Tucson Sammy

The Tucson Citizen – Tucson’s quaint little afternoon newspaper – published their endorsements for the current City Council race. Ho-hum. I noticed that they endorsed Karin Uhlich over incumbent Kathleen Dunbar. My curiosity piqued, I read the column. Frankly, they are tripping to hard.

First let me say that I agree with their assessment of Mrs. Dunbar:

“Republican Kathleen Dunbar is the constituent service champion, with a record of achievement in infrastructure improvement, the fight against urban blight and responsiveness to businesses in the North Side ward during her four-year term.”

So far, so good. Then I read this sort of Timothy Leary description Ms. Uhlich:

“Challenger Karin Uhlich, a Democrat, demonstrates big-picture thinking and a record of accomplishment in the realm of service for Tucson’s downtrodden. She talks of a vision of improvement for a city badly in need of unifying political leadership.”

Now, it is certainly true that Ms. Ulich has distinguished herself in her service to the poor at both the Primavera Foundation, and the Southwest Center for Economic Integrity. I just don’t get the leap from narrow special interest advocate to political unifier and visionary.

Both Ms. Uhlich and Mrs. Trasoff do share a short term vision of unifying the city’s political leadership under the jackboot of a “progressive majority”. Perhaps that is the type of unifying the Citizen staff has in mind as they gaze through the window pane.

How about the following:

“Her call for making city government responsive to and inclusive of residents. For example, Uhlich says, residents would have had a say under her in implementing a garbage collection fee reasonably.”

You know, I haven’t done acid in thirty years … or is it the lack of punctuation? Maybe it reads better outside in the yellow sunshine.

Anyway, speaking of jackboots, check this out:

“Dunbar is a Johnny-come-lately to the anti-meth effort. While her help in cleaning up 300 drug houses in her ward is laudable, she missed the boat on meth controls, kowtowing to the retail lobby and weakly linking the registration of Sudafed purchasers to potential identity theft.”

That’s right, they’re criticizing her for having reservations concerning the registration of Sudafed purchasers! Hey, back in the 1960’s they used to say “Register communists, not allergy sufferers!” … or something like that; and please, the notion that the first person to hold a Town Hall on the “meth problem” is a “Johnny-come-lately” is absurd.

The guys down at the Citizen ought to forget the blotter, play a few tracks from “Wake of the Flood,” drink some orange juice, and revisit this thing later.

Karin Uhlich has done a stellar job as an advocate. Kathleen Dunbar has done a stellar job as a councilman. May they both continue to do so.

Last week, one of my agents attended a Southern Arizona Lodging and Resort Association (SALARA) luncheon. Instead of the usual guest speaker, they hosted a candidate forum. Kathleen Dunbar, Fred Ronstadt, Nina Trasoff, and Karin Uhlich attended. Steve Leal did not attend. Two Democrats and two Republicans, at least it would be a fair fight.

Now, there was no fighting actually, and no feathers flew, but there were definitely two enemy camps present that day. The event was at a conference room at the Doubletree Inn on South Alvernon Way. About thirty people attended. Except for the candidates, the audience was almost exclusively from the Hotel/Lodging industry. The first candidates to arrive were Trasoff and Uhlich, who sat together at one of the five circular tables. Ronstadt and Dunbar arrived separately, and ended up sitting together at a different table. Both groups were close enough to each other to launch attacks with small arms – including bladed weapons.

The poor MC clearly had now prior experience with politicians. She actually said, “Each candidate will have five or ten minutes to speak.” Now, this is like saying to a junkie, “I’m going to give you five or ten grams of heroine…” at which point the junkie grabs the speaker by the collar and screams, “Which is it!? Five or ten!?! I need to know now!”

Continuing on, the MC invited Trasoff to speak first. The perky Trasoff smiled and started rummaging through her briefcase. She paused, and started rummaging some more. She mumbled, “I can’t find my notes; I left my notes on my desk,” then, addressing the MC, she explained that she did not have her notes, and perhaps someone else should go first. The MC, sounding as if she knew that she was out of her depth, tentatively invited Dunbar to start. Dunbar, apparently sensing some sort of sneaky Democrat trick, declined and remain glued to her chair. There was a protracted awkward silence, then, perhaps in desperation, the MC asked Uhlich if she would like to start. Uhlich smiled, popped out of her seat, and saved the day.

The short speeches were predictable. The Republican incumbents told of the great job they were doing and cited examples. The Democrat challengers told of their respective backgrounds, and of the stinky job the Republicans were doing – also citing examples. All the candidates included some form of the phrase “…and I don’t have to tell you how important that is to your industry!” No real fights ensued, though Ronstadt did use the phrase “That’s a lie, and I have the documents on the table to prove it.”

