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Councilman Kozachik to host Town Hall/Roast on January 7, 2013 (with David Fitzsimmons) – UPDATED

by on Dec. 07, 2012, under Life, Politics

From Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik (aka “Steve K” or “Koz”) via his email newsletter of December 5, 2012:

Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik

On January 8th, 2011, our community was forever changed.
With the tragic shootings, we came together and for a time embraced the phrase “Together We Thrive”. The emphasis was on
the word “together”.

Since that time, we have gone through three elections in which we elected people at the Federal, State, County and City levels. And it is my sense that the combined effect of politics, outside/big money and the passage of time is that we’re drifting back to the polarized bickering that prevents us from solving some of our fundamental community issues.

So, on January 7th, 2013, we’re going to reset the needle.
What I have done is to reserve The Loft Theater from 7pm until 9pm on that Monday evening. In addition, I have asked Dave Fitzsimmons to emcee/facilitate a Town Hall/Roast meeting. A huge thanks to both Peg Johnson for allowing me to use her facility, and to Fitz for agreeing to an evening in which up to 15 “politicians” will be seated near to him, potentially placing his sanity at risk.

Finally, I have made a personal call to invite every elected official who has anything to do with Ward 6 to come and take part in the event. Everybody has said that if their schedules permit, they’ll be there.
The invitees are our Federal, State, County and City representatives. They’re Democrats and Republicans. And every one of them is coming with the intent of showing that there really are some of us who want to work together for the greater good.

The format will evolve a bit between now and January 7th, but generally it will be a combination of some light sautéing of the elected officials by Fitz, and Q&A from the audience. This is our addressing issues that are meaningful to you in a serious manner, and doing so in an environment in which we won’t be allowed to take ourselves too seriously.
And I’m making sure that the event will be free to the public.

What I need from you is an RSVP so between me and Peg Johnson we can decide on which of her 3 theaters we’ll be using. They vary in seating capacity, but we’ll of course want to know that well in advance so she can use the remaining two for
movies. Please call The Loft at 795.0844, Ward 6 office at 791.4601, or email back to us so we can begin to do a head-count.

I’ll of course be giving some updates on the event between now and the 7th, but The Loft folks could use some time to do the advance planning – if you think you’ll be coming, let me know as soon as you feel you can commit.
I’m thankful to each of the elected men and women who have indicated an interest in participating
in the event. More on this in the weeks ahead.

The Loft Cinema is at 3233 E. Speedway, near the Ward 6 Council office, which is at 3202 E. 1st St.

The Ward 6 email is ward6@tucsonaz.gov, so please RSVP if you can make it on January 7, 2013. My husband and I have already done so, and we hope to see you Ward 6 residents, friends, etc. there for this “roast”. This will be a good event by “Koz” and “Fitz” to bring the Tucson community together again almost 2 years since the Tucson Tragedy shooting.

Republican Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik was elected in Nov. 2009 defeating incumbent Democrat Nina Trasoff. He is up for re-election next year. He currently serves as Vice Mayor and his website is: http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/wardsix.

12/12/12 UPDATE: From Steve K as which politicians are coming or sending a rep:

Congressman Raul Grijalva (CD 3)
Congressman Ron Barber (CD 2)
State Senator Olivia Cajero Bedford (LD 3)
State Senator David Bradley (LD 10)
State Senator Steve Farley (LD 9)
State Representative Sally Ann Gonzales (LD 3)
State Representative Macario Saldate (LD 3)
State Representative Stephanie (should be Stefanie) Mach (LD 10)
State Representative Bruce Wheeler (LD 10)
State Representative Ethan Orr (LD 9)
State Representative Victoria Steele (LD 9)
County Supervisor Richard Elias (D 5)
County Supervisor Sharon Bronson (D 3)
City – Mayor Jonathan Rothschild

That’s a lot of politicians in one room of the Loft Theater.



  • Carolyn_Classen

    Daily Star reporting today: “Among the offices expected to participate are U.S. Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Ron Barber, state Rep. Ethan Orr and eight other members of the Pima County state legislative delegation, County Supervisors Richard Elías
    and Sharon Bronson and Mayor Jonathan Rothschild”.

    • Art_Jacobson

      I notice that so far only two Republicans are slated to appear. Not too much enthusiasm for bi-partisanship across the aisle?

      • Carolyn_Classen

        Maybe they don’t want to get “roasted”. Not sure who Steve K invited, but the other Republicans in the area are LD 11 Senator Al Melvin, new House elect Reps. Adam Kwasman & Steve Smith, Supervisor-elect Ally Miller, Supervisor Ray Carroll, LD 14 Senator Gail Griffin, House Reps. David Gowan and David Stevens.

      • Carolyn_Classen

        Just heard from Steve K that he only invited elected officials who had anything to do with Ward 6 in the City (which he does say in his email above), so the other Republicans mentioned would not likely be involved.

  • Carolyn_Classen

    Updated list of which politicians (or reps) attending from Steve K:

    Congressmen Raul Grijalva
    Congressmen Ron Barber
    State Senators Olivia Cajero Bedford
    State Senators David Bradley
    State Senators Steve Farley
    State Representatives Sally Ann Gonzales
    State Representatives Macario Saldate
    State Representatives Stephanie Mach
    State Representatives Bruce Wheeler
    State Representatives Ethan Orr
    State Representatives Victoria Steele
    County Supervisors Richard Elias
    County Supervisors Sharon Bronson
    City – MayorJonathan Rothschild