"It's garbage and very misleading," Manross said. "It's not right to disseminate mistruths."

Even though there are no plans for light rail or a streetcar extension, the light-rail debate has been heated in recent years. There is no funding set aside for such a project. No Scottsdale election related to light rail is on the horizon.

Approval in January of a two-year transportation master plan did not endorse light rail, streetcar or bus rapid transit as the best option for Scottsdale, saying only that they require further study.

"It's time for the opposition to light rail to come out of their bunkers and claim victory on the subject, but I think they'd rather pretend the issue is still a campaign issue," McCullagh said.