On March 24 I reported that Drinking Liberally has moved their weekly meetings to Wednesday evenings (click here for background of this group).

Counclmember Steve Kozachik

This Wednesday April 4, the invited guest speaker will be Ward 6 Republican Councilmember Steve Kozachik, who was elected in Nov. 2009, upsetting incumbent Democratic Councilmember Nina Trasoff. The email notice from Drinking Liberally states:

Steve has been busy butting heads with his own party over the recent spate of state bills aimed squarely at Tucson and Pima County, and over the Rio Nuevo board appointed to ‘fix’ our TIF district.

Drop by The Shanty (NE corner of E. 9th St. and 4th Avenue) after 6 p.m. to hear “The Koz” speak on these City of Tucson issues, and to answer questions.

More info on Councilmember Kozachik (click here).

Other Republicans who have been invited to speak at Drinking Liberally in the past (as far as I remember) have been LD 30 State Senator Frank Antenori, former LD 30 Senator Jonathan Paton and House Rep. Marian McClure, and District 4 Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll.

Press release from Arizona Public Media, www.azpm.org (KUAT Channel 6):

Arizona Illustrated Political Roundtable
Premieres with New Host Jim Nintzel
New format on PBS-HD Channel 6
Friday evenings at 6:30 p.m. starting September 16th

Tucson, Ariz. – September 9, 2011 – Jim Nintzel, senior writer for the Tucson Weekly and a longtime contributor to Arizona Public Media, will host a new political roundtable on the Friday evening edition of Arizona Illustrated premiering Friday, September 16th at 6:30 p.m. The program will feature a mix of political strategists and reporters who will bring insider perspective to the events of each week.

Arizona Illustrated Political Roundtable will be part of PBS-HD Channel 6’s Friday night news block airing at 6:30 p.m. before PBS NewsHour, Washington Week, Arizona Week and Need to Know. The program repeats at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday morning in addition to video-on-demand at www.azpm.org.

“I’ve missed doing the Friday Roundtable and am thrilled to be part of the team that’s bringing a new version to Arizona Illustrated,” Nintzel said. “As the host, I hope to bring fresh insights and perspectives from both the left and the right to our viewers. It’s great to be back in the AZPM studios providing in-depth political news for the community.”

Jack Gibson, Director and General Manager of AZPM states “This new restructuring of the Friday Roundable supports Arizona Public Media’s strategic focus on news and current affairs. Jim, with his respected standing in the community and long experience in the political arena, is a welcome addition to our broadcast team.”

New Arizona Illustrated Political Roundtable format:
• The format for Arizona Illustrated Political Roundtable will include Nintzel, political strategists and insiders from both the left and the right sides of the political aisle, reporters from Arizona Public Media and other special guests who will provide analysis of the week’s events in local, state and national politics, as well as forecasts of future political trends.

The premiere program on September 16th will include the following guests:
Jonathan Paton, former Arizona state lawmaker and congressional candidate,
Rodd McLeod, Political Strategist (Congressional campaigns of Congresswoman
Gabrielle Giffords and the 2010 gubernatorial campaign of Terry Goddard),
Andrea Kelly, political reporter, Arizona Public Media.

About Jim Nintzel:
Having covered politics in Southern Arizona for two decades at the Tucson Weekly, Jim Nintzel has won more than 30 statewide and national journalism awards for reporting, commentary and feature writing and was named a Journalist of the Year by the Arizona Newspaper Association in 2010. He was part of PBS-HD Channel 6’s Friday Roundtable for 15 years and has aided Arizona Public Media with political debates and other segments. He is an adjunct faculty member who has taught government reporting at the University of Arizona School of Journalism since 2001.

Brian Miller

The Pima County Republican Central Committee passed the following resolution by a vote of 10-2 at the emergency meeting held the evening of June 30, 2011

RESOLUTION

Whereas, the Pima County Republican Central Committee (County Committee) is governed by the laws of the State of Arizona and by the Continuing Bylaws of the Pima County Republican Central Committee (Bylaws) and

Whereas, Article V Section 2 of Bylaws provides, in part, that “[T]he Executive Committee shall have the authority and responsibility for the official policy of the County Committee,” and

Whereas, Brian Miller, the current Chair of the County Committee, speaking as the Chair of the County Committee, has made numerous public statements and comments indicating a distrust of Pima County and Tucson law enforcement agencies, which creates a public impression that these statements and comments reflect the policy of the County Committee, and

