On Wednesday, March 20th, Ward 6 Council Member Steve Kozachik will be joined by the City of Tucson’s four most recent mayors for a campaign kickoff event. Former mayors George Miller, Tom Volgy and Bob Walkup will join current Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild at Borderlands Brewery in downtown Tucson for the event.

Steve Kozachik Campaign Kickoff
Wednesday, March 20, 5:30 – 7:00 P.M.
Borderlands Brewing Company
119 E. Toole Ave., Tucson, AZ 85701

“Borderlands is the perfect venue for this kick-off,” said Kozachik. “It’s the poster child of a successful private sector venture that has quickly grown into a successful downtown business. It is emblematic of the successes we’re seeing in the downtown core, a success story that I’m proud to have been a part of and one that I am excited to continue to support.”

Former Council Member and honorary campaign co-chair Carol West will also be in attendance. Kozachik announced previously that West, Walkup and former United States Surgeon General Richard Carmona will be co-chairing his campaign.

The event marks the first time in recent memory that four mayors, representing two parties have come together in support of a city council candidate. Each mayor offered their own insights into what makes Kozachik an effective leader, deserving of their endorsement.

The current Mayor Jonathan Rothschild (elected 2011) is a Democrat, along with former Mayors Tom Volgy (1987 to 1991) and George Miller (1991 to 1999). Former Mayor Robert Walkup (1999 to 2011) is a Republican.

Councilman Steve Kozachik (aka “Steve K” or “Koz”) is running unopposed for the Ward 6 Council office so far. He was elected to this seat as a Republican and just changed to a Democrat on January 14, 2013.

Two term Ward 3 Councilmember Democrat Karin Uhlich is facing Republican challenger Ben Buehler-Garcia, who ran against her before in 2009. He lost by 175 votes in a three-way race with Councilmember Uhlich and Green candidate Mary DeCamp.

One term Ward 5 Councilmember Democrat Richard Fimbres is facing a Republican challenger as well, political newcomer Mike Polak II, a self employed businessman. Stay tuned for a future post about Polak’s candidacy. He just filed his Statement of Organization on March 6 with the Tucson City Clerk.

Councilman Steve Kozachik

VoteKoz2013 Campaign Honorary Co-Chairs
Robert Walkup – Former Mayor (R)
Dr. Richard Carmona – Former U.S. Surgeon General (D)
Ms. Carol West – Former Tucson City Council Member (I)

Last week I formally filed papers for re-election to the Tucson City Council, Ward 6 seat. It has been my honor to serve the constituents of this Ward, and of the broader City. I look forward to continuing working on behalf of all residents of the community in the years to come. We’re just putting together the current campaign. You will be hearing more on how it will roll out in the days to come.

Over the course of the past three years I have demonstrated my willingness to study issues individually, and to advocate for policy based on the specific set of facts related to each of them, not being bound by preconceived notions or rigid ideology. The public policy issues we face are too complex to approach the task of governance in any other manner.

Through that process, I have worked with constituents who reflect all political parties. Whether the issues involve business interests, the rights of private property owners, protecting the taxpayers money, labor, or management, my approach has consistently been to listen to the multiple voices as they weigh in on a given issue and work to find the common ground that represents sound public policy.

That approach to governance has resulted in my being in a position to announce today that three highly respected members of our community, each reflecting a different place on the political spectrum have agreed to serve as Honorary Co-Chairs for my campaign. I believe their willingness to attach their names and reputations to my campaign validates the approach that I have taken to create informed and transparent public policy since 2009. I am extremely thankful to Bob Walkup, Dr. Richard Carmona, and Carol West for this showing of support. I am committed to continuing to work in a way that earns their trust, as well as that of the electorate in this community.

Contact
Ann Charles 520-977-5161
VoteKoz2013@gmail.com
rcharles@theriver.com
(520) 977-5161

Also up for re-election this year is 2 term Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich, who announced her candidacy at Democrats of Greater Tucson (DGT) on Monday, and 1 term Ward 5 Councilmember Richard Fimbres, who is seeking re-election. He is listed as a future speaker at DGT, www.tucsondemocrats.org.

Councilman Kozachik, formerly a Republican and political newcomer, defeated incumbent Democrat Nina Trasoff for the Ward 6 seat in 2009.

All three Councilmembers seeking re-election in 2013 are Democrats.

