Tucson Sammy

Let me start by saying that San Tan Flat is in no way connected with Tortilla Flat. There are no tee shirts that say, “Where the Hell is San Tan Flat?” Although new to Arizona, San Tan Flat has enjoyed a level of publicity unknown to Tortilla Flat.

Our story begins with a father and son, Dale and Spencer Bell. Dale has operated successful restaurants in both South Dakota and Wyoming. He and his son, Spencer, opened their new venture in Pinal County, Arizona, on the flats next to the San Tan Mountains – hence the name.

After three years of jumping through hoops, they finally opened on 2005 with Pinal County’s blessing. Shortly thereafter, Pinal County began to harass them mercilessly. They made them remove one of their two signs, reduced their road access from four entrances to one, and they made them build a bigger parking lot. They also sent deputies out at night to measure decibel levels.

This sort of behavior usually indicates that some well-connected turgid member of the community wants him out of Dodge. In the older frontier times, they usually just sent the Sheriff around to tell him, “Be out of town by sundown.” These are less direct, less honest, weenie times.

Dale complied with all the harassing demands, until they turned their sights on his customers. They claimed it was illegal for them to dance to the music in the courtyard. They cited an ordinance from 1962 that required “dance halls, penny arcades, and bowling alleys” to be in fully enclosed structures. San Tan Flat is a restaurant bar. As Dale said to me, “I’ve never seen a penny arcade in my lifetime, I’ve never been able to put a penny in a machine and have it do anything, I don’t know how old you are, but I’m an old guy…this thing is pretty obsolete even in its language.” With the help of the Arizona chapter of the Institute for Justice, Dale went to court.

The Pinal County attorneys stated, at four separate times during the initial hearing, that the supervisors thought the outdoor stage at the Country Western Saloon and Steakhouse would be used for “mimes, puppet shows, poetry readings, and art displays.” Why, of course! Any cowboy worth his salt needs a little miming, and poetry read to him every now and again. Those dang Bell Boys deceived us!

Dale has determined that upstanding member of the community Pinal County Supervisor Sandy Smith is directing the attacks against him. It is her appointee, the Pinal County Sheriff, who sends his deputies out three times a night to test the decibel levels. So far, they have had no luck.

I asked Dale why Sandy Smith was trying to make his life miserable. He answered, “Why is she doing it? Possibly petty jealousy over the success of the business, possibly because we did not grovel, or kiss her butt, which is apparently what she was expecting us to do after we were open and permitted.” He had some other ideas that involved millionaire developers, but it’s all just speculation.

The silver lining to this dark cloud is that the longer it drags on, the more support the Bells get - from George Will, who wrote of their plight in his Washington Post column, to Dale and Spencer’s customers. Dale said of his customers, “They don’t say they like it, they say they love it!”

The significance of this case lies not so much in the fact that the petty commissars of Pinal County are being exposed; rather it verifies what we in the freedom movement have come to realize over the past few years.

Traditionally, it was government at the federal level that sent edicts from far away for the great unwashed, doing away with federalism, and exceeding its limited jurisdiction in a rather tyrannical way. It seemed to make sense that when people are reduced to numbers and formulas, they would be treated like them. Now we see those close to us, here at home, behaving in similar fashion. Whether they use eminent domain, civil forfeiture, or “Smart Growth” central planning, our locals have a lust to control people, and property that they do not own.

As the bizarre case of San Tan Flat exemplifies, it is not the remoteness of the power that is corrupting. It is the power itself.

 

 Bizarre Case of San Tan Flat [5:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Our Great and Wonderful Council is back at it. They’re considering some form of cell phone ban - in cars for now.

The impetus is typical - Phoenix is doing it. We tend to have a condescending attitude toward our neighbor to the north, yet we continue to copy their bad ideas (the “light rail” effort comes to mind).

Ibarra, Scott, West, and Uncle Bob Walkup all want to see something done either at the municipal or state level. Speaking of the state level, Mr. Light Rail himself, Steve Farley, has been working on it - unsuccessfully so far.

The merits of multi-tasking in one’s car are really not the important issue. The important issue is what this effort says about how you are viewed by your elected officials. Are you an adult with adult judgment, or are you a child who will wreak all kinds of havoc without big brother’s watchful eye upon you? It used to be that laws would help us defend ourselves against force and fraud. Now they seemed to be there to micromanage our lives for our own good. Don’t eat that! Don’t discard that piece of plastic! You can have this kind of car. Keep your hands on the wheel and stare forward! Don’t think that thought or you’re a hate criminal! That’s better… good boy!

