In the Tucson Daily Citizen (predecessor of the Tucson Citizen newspaper) a May 20, 1971 article featured a straw ballot to vote for one of the 10 candidates vying for Mayor of Tucson:

1. Joseph I. Brown, D, ran twice before for Mayor & lost
2. James N. Corbett, D, the Mayor (up for re-election)
3. James Dunleavy, D (formerly R), political newcomer
4. Douglas Edgell, R, ran before for City Council & lost
5. Harmon Harrison, R, on the School District 1 Board of Trustees
6. Larry G. Kelly, I, political newcomer
7. Lewis C. Murphy, R, former Tucson City Attorney
8. H. Kelley Rollings, D, political newcomer
9. Robert Royal, R, Ward 6 Councilman
10. Cynthia Schiesel, D, political newcomer (only woman in the race)

Trivia questions for long time Tucsonans:
Q 1: Who won these Republican and Democratic Mayoral primaries (out of the 4 Republicans, 5 Democrats listed above) in 1971?
Q 2: And who eventually won the General Election in 1971? (see answers at bottom of this blog)

40 years later in June, 2011 the City of Tucson had 7 candidates vying for Mayor after the June 1 deadline for nomination petitions:

Ron Asta, R (formerly D), who ran against the same Lewis Murphy (#7 above) in 1983
Dave Croteau, G, ran for Mayor in 1999 (write-in), and again in 2007
Pat Darcy, I (formerly D), ran for Mayor in 1999 Democratic primary
Mary DeCamp, G, ran for Ward 3 Council seat in 2009, only woman in the race
Marshall Home, D (formerly R and I), political newcomer
Shaun McClusky, R, ran for Ward 5 Council seat in 2009
Jonathan Rothschild, D, political newcomer

There were almost 10 candidates this year, but political newcomers Green Jon McLane and Democrat Thomas Lombardi withdrew before the June 1 deadline for filing of nomination petitions. Both had residency problems.

Subsequently 3 of these candidates (Asta, Darcy, and McClusky) were found to not have enough valid petition signatures, and one (Home) withdrew due to a lawsuit over his residency in the County and not in the City of Tucson.

There are three candidates left (Croteau, DeCamp and Rothschld) and currently three new write-ins, Democrats David Karr and Joseph Maher, Jr. and Republican Rick Grinnell. So with the 3 additional write-ins, there have been 10 candidates vying for the Mayor’s job this year as well.

Stay tuned for any additional write-ins prior to the July 21, 2011 filing deadline.

For you history buffs, may I recommend a 1970 booklet, “The Tucson Citizen – A Century of Arizona Journalism” by former reporter Don Schellie. Our Tucsoncitizen.com editor Mark Evans was giving out copies of this booklet at our Tucson Festival of Books booth in March, 2011. (In 1970 after 100 years of publication of the Tucson Citizen newspaper, Schellie reports that the population in Tucson was about 320,000 people. In 1870, the population was only 3200.)

Answer to trivia Q #1: Mayor James Corbett (D) and Lewis Murphy (R)
Answer to trivia Q # 2: In the General election Lew Murphy upset the Mayor by receiving 32,699 votes (52.32%) to Corbett’s 29,797 votes (47.67%), and went on to serve 4 terms as Mayor.
(The official canvass of November 2, 1971 does not list the Independent candidate Larry Kelly.)

And I have no idea what the results of that voter straw poll were. Anyone know? Tucson Daily Citizen readers were supposed to “vote for any one candidate of your choice regardless of his or your party affiliation”, and mail in to:
“STRAW VOTE, Tucson Daily Citizen, Tucson, Ariz.” No further address was provided. And no internet in 1970, so no online-voting.

As to July 1, 2011 here’s who running for Tucson Mayor & Council, with their campaign websites for voters to do more research on the candidates before the August 30 primary, and November 8, 2011 general elections.

