City of Mesa Tries to Cool Off Media Heat Re/Allegiant Airlines

Here's the Allegiant Air Survey

Late in the day yesterday - post date:06/17/2015 @ 4:07 pm -  a Press Release was issued  by the Mesa Office for Public Information and Communications
Mesa Shows Support for Allegiant Air 
The story behind this press release? 
Allegiant Airlines went public over unfair financial incentives offered by Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport - called "revenue guarantees"- to an out-of-state carrier and threatened to leave Mesa.

Allegiant Vice President Brian Davis said some incentives are normal, but these went too far, especially offering Elite a revenue guarantee for a flight to Salt Lake City.

“We think revenue guarantees all across aviation have proven to be a disaster,” Davis said. “But to use a revenue guarantee in competition against an existing carrier whose routes are economically standing on their own is just beyond belief.”

Phoenix Business Journal article by Eric J Toll 

An original incentive package that the airport board of directors was supposed to vote on Tuesday was worth $1.3 million and included a flight to Salt Lake City. Davis said Allegiant (Nasdaq: ALGT) has a growing list of problems with the Gateway airport authority, but offering government money to a competing airline to fly into a market Allegiant already serves crossed the line . . . The Gateway Board did not approve Elite’s flight to Salt Lake City and only included an incentive package for a three-days-a-week flight to San Diego, priced around $700,000.

QUESTION: What was The City of Mesa trying to pull off by making unfair incentives that interfere in "free market airline competition"? . . . and why pushing a flight from Mesa to Salt Lake City?
ELITE AIRWAYS????? .... only for "the elite"?????????
[ Elite Airways specializes in charter flights for NCAA teams ]

The story, from all different angles, was quickly picked up by all major Phoenix broadcast and print media exposing the bad faith bargaining and unfair government subsidies . . . now the City of Mesa is trying to regain control of this narrative with this appeal in the last paragraph of the press release: 
Allegiant Air customers received an e-mail survey [shown in the insert image at the opening of this post]asking whether they would prefer their service to be out of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport or Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. 
If you received this e-mail please join Mayor John Giles and Councilmember Kevin Thompson in supporting Allegiant Air at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. OR NOT ...