James H. Kelley, former Chair of LD 29 Republican party and former blogger “The Cholla Jumps” here at Tucsoncitizen.com and on his own, has taken out papers to run against Democratic District 2 Pima County Supervisor Ramon Valadez, who is Chairman of the board.

James H. Kelley

Kelley is a Transportation specialist for Renzenberger Inc. and “provides reliable safe transportation solutions to Union Pacific Railroad Personnel,” and is a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst. He was Chair of the LD 29 Republican Party for four years until November 2011 and has his B.S. degree in Sociology from the University of the State of New York in Albany. He has also worked as a substitute teacher and real estate broker.

Kelley just applied unsuccessfully to be appointed by this Pima County Board of Supervisors to be the Independent replacement for LD 29 House Rep. Daniel Patterson, who resigned on April 11, 2012. A five member citizens committee considered Kelley’s application along with nine others, but Kelley did not make the final list of 3 nominees, from which the Board of Supervisors chose attorney Nick Fontana on April 23.

Kelley had temporarily changed his voter registration to Independent on April 11, applied for the vacant LD 29 seat, and changed back to Republican on April 30,2012.

Kelley will be formally announcing his candidacy on Monday on KVOI 1030 AM radio.

Democratic Chair Ramon Valadez was appointed to the Board of Supervisors in September 2003, was a former LD 29 State Senator and LD 10 House Representative (since 1996). Valadez was also born & raised in Tucson.

Meet Me at the Library: Conversations with Arizona Leaders – Richard Elías

We invite you to take this opportunity to meet and converse with Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías. Supervisor Elías has represented District Five on the Pima County Board of Supervisors since February 2002. He is a fifth-generation Tucsonan and an alumnus of Salpointe High School and the University of Arizona.

This forum will take place during the Garden District Neighborhood Association’s monthly meeting.

Democrat Richard is up for re-election this fall for another 4 year term in District 5. Republican Fernando Gonzales, a political newcomer, took out papers on May 4 to run against Richard in the November election. *

Meet Richard Elías

When: Tuesday, May 15, 6-8 pm
Where: Martha Cooper Branch Library, 1377 N. Catalina Avenue (north of Speedway, east of Columbus).

So here’s your chance to speak with Richard about Pima County issues.

As for the other 4 Supervisors up for re-election this year…

District 1 Republican Supervisor Ann Day is retiring and 4 Republicans (Mike Hellon, Ally Miller, Stuart McDaniel, LD 26 House Rep. Vic Williams) are facing off in their August 28 primary to face former LD 26 House Rep. Democrat Nancy Young Wright for that seat.

District 2 Democratic Supervisor Ramon Valadez is being challenged by Republican James Kelley, former blogger “The Cholla Jumps” here at Tucsoncitizen.com, a political newcomer.

District 3 Supervisor Democrat Sharon Bronson is facing a Republican opponent Tanner Bell (political newcomer), and District 4 Supervisor Republican Ray Carroll is also facing a political newcomer Sean Collins, but in the Republican primary.

*5/15/12 Update: Fernando Gonzales announced his candidacy for this District 5 seat today:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2012/05/15/republican-businessman-fernando-gonzales-announces-candidacy-for-district-5-pima-county-supervisor/

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).