“In 1999 voters approved the creation of the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District (District). The District is both a municipal stadium district and a special taxing district. The voters authorized the District to receive an incremental portion of State-shared funds derived from transaction privilege taxes (i.e. sales tax called TIF Funds) collected from within the District boundaries within the City of Tucson city limits. The District is a State municipal district with the powers, privileges and immunities granted to governmental, municipal corporations for District purposes: a planned multi-faceted development project, including cultural and recreational amenities and improvements, unique historic re-creations, mixed-use developments, etc. The District was reorganized by the Arizona State Legislature in the fall of 2009 and the board re-appointed in March 2010. Expenditure of the TIF Funds collected is now disbursed and managed by the reconstituted Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District Board of Directors who as of 2010 are appointed by the State’s Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives.”

From: http://rionuevo-tucson.org/

For more info on Rio Nuevo also see this City of Tucson webpage, with financial reports: http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/rionuevo

This 10 year (1999 to 2009) project has received a lot of attention recently due to conflicts between the City of Tucson Council and the new Rio Nuevo board, re-constituted by the State Legislature in March, 2010. Citizens have been asking about who were the Councilmembers (Democrats, Republicans, one Independent) during these 10 years, and beyond. Here’s the list of who was serving (as far as I remember):

Mayor: Robert Walkup (R), 1999 to present (not running for re-election 2011)
Ward 1: Jose Ibarra (D), 1999 to 2007; Regina Romero (D), 2007 to present (up for re-election 2011)
Ward 2: Carol West (D, I), 1999 to 2007; Rodney Glassman (D), 2007 to 2010; Paul Cunningham (D), appointed 2010 to present (up for election 2011)
Ward 3: Jerry Anderson (D), 1999 to 2001; Kathleen Dunbar (R), 2001 to 2005; Karin Uhlich (D), 2005 to present
Ward 4: Shirley Scott (D), 1999 to present (up for re-election 2011)
Ward 5: Steve Leal (D), 1999 to 2009; Richard Fimbres (D), 2009 to present
Ward 6: Fred Ronstadt (R), 1999 to 2005; Nina Trasoff (D), 2005 to 2009; Steve Kozachik (R), 2009 to present

(Some of these Councilmembers were serving before Rio Nuevo began, but I only list the starting point as 1999 when Rio Nuevo was created).

Those who were serving as elected officials during entire Rio Nuevo project: Mayor Bob Walkup, Councilmembers Steve Leal and Shirley Scott.

Those who came on the Council after late 2009: Councilmembers Richard Fimbres, Steve Kozachik, and Paul Cunningham.

And who were the Tucson City Managers during this time: Luis Gutierrez (1999), James Keene (2000 to 2005), and Mike Hein (2005 to 2009). Gutierrez is retired, Keene is now City Manager of Palo Alto, California, and Hein is Director of Pima County Emergency Management & Homeland Security.

Last November, 2010 I reported on the citizen outrage after an audit on Rio Nuevo was released about $230 million allegedly mismanaged:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2010/11/29/citizens-express-outrage-over-rio-nuevo-mismanagement/

Stay tuned as the City Council and the new Rio Nuevo board have recently agreed to mediate their differences.

Grinnell only entered the race in July of this year (click here for announcement blog), after the Pima County Republican Party failed to qualify a candidate from the petition nominations which had been due on June 1st. (Both potential Republican candidates Ron Asta and Shaun McClusky were disqualified in Superior court actions due to lack of the requisite # of valid signatures).

Grinnell’s website: http://www.grinnell4mayor.com/. His website lists his career highlights:

–Founder and president of Smart United Business Strategies (SUBS), a for-profit venture that fosters political interaction between State and Local government and the entrepreneurial community.
–Marketing executive (Metro Restaurants), business development consultant in retail, service, transportation, construction and hospitality industries.
–Employment specialist providing vocational training and placement for individuals with disabilities and working with business owners to help injured workers return to work.
–Small business owner

Grinnell attended Salpointe Catholic High School and has a degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. Since last year he has been a Board Member of the new Rio Nuevo Multi Purpose Facilities District. And reports are that his lobbying firm represents Augusta Resource Corporation, the Canadian firm that is proposing the controversial Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson.

Grinnell ran twice before for the Ward 2 Council seat in 1995 and 1999 and lost to Democratic Councilmember Janet Marcus and then Marcus’ aide Carol West (a Democrat who later became an Independent). Years ago he also served on the now-defunct Domestic Violence Commission (along with me and lots of other community members like Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall and Dr. Richard Carmona).