It would appear that Councilman Nina Trasoff has really stepped in the cowpie this time. According to an article in the Red Star by Bob Odell, published on April 29, 2007 (here’s a link: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/180653.php ), Nina set up a complex real estate sale/lease deal that would have subsidized a downtown arts group to a six figure tune, with the potential of costing the City $1.2 million if things did not go well.

I wonder, considering the complexity of the deal, how firm a grip Nina had on this thing. I could be a case of “Staff Gone Wild!” either in the Ward, or the City Real Estate Department, or both. Either way, it belongs to her.

It’s interesting that the rest of the Council did not “circle the wagons” around one of their own – particularly a fellow Democratic. They also did not let the thing be removed from the agenda without discussion – something that they do for each other to avoid embarrassment, according to a friend of mine who served on the Council.

This does not bode well for her political future, particularly when she appears to be short on friends in high places, and her popular support is waning. Fortunately, her next election is 2009. There is plenty of time for people to forget this episode, and see her lovely smile on television – not to mention the coquettish charm she has in person.

I am willing to bet that many of you wonder why the crooks at City of Tucson Waste Management were reinstated in their City jobs after they were fired for cheating on the time clock. I think I can explain the situation with an anecdote.

Many moons ago, I had a friend who worked for the City. She worked in the Tucson, Pima County Public Library (it was owned jointly then). She worked as a manager of a small department, and supervised two to three people.

We were chatting once, and she talked about work, about how much she liked her job. She said that she really liked the people with whom she worked – except for one.

I asked about the one she disliked – I’ll refer to her as “Amy”. She told me that Amy did not do her work. I asked if she meant that Amy was slow, or did she commit many errors. No, she did not do her work. In fact, my friend asked her boss if she could tell Amy to stay home and just mail her check to her. In so doing, my friend would have freed up valuable time that she wasted trying to explain to Amy that which she was supposed to do, but apparently could not.

I thought that I must be missing something. I figured that if I kept talking, I would pick it up. I suggested that Amy might be terminated. “You can’t fire anyone,” my friend told me. This gave me pause. I had heard that government jobs were relatively secure, but this was something else.

“Who has the authority to fire Amy?”, I asked. She told me that the authority was hers. I felt as if I had moved from missing something, to not seeing anything. I backed up a little, and asked why she could not fire anyone – particularly someone who did not do her work.

She explained that she could fire her, but then Amy would appeal the firing to the independent review commission (I forget the formal title of the commission), and the commission always reinstates the employee. I asked why it always sides with the employee.

The answer is a simple case of incentive. You see, if the employee is reinstated, the case is over, and the employee is no longer the commission’s problem. There is no recourse for the City, and the employee has what he wants. On the other hand, if the firing is sustained, the employee can retaliate in any number of ways. For example, he can sue the City and the commission, or he can go to the media and make a public stink that might draw negative attention to the commission. If he is a member of a protected group, both those efforts are slam-dunks.

The commission is so independent that it serves its own interests, rather than fulfilling its responsibilities to the City and the employee.

And that, my friends, is why City of Tucson employees cannot be fired.

I just added a piece to the “Articles” section in the column at the right – the title is “Street Protests in the New Millennium.” It covers an anti-Bush protest/counter protest. Note that the anti-Semites have a home on the Left; if you’re still in doubt regarding this, read Jimmy Carter’s latest book.

I did not mention, in the article, that I ran into a couple of friends there. They were on the anti-Bush side. They were full-on kook-fringe types. I’ll bet that when they sit down to talk national politics, it’s not about whether or not “No Child Left Behind” is working, it’s about whether or not Bush is the Anti-Christ. (I actually have a Democrat friend who made that suggestion)

Now, I have many policy and philosophical differences with President Bush. He’s certainly no libertarian, nor is he particularly conservative, but I do not feel the need to create a fantasy world in which President Bush vacillates between being an evil genius and a total moron. I think he’s a good man, just wrong on a lot of stuff.

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Yeah, well, you sure were critical of Clinton when he was president.” C’mon, you don’t have to pay close attention to see the difference. I’m not aware of anyone who called Clinton evil, or a Nazi, much less the Anti-Christ. President Clinton was criticized for illegalities ranging from hosing the subordinate at the workplace on the clock (textbook sexual harassment), to selling missile technology to the People’s Republic of China for campaign money (illegal campaign funding). When he did stuff that the conservatives liked (NAFTA, welfare reform), they praised him. Is that sort of fair treatment too much to expect from Democrats regarding Bush?

