Oldtime
northwest residents and political types
remember the late Maria Monplaisir. She
moved to Catalina in the late 1960s from
New York, where she had chaired the Staten
Island Conservative Party and became
active in the Pima County GOP. The wife of
a retired New York City cop, she wouldn’t
mind at all being described as one tough
broad.
My favorite recollection of her is the time she got in the face of a GOP state senator at a local meeting. Some more accommodating type approached her and said, “You shouldn’t talk to him that way. He’s a state senator.” Maria gave her a look of complete disdain and replied, “Where I come from, we get to pick them, they don’t get to pick us.”
I planned to leave Marana alone this week and move on to something with broader interest, like the GOP presidential hopefuls and why Democrat player/host Chris Matthews was throwing so many questions to Romney, but duty calls.
Watching the latest developments in the Marana Town Council campaign indicates that the two incumbents, Bob Allen and Jim Blake, haven’t got a clue about what Maria was stating.
Marana High School tried to sponsor a forum featuring all four council candidates. Challengers Russell Clanagan and Roxanne Ziegler showed up. The two incumbents once again bailed out, we’re told, because the high school teacher whose class sponsored the forum is — gasp! — a friend of Clanagan’s.
Instead of having a normal town council forum, those kids will now learn an unfortunate if bigger lesson. They will discover that many of their public officials are arrogant and incapable of responding to their constituents. They will also find that some are so craven they can’t handle a forum sponsored by high school kids.
What did these two gutless bozos think was going to happen? Somebody going to slash their tires in the school parking lot? Food service personnel going to pelt them with leftovers? What other hidden fears haunt them?
The real question: If they can’t handle this and other similar forums, what qualifies them to hold public office?
There was a full page political ad not labeled as such in the new Marana paper. In it Mayor Ed Honea whines about the issue of the council picking up the legal tab for former Mayor Bobby Sutton’s indictment. Honea claims the town is just complying with a town ordinance requiring it.
Huh?
Most governments cover their officials from civil suits holding them personally responsible for decisions made on duty. I know of none that cover their officials if indicted by a federal grand jury for extortion, even in places like Louisiana and New Jersey.
But maybe I’m wrong and Honea is correct, and Marana actually passed such a statute. If so, can you think of a better reason for the voters of Marana to dump the council members who passed it?
The motion passed by the town council covering Sutton states that they’ll only pay for his lawyer if he beats the rap, as he’s charged with multiple counts. Honea was asked at the EXPLORER forum (also ducked by Allen and Blake) where questions were actually allowed about what would happen if Sutton beat some of the charges. Would the town then pay a proportionate share of his legal bills?
Get this. Honea wasn’t sure. So if Bobby takes a dive and cops to one of the five charges, do the Marana taxpayers still get to eat 80 percent of his legal bills?
Now you know why the incumbent Good Ol’ Boys don’t like public forums. Considering their track record on public records and public meetings, they’re not real big on public anything.
It’s time for the Marana public to take charge. Hey, Marana voters — you get to pick them, they don’t get to pick you. On May 15, Russell Clanagan and Roxanne Ziegler are good picks.
My favorite recollection of her is the time she got in the face of a GOP state senator at a local meeting. Some more accommodating type approached her and said, “You shouldn’t talk to him that way. He’s a state senator.” Maria gave her a look of complete disdain and replied, “Where I come from, we get to pick them, they don’t get to pick us.”
I planned to leave Marana alone this week and move on to something with broader interest, like the GOP presidential hopefuls and why Democrat player/host Chris Matthews was throwing so many questions to Romney, but duty calls.
Watching the latest developments in the Marana Town Council campaign indicates that the two incumbents, Bob Allen and Jim Blake, haven’t got a clue about what Maria was stating.
Marana High School tried to sponsor a forum featuring all four council candidates. Challengers Russell Clanagan and Roxanne Ziegler showed up. The two incumbents once again bailed out, we’re told, because the high school teacher whose class sponsored the forum is — gasp! — a friend of Clanagan’s.
Instead of having a normal town council forum, those kids will now learn an unfortunate if bigger lesson. They will discover that many of their public officials are arrogant and incapable of responding to their constituents. They will also find that some are so craven they can’t handle a forum sponsored by high school kids.
What did these two gutless bozos think was going to happen? Somebody going to slash their tires in the school parking lot? Food service personnel going to pelt them with leftovers? What other hidden fears haunt them?
The real question: If they can’t handle this and other similar forums, what qualifies them to hold public office?
There was a full page political ad not labeled as such in the new Marana paper. In it Mayor Ed Honea whines about the issue of the council picking up the legal tab for former Mayor Bobby Sutton’s indictment. Honea claims the town is just complying with a town ordinance requiring it.
Huh?
Most governments cover their officials from civil suits holding them personally responsible for decisions made on duty. I know of none that cover their officials if indicted by a federal grand jury for extortion, even in places like Louisiana and New Jersey.
But maybe I’m wrong and Honea is correct, and Marana actually passed such a statute. If so, can you think of a better reason for the voters of Marana to dump the council members who passed it?
The motion passed by the town council covering Sutton states that they’ll only pay for his lawyer if he beats the rap, as he’s charged with multiple counts. Honea was asked at the EXPLORER forum (also ducked by Allen and Blake) where questions were actually allowed about what would happen if Sutton beat some of the charges. Would the town then pay a proportionate share of his legal bills?
Get this. Honea wasn’t sure. So if Bobby takes a dive and cops to one of the five charges, do the Marana taxpayers still get to eat 80 percent of his legal bills?
Now you know why the incumbent Good Ol’ Boys don’t like public forums. Considering their track record on public records and public meetings, they’re not real big on public anything.
It’s time for the Marana public to take charge. Hey, Marana voters — you get to pick them, they don’t get to pick you. On May 15, Russell Clanagan and Roxanne Ziegler are good picks.
