Reporters/editors from the Arizona Daily Star (Sarah Garrecht Gassen), Tucson Weekly (Jim Nintzel), Green Valley News & Sahuarita Sun (Dan Shearer), KJLL radio (John C. Scott) also join this “Friday Focus” newsmaker interview show, as well as the Roundtable. They all comment on the weekly news and events.

The Buckmaster Show airs Monday to Friday at 9 a.m. for one hour, recast at 7 p.m. Click on the blue links for the specific show you may have missed:

March 25, LD 30 State Senator Frank Antenori (R)
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/03/25/buckmaster-show-3252011/

March 18: TUSD Governing Board President Mark Stegeman
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/03/18/buckmaster-show-3182011/

March 11: LD 28 House Rep. Steve Farley (D)
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/03/11/buckmaster-show-3112011/

March 4: Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich (D)
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/03/04/buckmaster-show-342011/

February 25: Outgoing President of Tucson Chamber of Commerce Jack Camper
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/02/25/buckmaster-show-2252011/

February 18: Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik (D)
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/02/18/buckmaster-show-2182011/

February 11: LD 26 House Rep. Vic Williams (R) & Pima County Democratic Party Chair Jeff Rogers
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/02/11/buckmaster-show-2112011/

February 4: Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/02/18/buckmaster-show-2182011/

January 28: Tucson Mayor Robert Walkup (R)
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/01/28/buckmaster-show-1282011-2/

January 21: Tucson Unifed School District Superintendent John Pedicone
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/01/21/buckmaster-show-1212011/

January 14: Tucson City Manager Mike Letcher
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/01/14/buckmaster-show-1142011/

January 7: LD 28 House Rep. Steve Farley (D) and Former Pima County Republican Chair Bob Westerman
http://www.buckmastershow.com/2011/01/07/buckmaster-show-172011/

Since this radio show is “interview driven” if you have a story idea or comment, write to Bill Buckmaster at bill@buckmastershow.com.

For my previous blog on Ron Asta (with photo), click here.
Asta served on the Pima County Board of Supervisors from 1972 to 1976, and was the Chair for one year.

Announcement Press Release
Contact: Ron Asta (www.ronasta4mayor.com)

I have lived and worked in Tucson since 1964. I own a home in Tucson. My son was born, grew up and still lives in Tucson. I plan on living here the rest of my life – beginning with this announcement to be the next mayor of the city I have grown to love. But our city is in real need of new leadership.

I am the only candidate for mayor with proven leadership ability in an elected office – as the former chairman of the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

I am the only candidate with experience in urban planning. In fact, I have a Masters degree in Civil Engineering from the UA. And helped set the stage for the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.

I used to be a liberal Democrat whose base narrowed with extreme positions…the poster boy for anti-growth in Tucson…which means I am a candidate who admits to making mistakes…and seeing the error of his ways.

Now I’m a conservative Republican…and a businessman. I still care deeply about the environment. But I also want an environment in which our kids can find jobs. I believe Tucson will work again when Tucsonans are working again. So, with age, I’m a lot more committed when it comes to keeping and attracting businesses. And I’ve learned how to build consensus among parties who often have strong disagreements. That requires a strong mayor…the kind of mayor who will stand up for taxpayers and stand up against special interests.

Yes, I am still concerned about air quality, water quality and quality of life. But I am also concerned about our economy… and about a government that continues to make it difficult to live and work here – while it continues to squander taxpayer dollars. There are no excuses for that. In the coming weeks, I will show you how we can reduce restrictions on doing business here…and reduce city spending…without reducing our quality of life. And without reducing police and fire protection. When it comes to public safety, there are no excuses for second best.

While it is not in the mayor’s job description, there are also no excuses for the sorry state of public education in Tucson. When 70% of our high school graduates need remedial math and English before they can take classes at Pima Community College, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. We are failing to bring new business here because of it …. and that is in the city’s job description. I intend to get involved.

Finally, I also have no excuses for a mistake I made 33 years ago…when I stole a steak from a supermarket. I’m human. With nobody to blame but me, it was one of the great humbling experiences of my life. So I am the only candidate who will admit to making mistakes. But I’ve come back strong from each of them. And I hope to use that strength to help get Tucson moving again…get our city back on track…back to where it once was: the country’s best place to live and work and raise a family.

And listen to Ron on KJLL “The Jolt” 1330 AM “Ron Asta’s Tucson” Tuesdays, as high noon.

Campaign contact info: email info@ronasta4mayor.com, phone 520-971-5161, 4225 E. Grant Rd, Suite 1, Tucson, AZ 85712.