Trasoff waved around a old pamphlet that was used to sell the Rio Nuevo project to the voters, and complained that the current plan resembles little the concept-plan that they approved. She should really avoid doing that, it makes her appear terribly naïve. Speaking of predictable, Trasoff uttered the usual “respect”, and “multiculturalism” buzz words, and accused the Republicans of trying to balance the budget “on the backs of children and families,” blah, blah, blah.

Interestingly, Ronstadt used the term “Progressive Majority” no fewer than three times when referring to the Republicans and others on the City Council. Now, we all know that “progressive” is a code word for “commie”, so what was Ronstadt smoking? Ahh! But wait, this phrase, “Progressive Majority” has been used by Trasoff to describe the goal of the Democrats regarding the makeup of the new City Council after the Democrats are elected. Could Ronstadt be commandeering the phrase, taking it from Trasoff? My agent asked Nina if she thought this might be the case, and she just looked at him as if he were the naïve one.

Uhlich is amazing. She is always “on”, always cool, never flustered, and she misses nothing. She spoke of “The link between quality of life and the economy.” We agree that increased prosperity can be a heap big factor in the “quality of life” – particularly for those at the lower income levels. We find it strange, however, that the Southwest Center for Economic Integrity – for whom Uhlrich is the Executive Director – advocates “minimum wage” and “living wage” laws that hurt entry level workers by pricing them out of the labor market. Surely she understands this; after all, she has been working with homeless and low-income people for decades – both at the Southwest Center for Economic Integrity, and at the Primavera Foundation. I’ll make a note to ask her about that one.

More to come!

Note: For more information on this issue, see Home Rule – No Change Back from Your Billion Dollars under “Articles.”

Some stimulants might be in order. Meth is probably the best, but not very cool these days. So, that leaves Coke, coffee, or – if you have a boy in public school – Ritalin. I chose to eat a couple of candy bars before I went to a Town Hall Meeting hosted by Vice–Mayor Kathleen Dunbar, concerning the issue of Home Rule.

Home Rule, in this case, refers to an alternative to the spending limits on municipalities imposed by the constitution of the State of Arizona, whereby local determination of spending limits can be substituted for a period of four years in place of the state imposed limits if said plan is approved by voters…pause here and wait for the stimulants to kick in before you nod out.

In short, the Arizona Constitution was amended to limit the discretionary spending by municipalities so they couldn’t go hog-wild with property tax rates (like they did in California). A baseline was set, with automatic increases to cover inflation and population growth. Naturally, the legislation included provisions that would allow everything from tweaking the baseline, to bailing on the whole dang thing. Specifically, there are four ways to escape: 1, the City council, through a supermajority vote, enacting a one-time override; 2, the voters approving a one-time override; 3, permanently adjusting the baseline (Tucson did this in 1983 and 1987); 4, Home Rule – bailing on the whole dang thing for four years. The Tucson City Government wants to pick door number four, but they need our blessing in November to do it.

So it was, with briefcase in hand, a belly full of Snickers, and a spring in my step, that I approached the meeting room at the Ward III office on Grant road. At first, I was a little reticent to enter. I peered through the window and saw half a dozen people sitting in silence with heads bowed. There was a man in a suit at the front of the room sitting in a chair. I stepped back and looked at the building to make sure I was not crashing some Thursday evening church service. I held my breath and entered, taking a seat near the back.

I felt better after Mrs. Dunbar’s staff began to arrive. Through a side door, and looking very relaxed, City Manager Mike Hein entered the room. He walked slowly to the front, stopping to shake hands as he went. He wore a smile so broad that his eyes winced closed – I don’t think he’s running for anything…is he? He joined the man at the front of the room – City Budget Director, Jim Cameron.

It was clear who worked for whom. Mr. Cameron sat upright, dressed in a suit with white shirt and tie; Mr. Hein slouched back in his chair with one arm on the table, he wore a blue blazer with an open button-down collar shirt – no tie.

Mrs. Dunbar entered, smiling and energetic, greeting people individually before sitting in the audience. At the appropriate time, Mrs. Dunbar introduced the speakers. Actually, Mr. Hein did most of the talking , while Mr. Cameron ran the Power Point. His “laid-back” demeanor aside, Mr. Hein appeared quite the astute professional. He has experience in the governments of other municipalities in Arizona, including Nogales, and it shows. He displayed both a wealth of technical knowledge, and an understanding of the governmental processes.

