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EMIL
FRANZI |
Three local
elections to keep your eyes onMarch 28, 2007 |
Marana, May 15
Mayor Ed Honea was re-elected in the primary and four top candidates likely will run off for two council seats, depending on the results of recount. Honea defeated Dave Morales with 68 percent of the vote while incumbent council members Bob Allen and Jim Blake ran third and fourth behind challengers Russell Clanagan and Roxanne Ziegler. Clanagan came within a vote or two of winning the primary outright, Ziegler trailed him by 96 votes, Allen trailed her by 157, and Blake was barely in sight, 253 votes behind Allen. It’s an easy call. Clanagan will win a seat; Blake is already toast. There could be a race between Allen and Ziegler for the other seat if too many people stay home, but we’re betting they don’t. It’s clear that Marana is growing up politically and newer residents are beginning to look at who their mayor and council members are. While the primary turnout was low compared to other jurisdictions, it was high for Marana. The message sent was clear. Marana voters are not happy campers. When a perennial candidate with no campaign, no money and a barely audible message gets 32 percent on a long-term incumbent, the natives are restless. When two incumbent council members run third and fourth in a six-way race, the natives are fed up. A hint for Marana officials: Your constituents DO NOT endorse your policy of back room decisions and failures to provide public records. Quit imagining there’s somebody beyond your personal cronies and family members who do. Tucson, Nov. 6 Mayor Bob Walkup (R) and Ward 4 Councilwoman Shirley Scott (D) seek re-election. No real candidates have yet emerged against either. Walkup, the archetypical RINO, hasn’t done much to offend many Democrats because, well, he hasn’t done much — period. Scott has the numbers advantage in a citywide race, Democrat momentum and GOP sloth working for her benefit. Ward 1 Democrat Jose Ibarra announced his retirement as has Ward 2 Democrat-turned-Independent Carol West. Several candidates have pulled papers in both wards and the two strongest, at least initially, are Rodney Glassman(D) and Lori Oien (R), both in Ward 2. Glassman is the wealthy son of a California businessman who spent time being the House Rich Kid for Congressman Raul Grijalva. He appears to be ethically challenged in at least two areas. Besides the recent Daily Star report that he was purposely driving the wrong way on a one-way street during a campaign rally, Glassman also played fast and loose collecting checks for the city’s matching funds program. He hit up numerous Republicans I won’t embarrass by naming, but they were told they were just “helping him qualify for the match” with no other ramifications mentioned. Their names were then quickly posted on his Web site under “endorsers.” Many have since been removed, but Glassman was playing fast and loose. Many of those he solicited weren’t city residents and their checks didn’t count. I suspect Glassman knew that. Native Tucsonan Oien has an uphill road and suffers from the same generic problems of any new GOP face — Demo Mo and numbers and inept backup from a moribund GOP racked by internal conflict and basic inertia. This one should be Glassman’s to lose, which he just might. More updates as the other races expand or contract. Oro Valley, March 2008 Salette Latas has announced a year early for one of the two OV council seats and will clearly make an in issue of Vestar and Wal-Mart. The real issue isn’t Wal-Mart, it’s did Vestar lie about it and why was a giant tax subsidy necessary to acquire it in the first place. While I always like to womp on OV, the council should get credit for passing a decent library porn program, and members Dankwerth, Kunich and Parish voted right on putting off higher water impact fees. Impact fees DO NOT restrain growth; they encourage it by giving governments more money. |
BUT WATCH WHAT YOU SAY! |
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