Today January 7, his premiere “Media Meat” political discussion weekly show was hosted by himself with Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly, and Sarah Garrecht Gassen of the Arizona Daily Star, and Dan Shearer of Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun. These editors/reporters used to join him on the Friday Roundtable on KUAT, along with Linda Valdez of the Arizona Republic, Mark Evans of our Tucsoncitizen.com, and John C. Scott of KJLL radio.

All of these 6 reporters/editors are now his media “host contributors” on this radio show (click here). (I’ve highlighted Evans’ bio/photo below since he is our online Editor, and worked for the print edition of Tucson Citizen, which shut down on May 16, 2009).

And you listen to the radio shows live on www.buckmastershow.com, or thereafter by Standard Podcast. Today’s reporters/editors discuss ethnic studies, the state budget, flags in Green Valley, Rio Nuevo, Shaun McClusky’s candidacy for Mayor of Tucson.

Click here for today’s show, which also includes “Friday Focus” interviews of LD 28 Democratic House Rep. Steve Farley (now State House Assistant Minority Leader) and former Pima County Republican Party Chair Bob Westerman. (Former CD 8 U.S. House candidate Brian Miller is the new Chair).

Buckmaster’s new one hour radio show airs at 9 .m. Monday to Friday, and is re-broadcast at 7 p.m. Stay tuned for next week’s schedule of interviews and
more of “Media Meat”. (I hear this title has been changed to “Reporters’ Roundtable on the Radio”).

Mark Evans

Mark B. Evans is the editor and administrator of TucsonCitizen.com. He writes about local and state politics and government, freedom of information and the news industry. He was an assistant city editor for the Tucson Citizen for two and a half years before tasked with heading up TucsonCitizen.com after the print version of the Citizen was closed.

Bill Buckmaster kicked off his first one hour radio talk show on KJLL (1330 AM “The Jolt”), yesterday at 9 a.m., which was rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

His show will run Monday to Friday, and if you miss it on the radio, catch it online at www.buckmastershow.com.

Buckmaster’s inaugural show on January 3, 2011:

In this first episode, Bill chats with Incoming Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne about the TUSD Lawsuit, Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll about some park improvements, mining and the budget, US Senator Jon Kyl about plans for the upcoming session, and finally with Former US Army Chief of Staff John Wickham about the DADT repeal’s impact as well as ongoing conflicts around the world.

I reported on Buckmaster’s last 2 shows at KUAT Channel 6 on December 17, 2010
(click here). He hosted the “Arizona Illustrated” talk shows for 23 years on KUAT TV.

Buckmaster’s new bio for this new radio show:
“With more than 4,000 interviews with political, business, community and social leaders under his belt, Bill Buckmaster has been a welcome evening guest in living rooms for two decades and has introduced viewers to some of Southern Arizona’s most interesting individuals.”

And his new banner states “Tucson’s MOST TRUSTED voice for news and information.”

Joining him on the final Friday Roundtable were Tucson Weekly’s Investigative reporter Jim Nintzel, Arizona Daily Star’s Opinion Writer Sarah Garrecht Gassen, and Dan Shearer, Editor of the Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun. Click here for their final episode together discussing the top political and community issues of 2010.

the final Friday Roundtable on KUAT (L to R: Shearer, Gassen, Nintzel, & host Buckmaster)

Prior to the Friday Roundtable this group of journalists interviewed District 4 Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, who has served in that position since 1997. Carroll answered questions about Pima County finances, Tucson Padres baseball, the 2010 Census & redistricting, the town of Vail, the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, Rosemont Mine, a new sewer plant, Hell’s Angels, and Raytheon. Watch it here.

Buckmaster has joined KJLL “The Jolt” 1330 AM Radio, and will still be concentrating on political issues and interviews of politicians/community leaders. His new one-hour M to F radio show begins 9 a.m. on January 3, 2011, with a re-broadcast at 7 to 8 p.m.

Tucsoncitizen.com Editor Mark Evans also wrote on October 4 about Buckmaster taking his dulcet voice to radio (click here). Evans appeared several times on the Friday Roundtable as well.

Lugo Charities Inc. is pleased to announce that it will be hosting the 2nd Annual Bike-In-A-Box Christmas event on Sunday, December 19, 2010 from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 South Stone Avenue.

A special invitation to 500 underprivileged children from youth organizations, schools, churches, and children-support agencies in the Greater Tucson area will be attending this special day of giving.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive at 12:00 noon to greet the children. Each child will be treated to a Christmas stocking and receive one of five-hundred (500) bicycles that we are planning to give away, along with a bike safety helmet provided by Tucson Medical Center of the Children’s Miracle Network.