He seems to have a clever angle on marketing this thing as well. Instead of the fear mongering approach used by Phoenix, Mr. Hein uses the subtle approach of asking for an approving vote so that the City can spend the projected nine million dollars of extra revenue that will exceed the spending limit in the fiscal year 2007. Without the “yes” vote, the money will just sit, unspent, in a bank account! *gasp* If that does not put the Fear of the Almighty in you, the projection for fiscal year 2008 is twenty-five million dollars! Idle! Not buying votes, or enlarging fiefdoms!

Anyway, Mr. Hein proceeded to explain Home Rule in an informal, conversational style. Mr. Cameron dutifully followed Mr. Hein’s conversation with the appropriate Power Point slides.

There was a Q and A at the end. There were a few questions from the floor including a question about trash fees. The best question, however, came from the skinny guy with long hair and the type of tan rarely seen on people outside traffic medians. He started off complaining about the lack of central planning and “open space”, then, at some point, he was talking about the potential of laser computers. I must admit, the candy bars were wearing off so I was fading fast and not terribly attentive. What fascinated me though, was the rapt attention paid to the man by both Mr. Hein and Mr. Cameron – better men than I are they! Fortunately, before he had a chance to discuss flying saucers, Mr. Dunbar gently “redirected” his attention back into the room and the business at hand.

After the guests fielded all the questions, Mrs. Dunbar thanked everyone for coming, and thanked the guests for the presentation. There was brief applause.

It was really an informative show, and the informal style was appealing. Mr. Hein is “The Man” on this issue, and is capable of answering any and all questions. If you have not attended one of these presentations, please consider doing so. This will be on the November ballot. Voting is not important, informed voting is.

Now that the primary is over, Democrats Steve Leal, Nina Trasoff, and Karin Uhlich will attempt to win their respective races, and create what Trasoff described as a “Progressive Majority” on the Tucson City Council. What affect will this have on our fair city? Let’s look:

Civil Rights: The current battleground of this movement is the gun rights issue. As many of you know, the despicable Jim Crow laws of the past have been removed from the books – all except those related to the possession of firearms, which have been expanded to include everyone. Expect the Democrats to team up with Republican Mayor Uncle Bob Walkup and further restrict firearms (if that’s possible) at the municipal level, and finally succeed in their effort to force the McMann-Roadrunner Gun Show out of Tucson. Do not believe the lie about the gun purchasing “loophole” at gun shows; there is no such thing. The attack on gun shows is an effort to intimidate, and deny the right of free assembly and association – something you would think the Democrats would fight for, rather than fight against.

“Living Wage” Ordinance: This was an issue championed by the Green candidate the last time around. If other cities are any indication, expect the Democrats to employ members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as the shock troops with which to push this ordinance. This is one of ACORN’s pet issues. Contrary to the propaganda that the “Living Wage” ordinance will “help families”; its true purpose is to shut unskilled workers out of the job market by creating an artificially high minimum wage, making those workers unemployable. This creates a dependency class, and shifts the work to higher waged union workers – that, my friends, is the object of the exercise.

Transit: This is another one of those areas where the Left totally abandons reality in favor of recreating the world in their vision of utopia. Let’s be honest, almost everybody prefers personal point to point, on demand transportation to buses that transport groups of people to a point near their destinations, after they wait around a while. Why do Democrat politicians want to lower the standard of living of the people of Tucson – people other than themselves? Expect no change to the government enforced monopolies that Suntran and the Taxis enjoy, expansion of the bus system (50 year old thinking), and perhaps a resurrection of a “Light Rail” trolley (100 year old thinking).

Gee! Will voting for Republicans save us? Nope. When pressed on any issue hard enough, they usually fall in line with the Democrats. Neither party is interested in new, creative solutions to anything. When did you ever hear a Republican say something like, “Wait a minute here. Why don’t we get rid of the laws that protect the buses and taxis from competition? Why, I’ll bet that there are thousands of people in Tucson who would come up with innovative solutions for underserved transportation markets, and if they can make money at it, then everybody wins!”? Republicans get elected not because they have fresh ideas; they get elected because they are not as bad as the Democrats. With the Republicans, you get the “Road to Serfdom” – Friedrich Hayek. With the Democrats, you get the “Toboggan Ride to Tyranny” – Vin Suprynowicz.

It was with some trepidation that I opened the current edition of the Tucson Weekly to view the follow-up article on Vernon Walker, Republican candidate for City Council, Ward V. Could it get any worse? Is he still in the race? What damage will he do to the Republican Party in Pima County?

Worse? Perhaps not; the follow-up article rehashed those things brought to light in the first article, plus the news of his recent payment of an outstanding court judgment. The payment was at the behest of George Gobble, Republican strategist from whom Walker has been getting advice. Good advice, that. According to the Weekly, included with the check was a letter “reserving his right to pursue further legal action…” When I read that, I uttered the same phrase that I did when President Clinton finally confessed to his affair with Monica and went on to say that it was not his fault, but rather that of those mean ol’ Republicans – “what a punk!”