Anyway, I asked one of my friends, an older woman, why she hated Bush so much. She said that he’s destroying the Constitution. I challenged her to give me an example of his extra-constitutional activities. She told me that he appointed judges when Congress was not in session.

“Yes,” I said, “They’re called ‘recess appointments’”.

“I know what they’re called,” she said, acting a little offended.

I explained that recess appointments were not some evil thing that Karl Rove developed in the White House basement. They’ve been around for a long time. She said that she new that, but Bush made a lot of them.

I pointed out that if the Democrats had not blocked the voting with filibusters, he would not have to make any recess appointments. I was about to point out that if anyone created a new evil thing with which to destroy the Constitution, it was the Democrats and their new application of the filibuster which changed the votes necessary to confirm a judge from a simple majority to a de-facto super majority!

Alas, I could feel my anger rising along with my voice; worse yet, I could see the same thing beginning in my friend. I changed the subject. We finished our conversation saying that it was nice that we could be friends and disagree, blah, blah, blah.

Though I failed in my quest for reasoned conversation, I witnessed some successes that day when other people crossed over to the other side and spoke one on one.

There is always hope.

It appears that our City Council has negotiated a deal with the Eastborne Company. They plan to put in a huge development that will include a tract of KB Homes houses, a retail complex (complete with a “big box”), and, of course, some University of Arizona “park” of some sort. It will be located in the South Park neighborhood near Park and 36th. But hey, at least we got rid of those dang Republicans on the City Council who suck up to KB Homes, change zoning for rich developers, and allow more of those awful “big box” stores! (Har, har, har, chortle, chortle).

While most council business goes on as usual, our elected representatives were flirting with a new and very wicked idea – all mail-in voting. Thankfully, in the course of Tuesday evening’s meeting, the idea was officially abandoned …for now. Unfortunately, mail-in voting, like “light rail” and herpes, never really goes away. Remember, too, that if they do it in the Emerald City (Portland, Oregon), the Democrats will want to do it here.

This time, the discussion avoided the real issue, and focused on pragmatic problems such as Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. Frankly, I would be tempted to tell the swinging Richard from Washington to shove it – but that’s just me. The City Clerk is faced with the huge headache of bringing all polling places into compliance. Of course, if most of the polling places went away, so would the headache. Expect support from City Clerk Kathy Detrick next time around.

The elephant in the voting booth, about which no one is speaking, is fraud. You know, we have had pens, paper, and a postal system for over two hundred years, yet we go to the voting booths to cast our votes. Why is that?

Here’s a hint. When you are in the booth, you are alone with the ballot, you mark it, and then you put it in a locked box that is guarded by people from both parties. It’s called a “secret ballot”. Secret ballots are important because they insure that your vote reflects your choice, and not that of your spouse, employer, union representative, landlord, etc. Get it? Why do you suppose that the poll worker will not touch your ballot, and makes you put it in the box yourself?

Some say that making voting easy would encourage more participation. We already have mail-in voting on demand with the absentee ballots – but we know it’s not about participation; it’s about the F-word.

The Motor-Voter law made registering as easy as breaking wind, and now taxpayers from Hyannis to San Francisco are spending big bucks trying to remove fraudulent registrations from the voter rolls.

A number of ACORN people were indicted in St. Louis for submitting fraudulent registrations (it’s still against the law, even for Democrats). Voting by mail is an invitation for similar shenanigans a little further along in the process. There is an ACORN chapter in Tucson, by the way.

There was an election recently in which voters resoundingly defeated a ballot initiative that would have created a statewide mail-in voting scheme. In light of this fact, one would imagine that mail-in voting would now be the “third rail” of Arizona politics. Facilitating fraud must be one heck of a motivation.

One last thing, and this is something that every American knows at a gut level (Tom Danehy will back me on this). Voting with a secret ballot is the most important civic duty that a citizen can perform. It is a right that should be exercised with some gravity. It is not the equivalent of mailing in a magazine subscription – 5 years for $50.00, 2 years for $30.00, 1 year for $20.00, Libertarian, Republican, Democrat. If you increase the turnout fifty per cent with voters who do not take the decision seriously, have you improved the process, or cheapened it?

So, the next time that this mail-in vote stuff comes around, call your Councilman and tell him to knock it off, and get back to greasing the skids for developers and building “big boxes” on the South Side.