The bicycles will remain in the box so that the parents or guardians can, together with the child, assemble the bicycle in promoting the true Christmas spirit and teaching the children the basic assembly and adjustments to their new bike.

CEO Jesse Lugo with the assistance of John C. Scott (radio talk host with a show of the same name, on KJLL the Jolt, 1330 AM) raised over $27,000 to pay for these bikes, gotten at discount from Walmart at $45 each.

Apparently this is the 11th year of providing these bikes, but in the past volunteers assembled the bikes, but now they are being presented in a cardboard box for the families to assemble themselves.

John C. Scott & Jesse Lugo delivering bikes in a box in 2009

Congratulations to Jesse Lugo and John C. Scott for their hard work, and many thanks to the hundreds of donors who all helped to reach that monetary goal.

Riding a bike safely is a wonderful skill everyone should know. And owning their own bike is probably something most of these children would not have dreamed of, except for the wonderful generosity of the many Tucsonans who helped with Jesse’s project.

For more Information go to Lugo Charities, Inc.

Bike In A Box
P.O. Box 26363
Tucson, AZ 85726
Office:(520) 322-0714

Mondays: former Ward 6 Councilmember Nina Trasoff, “Pima Community College Perspective”, 6 p.m.

Tuesdays: former District 1 Pima County Supervisor Ron Asta, “Ron Asta’s Tucson”, 12 noon

Tuesdays: former Ward 6 Councilmember Fred Ronstadt, “The Fred & Jeff Show” (with his younger brother Jeff), 5 p.m.

Thursdays: former Ward 5 Councilmember Steve Leal, “All Things Political“, 12 noon

Daily: former State Senator John C. Scott, “The John C. Scott Show“, 3 to 5 pm. M to Th, 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.

Incidentally Scott is also the General Manager of KJLL.

Host John C. Scott sometimes appears on Arizona Public Media‘s KUAT Channel 6 TV’s “Friday Roundtable” political discussion at 6:30 p.m., with reporters/editors from the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Weekly, Arizona Republic, Green Valley News & Sun, and even sometimes our Editor Mark Evans of Tucsoncitizen.com.

J.D. Hayworth in Phoenix was also a radio talk show host (KFYI 550 AM) after he lost his job as CD5 Congressman, and before he resigned to run for U.S. Senate in Arizona this year against incumbent John McCain.

So stay tuned, for more former politicians evolving into radio talk show hosts & hostesses. Anyone else I missed?

Republican Ron Asta, a civil engineering consultant and former Pima County Supervisor, is “seriously considering” a bid for Mayor of the City of Tucson in 2011.

Ron is Vice President at CPE Consultants (civil engineering/lands plannng firm), 378 N. Main Street (at the Owl’s Club) in downtown Tucson. He has his own radio talk show “Ron Asta’s Tucson” on KJLL 1330 AM The Jolt, on Tuesdays at high noon. He was the District 1 Pima County Supervisor from 1972 to 1976.

He can be contacted at astapz@cox.net.

Read my previous blog on “Will Mayor Walkup run again?” (click here), with names of other Mayoral hopefuls.

Ron is mentioned in a March 18, 2010 Tucson Weekly article (excerpt below) about the Marana Landfill issue:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/more-trash-talk/Content?oid=1872211

During the early March supervisors’ meeting, Republican Supervisor Ann Day voiced concerns about comparing the Pinal County project to the proposed Marana landfill. Day alluded that something unethical could be going on between Pima County and the Durham project.

She drew attention to Ron Asta, a former supervisor who now works with CPE Consulting. The company represents the Durham landfill and worked closely with Pinal County officials on rezoning and the landfill agreement with the county. Asta has also been a vocal critic of the Marana project, which would compete with the Durham landfill on collections from northwest Pima County.

It also troubled Day that after the supervisors voted to approve the resolution to the Marana Town Council, the next vote focused on renewing the contract for a countywide manhole count. The company doing the count: CPE Consulting.

“This firm has had that contract for a number of years,” Bronson said in response to Day’s comments. “What’s incoherent are Supervisor Day’s comments.”

Asta told the Tucson Weekly that he was asked to get involved in the Marana project by John Kai, who wanted Asta to talk with neighbors who oppose the landfill. John Kai’s brother Herb Kai, is a Marana Town Council member who owns part of a parcel where DKL wants to build its landfill. John Kai is against the project, while his councilman brother supports it, although Herb Kai told the Weekly he’ll recuse himself from voting when the matter comes before the council.

2/23/11 UPDATE: Asta announces for Mayor of Tucson:

http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2011/02/23/ron-asta-announces-bid-for-mayor-of-tucson/