Interestingly, there were new Vernon Walker revelations in “The Skinny”, an ongoing column in the Weekly that has fun with the antics of people in the news. There was a report of Mr. Walker’s status regarding matching campaign funds (God help us!), and his battle with Pima County over his conversion of a garage to a room without the necessary permits. Now, while I certainly support anyone who tells the King what he can do with his permits, this principle is not the point here. What was fascinating was the written argument that Walker submitted in his defense. The Weekly described his writing as “…in a language remarkably similar to English.” This remark is actually too charitable. There was a dearth of periods (that would be “dots” for you computer geeks) in his ramblings, along with many humorous phrases such as “…and should have a statue of limitations on it”; but hey, we all screw up words every now and then, write?

There were rumors afoot of Walker’s dropping out, but no official action as of this writing.

Amazingly, Walker has not raised the ire of his fellow Republicans. What does this guy have to do, rape a nun? Jeez, it’s not like the Republicans can afford miscreants on the ballot; after all, who will quote Dunbar or Ronstadt when he can quote Walker, then expose the lie? Dunbar has judiciously offered “no comment” when asked about the Walker campaign. Ronstadt has described him as a “friend”. Well, O.K., I can see being loyal to a friend, and giving an honest answer, but then it’s time to throw him from the sled. How can one defend the indefensible?

I suppose that it’s possible that when VW (Vernon Walker) said “statue of limitations” , he was referring to the Statue of Liberty in New York! As we all know, the Statue of Liberty is made up of a base, a statue, and a torch. It is from these terms that the legal terms “base law”, “statue law”, and “torch law” come. Vernon could not have explained it better himself!

My first posting described an encounter with Vernon Walker, Republican candidate for City Council, Ward V (see “Vernon Walker – Ward V Candidate”). My, my, how appearances can deceive! He really did seem like an “aw, shucks” kind of guy.

I first saw him at a Citizen’s Advisory Committee meeting at the Himmel Park Library. At this particular meeting, everybody introduces himself. When it was Vernon’s turn, he said, “Vernon Walker, political candidate,” followed by a short, self-deprecating giggle. My first thought was, “No,no,no! Say, ‘Hi! I’m Vernon Walker, and I want to be YOUR councilman from Ward V. I want to make sure that the important work that all of you do here, blah,blah,blah, thank you!’ and stop wringing your hanky!” It was there that I found out that computers intimidated him.

He surfaced again at Salpointe High School to attend a presentation about the “Meth Epidemic” (see posting entitled “Meth Memories”). Again, he was there, but he didn’t do anything. At least he should have jumped up in the middle of the show and shouted, “I’m Vernon Walker, your new voice from Ward V, and I say that we need a City Council that is not going to continue to tolerate this epidemic that’s infecting our children, our families, blah, blah, blah, I’m sorry if I’m out of line here, but this issue is too important! Thank you.” Hey, this stuff isn’t rocket science.

So you can imagine my surprise when this apparent nebbish appears on the cover of the Tucson Weekly! Jim Nintzel wrote a shocking expose’ of Mr. Walker, that included reports of failure to pay taxes, screwing tenants out of deposits, failure to pay creditors, and not voting.

Now I know that some of you are thinking, “Tucson Weekly, yeah right, probably BS.” In fact, I know a real estate attorney who can’t say “Tucson Weekly” without spitting, sneering, or both. I agree that they often get it wrong; but hey, any rag that published Emil Franzi can’t be all bad. I believe Jim Nintzel. I say this because, on more than one occasion, I have dealt with him directly and found him to be fair, honest, accurate, and an awfully nice guy.

Ah! Nintzel’s article jogged my memory! Vernon Walker is the guy who angered the residents of the Samos neighborhood when he bought an old stucco house on North Martin, shoe-horned two hideous duplexes into the back yard, and rented them to drug dealers! The neighborhood folks (many of whom support “infill” over “sprawl”) went absolutely ape. The family across the street sold its house and moved to the foothills. The crisis even made the Tucson Citizen. The neighbors complained bitterly, and Vernon responded with some pap about being poor once and wanting to help people. I heard that the property is currently for sale.

So what was Vernon Walker thinking when he decided to run for office? Did he think that none of this would come out? Even if he thought that he could keep under the media radar, did he think that “opposition research” would not be a part of Councilman-for-Life Steve Leal’s campaign?

One thing is certain, he ignored the first rule of electoral politics: If you’re despicable, you better be a Democrat.