Here’s a handy guide to their campaign websites all on one blog. Click on the blue hyperlinks to go to the specific candidate’s website:

–Mayor of Tucson (Democrat & Green Party primaries, no Republican running to date*)

Democrat: Jonathan Rothschild, www.jonathanformayor.com

Democrat (write-in): David M. Karr, http://karrfortucsonmayor.webs.com/

Democrat (write-in): Joseph Maher, Jr., http://josephmaherformayor.com/

Democrat (write-in): Rich Kessler (withdrew 8/5/11)

Green: Dave Croteau, http://futurefocustucson.blogspot.com/

Green: Mary DeCamp, www.decampformayor.org

* Update 7/12/11 – Republican (write-in): Rick Grinnell, www.grinnell4mayor.com

* Update 7/22/11 – Republican (write-in): Daryl Peterson

–Council Ward 1 (primary)

Democrat: Joe Flores, www.joefloresforcouncil.com

Democrat: Regina Romero (incumbent), www.votereginaromero.com

Update 7/22/11: Green (write-in): Beryl Baker

–Council Ward 2 (general)

Democrat: Paul Cunningham (incumbent), www.votepaulcunningham.com

Republican: Jennifer Rawson, www.rawsonforcouncil.com

–Council Ward 4 (general)

Democrat: Shirley Scott (incumbent), www.shirley2011.com

Republican: Tyler Vogt, www.vogt4tucson.com

Council seats in Wards 3, 5, and 6 are up in 2013.

Stay tuned for any more write-in candidates in all races, as the deadline to file is July 21, 2011, 5 p.m. And Independents need to contact the Tucson City Clerk at 520-791-4213 by July 16 if they want to vote in any specific primary election.

At last night’s Green Party of Pima County’s Mayoral Candidate Mixer, Green Dave Croteau, Green Mary DeCamp and Democratic write-in candidate David Karr participated, facilitated by former Mayoral candidate Jon McLane. All 3 candidates answered hosted questions by Green Party members:

“Why did you decide to run for Mayor, what issues are most pressing, how would you address the economic crisis (re: jobs, education, poverty), the 4 pillars of the Green Party: ecological wisdom, social justice, nonviolence & grassroots democracy”. Audience questions covered their positions on the proposed Rosemont mine, TUSD ethnic studies, the military institutions of Raytheon & DMAFB.

Results of the instant run-off vote were: Dave Croteau (47 points), Mary DeCamp (42 points), David Karr (29 points).

Co-Chair Beryl Baker, former Ward 1 Council candidate was present, along with 12 others for this monthly meeting of the Green Party of Pima County at the Trinity Presbyterian Church at 400 E. University Blvd.

Mary DeCamp

Mary DeCamp, who ran against Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich in 2009 has also entered the race for Mayor of Tucson. She has taken out the papers at the Tucson City Clerk’s office an has gathered 23 signatures (between 17 and 32 signatures were needed for a Green candidate) before the June 1st deadline.

Mary got 4429 votes (6.16 % of the vote) in the Ward 3 race in 2009, next to Democratic Councilmember Uhlich’s 46.98% of the votes and Republican Ben Bueller-Garcia’s 46.74% of the votes. She is a community activist and Code Pink member, received her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Sciences and Master of Arts in Communication from the U of A, and has been a college instructor. Mary is currently employed as a Connector with Pro-Neighborhoods, “organizing neighborhood communities to adopt healthier diet and exercise choices”.

Her entry into the race could lead to a Green Party primary on August 30, as fellow Green Party candidate Dave Croteau entered the race a few weeks ago. He ran for Mayor before in 2007 against Mayor Bob Walkup and got 28.08% of the vote compared to Mayor Walkup’s 71.20 %. There are 636 registered Greens in the City of Tucson. (Another Green candidate Jon McLean entered this race for a few months but withdrew in May due to problems with his voter registration, and endorsed Republican Shaun McClusky.)

Mary will be announcing her candidacy on June 7 in front of the Tucson City Hall at 1 p.m. Stay tuned for further announcements from her campaign. She can be reached at mdecamp@q.com or at 520-408-4974, and her campaign manager is Mike Cease at 520-327-4705.