Whereas the misimpression created by Brian Miller, the current Chair of the County Committee, is not the policy of the County Committee and is in no manner adopted by the Executive Committee and

Whereas, after being asked by the Executive Committee to make a public retraction of his statements and comments that bring dishonor and ill repute to the County Committee, Brian Miller, the current Chair of the County Committee has failed to do so in a meaningful manner, and

Whereas, Article VII Section 1 of Bylaws provides, in part, that “[T]he Executive Committee shall have the power and authority to disburse all County Committee funds. All persons designated to disburse such funds shall be bonded by the Executive Committee,” and

Whereas, Brian Miller, the current Chair of the County Committee has willfully violated the Bylaws by expending large amounts of County Committee funds without the authorization of the Executive Committee and further by entering into long-term financial obligations for which the County Committee is financially liable and doing so without authorization or bonding by the Executive Committee, and

Whereas it is the fiduciary responsibility of the Executive Committee to strictly enforce the Bylaws which govern expenditure of funds in order to protect the continued viability and accomplish the objectives of the County Committee,

Therefore, it is hereby resolved by the Executive Committee, that

1. Article V Section 2 of the Bylaws remains in full effect and Brian Miller, the current Chair of the County Committee, is directed to cease and desist making any public statement or comment, as Chair of the County Committee, unless prior authorization to act as the official spokesman for the County Committee for a specific issue or item has been expressly granted by the Executive Committee, and

2. Article VII Section 1 of the Bylaws remains in full effect and in order to exercise the fiduciary responsibility of the Executive Committee under that section, Brian Miller, the current Chair of the County Committee, is directed to immediately take the following actions:

a. Return any and all County Committee banking account checks and credit cards to the County Committee Treasurer,

b. Cease and desist, while acting as agent or representative of the County Committee or Executive Committee, from entering into any contracts, agreements or financial obligations that create any amount of financial liability for the County Committee,

c. Return all keys to the County Committee headquarters offices.

d. Return medallions and all other property and documents to the County Committee headquarters offices.

Miller had apparently been criticized for his statement about the Pima County Sheriff’s Dept. and its handing of the shooting/killing of Marine Jose Guerena. Here’s his email statement in quotes below dated June 3, 2011:

Protecting the Innocent

In light of the enormous response, both supportive and critical, to my recent email regarding the SWAT shooting of Jose Guerena, I would like to clarify my position and statements in the media.

First, let me be very clear, I am not questioning the officers and members of the Pima County SWAT team for their handling of this incident. Their job is to follow established policies, protocols and guidelines they have been given. My concern is with the policies themselves, and whether or not there are better ways for law enforcement, not only here in Pima County but throughout the United States, to conduct themselves so as to minimize risk to the officers, suspects and innocent civilians who may be caught up in police actions.

In no way do I consider asking these questions to be inappropriate. It is the fundamental foundation of our country that every citizen has the right to question the policies and conduct of our government and law enforcement agencies. Strong civilian oversight is essential to maintaining citizens’ trust in our police departments—and therefore to the ability of those agencies to conduct law enforcement activities both peacefully and successfully.

This discussion has been a long time in coming and, frankly, I feel is essential to protecting the lives and liberties of our citizens and police officers alike.

Second, I do need to apologize to our local law enforcement community for my unfortunate choice of the word “murder” referring to the shooting death of Jose Guerena on a local talk show. It was never my intention to besmirch those officers, and it is my understanding that they were, indeed, following the procedures they were given.

I know that some of you reading this will disagree with me completely, and I understand your position. Jose Guerena may well have been involved in criminal activities. But his infant son was not. His neighbors, who had multiple bullets transit their home, were not. If we do not consider, carefully and in the light of day, the policies that led to this shooting, then more of our officers may be put in a position where they will assume a burden that no person should have to bear: taking the life of an innocent by mistake.

For Freedom

Brian Miller, Chairman

Miller ran for CD 8 U.S. House in the August 24, 2010 Republican primary and received 7.17% of the vote (though he had withdrawn on August 11 endorsing Jonathan Paton, who went on to lose to Jesse Kelly in that primary race). Miller was later elected on December 11 to be Chair of the Pima County Republican Party (click here for earlier blog).

For more information contact Pima County GOP at 520-321-1492, or log onto www.pimagop.org.