Contact info: email: info@grinnell4mayor.com or phone: 520-370-0529.

He faces Democrat Jonathan Rothschild and Green Mary DeCamp for the job of Mayor of Tucson, in the General Election on November 8, 2011.

Rick Grinnell

Blogger James Kelley (“The Cholla Jumps”, formerly with Tucsoncitizen.com) reports that Republican Rick Grinnell is seriously considering a run for Mayor of Tucson, as a write-in candidate. Filing deadline for write-in candidates for the primary race is July 21 with the Tucson City Clerk. Grinnell has been in the news recently serving on the Rio Nuevo Multi Purpose Facilities District board.

Read Kelley’s blog here: http://thechollajumps.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/rick-grinnell-to-run-for-tucson-mayor-as-a-write-in/

I reported on Grinnell last April, 2010 when he applied to be appointed to the Ward 2 Council seat (which subsequently went to Democrat Paul Cunningham, who’s now running for election). Click here for that blog. And here’s my brief description of Grinnell:

Richard K. (Rick) Grinnell, Founder/Registered lobbyist for Smart United Business Strategies, Inc. and President/Registered lobbyist for Rick Grinnell Business & Marketing Consulting, B.S. in Business Management from U. of Phoenix, U.S. Navy veteran, candidate for Ward 2 Council seat in 1995 and 1999, Republican

Grinnell ran against Councilmember Janet Marcus and Libertarian Tim Loomis in 1995, and against former Marcus aide Carol West in 1999. He got 34.06% of the vote compared to incumbent Marcus (47.76%) and Loomis (9.34%). Four years later Grinnell fared better (44.25%) against West, who prevailed with 50.01% of the vote.

He needs 1060 minimum write-in votes in the Republican primary to get on the General election ballot. (Last year Republican Greg Krino got 1519 write-in votes to qualify for the LD 28 State Senate race against incumbent Senator Paula Aboud. Krino only needed 214 write-in votes, after he decided not to run for LD 28 House.)

For more information on SUBS (Smart United Business Strategies, A Business Advocate for Informed Political Involvement) click here. Grinnell can be reached there at 520-624-0231 or Rick@SubsTucson.com.

Both Republicans Ron Asta and Shaun McClusky were found ineligible to run for Mayor recently in Superior Court challenges, due to not having enough valid signatures on their nomination petitions.

David M. Karr

Another write-in candidate political newcomer David M. Karr is listed on the Tucson City Clerk’s website as a Democrat (as of June 22, 2011). He was born here in Tucson, graduated from Sahuaro High School, is a retired Correctional Sergeant and wants to be a stand up comic. His campaign website is http://karrfortucsonmayor.webs.com, and he can be reached via email at karrfortucsonmayor@gmail.com.

Karr faces political newcomer attorney Jonathan Rothschild in the Democratic primary on August 30. The winner of the Green Party primary (either Dave Croteau or Mary DeCamp) will advance to the General Election for Mayor. Croteau has run for Mayor before in 1999 (write-in) and in 2007 as the sole challenger against Mayor Bob Walkup.

So stay tuned to see if Grinnell does decide to run, or if anyone else besides Karr throws his/her hat into this Mayoral race as write-in candidates. The deadline for filing petition nominations was June 1st, so only write-in candidates are now allowed.

7/1/11 UPDATE: Another Democratic write-in candidate has filed: political newcomer architect Joseph Maher, Jr. (click here).

For the first time (as far as I know) there were more Independent candidates in a legislative race (LD 28 Senate) than candidates from the major parties. There was one Democrat (the incumbent), one Republican, and two Independents running in that legislative race.

But it seems that Independent candidates don’t receive a lot of votes.

November 2006 General Election: Jay Quick ran as an Independent in CD 8 House, and got 1.68% of the vote (3523 votes). This past August, 2010 he ran again for CD 8 House as a Republican in the primary, and received 2.29% of the vote (1648 votes), slightly more percentage wise.

November 2008 General Election: Ralph Nader ran for U. S. President as “Nonpartisan” and got only 0.51 % of the vote in Pima County (1995 votes). He formerly ran for President as a Green Party candidate.

