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).