November 2010 General Election: Harley Meyer just ran in CD 7 House as an Independent, and got 2.83% of the vote (4506 votes).

In LD 27 Gene Chewning just ran for State House as an Independent & got 6.46% of the vote (4,114 votes). He ran before for the same seat as a Republican in November 2006, and got 19.54% of the vote (11,327 votes)– which shows that major party affiliation does help.

And in LD 28 Senate, Ted Downing (formerly a Democratic legislator) got 6.25% of the vote (3,085 votes) running as “Nonpartisan and Independent”, while Dave Ewoldt as an Independent (formerly with the Green party) got 2.86% of the vote (1,414 votes). Final tallies are not complete for these two races either.

Downing ran for this same seat in the September, 2006 Primary as a Democrat and got 45.71% of the vote (7746 votes). He only got 3085 votes this time in the 2010 General Election, so leaving the Democratic party seems to have lessened his chances of vote-getting.

Running as an Independent frees the candidate from a Primary Election challenge, but they don’t have a political party “machine”/resources to help them get out the vote, nor a political party platform to assist the voters in deciding what these candidates stand for. Being “independent” minded may not be enough for today’s discerning voter.

And I suspect that voters who choose “Other/No Party/Independent/Non partisan” status do so as they want to avoid party labels (or are unhappy with their former party), the closed Primaries, and want the freedom to pick & choose between all the Political Party candidates (Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Independent, etc.) in the General Election.

Time will tell if any independent/non partisan candidate will win a seat in Southern Arizona in the future.

UPDATE: Only Independent politicians in Southern AZ have been Ward 2 Councilmember Carol West (who changed from a Democrat), and District 3 Pima County Supervisor Ed Moore (who changed from a Republican).

4 p.m. Tucson Tea Party, Doubletree Hotel, 445 S. Alvernon Way (south of Broadway)

7 p.m. Pima County Republican Party, Doubletree Hotel, 445 W. Alvernon Way

7 p.m. Pima County Democratic Party, Tucson Marriott University Park Hotel, 880 E. 2nd Street (east of Euclid Avenue)

For a recent survey report on the Arizona Tea Party, click here.

And what about parties by the Green Party of Pima County and Pima County Libertarian Party? Does anyone know?

And where will the “Independent” candidates like Harley Meyer (CD 7 U.S. House), Gene Chewning (LD 27 House), Ted Downing (LD 28 Senate),and Dave Ewoldt (LD 28 Senate) go to party? I guess if they win, they will be throwing their own parties. Ewoldt does have a campaign headquarters at 2602 E. Grant Rd.

UPDATE: Ewoldt is having a free bbq/potluck BYOB party at his headquarters tonight starting at 5 p.m. See comments below.

(By the way, the only Independent politician in Southern Arizona — as far as I know — was Ward 2 Councilwoman Carol West, who was elected as a Democrat but changed to Independent before her term was up.)

Hope you find something to celebrate about on General Election Night.

former State House Rep. Ted Downing

Former state rep. Ted Downing has changed his party affiliation on the Secretary of State’s website from Democrat to Independent. Ted served 2 terms as LD 28 House Rep. as a Democrat from 2003 to 2007, and is a UA professor of social development. Current LD 28 State Senator Aboud beat Downing in this same race back in November 2006, 9158 votes (54.04%) to 7746 votes (45.71%).

Meanwhile, Dave Ewoldt has filed in that same office as an Independent as well. Dave was the campaign manager for Green candidate Dave Croteau for Mayor in 2007 and has been active in the Green Party. Ewoldt’s campaign flyer describes himself as “Politically experienced, but Independent to the core.” He is a practitioner and researcher in the field of ecopsychology.

candidate Dave Ewoldt

I guess that means both men will move on to the General with no primary election competition.

So that would leave incumbent LD 28 State Senator Paula Aboud, a property manager, as the only Democrat running, with no Republican challenger.

As far as I know, the only Independent in public office in Southern Arizona was former Tucson City Councilmember Carol West, who changed from Democrat to Independent in her last year of office.

State Senator Paula Aboud

Websites for these three candidates in LD 28 State Senate:

–Paula Aboud, www.paulaaboud.com

–Dr. Ted Downing, www.ted-downing.com

–Dave Ewoldt, website under construction, contact him at DaveforArizona@gmail.com.
5/31 update: www.daveforarizona.org.

For a map of LD 28, click here for the Pima County Democratic Party website.