Citizen Staff Writer
OUR ENDORSEMENT
After three terms as a Pima County supervisor, Democrat Sharon Bronson is fighting a second challenge from Republican Barney Brenner.
Bronson beat Brenner by a narrow margin in the 2000 election, and we urge voters to help her prevail again Nov. 4.
The 12-year District 3 supervisor is knowledgeable and competent, though we have been dissatisfied with the entire Board of Supervisors’ indulgent budgets in some recent years.
Brenner brings little to this race, except hollow accusations against his opponent, many of them based on complaints he says he has heard from county employees he won’t identify.
Brenner says he can’t understand the “absolute refusal” to use general fund money for road improvements, saying the budget could be squeezed to get 1 percent for roads.
All Arizona counties rely on state Highway User Revenue Funds for road work. None use general fund money.
And Bronson counters, “If the revenues are not there, how are you going to do it?”
Brenner recites a litany of items he contends constitutes poor fiscal management, but Bronson has solid explanations. A cost overrun on the new city/county courthouse, for example, sprang from the archaeological discovery of an ancient cemetery on site.
The county has instituted zero-based budgeting and independent audits, both of which have helped to inject more accountability into the budgeting process.
And while Brenner says county tax rates are “off the charts,” the property tax levy actually has been revenue-neutral for three consecutive years, Bronson notes.
Brenner suggests the county freeze its purchases of open space under the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. But that voter-enacted program should proceed as promised, not be subjected to the whims of supervisors.
Brenner, a former Republican Party county chairman and retired owner of auto parts stores, also complains that County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry works for the board’s Democratic majority only.
Yet Brenner won’t say whether he would try to oust Huckelberry if he were elected, creating a Republican majority on the board.
Dist. 3 – covering 7,400 square miles, including Marana, Flowing Wells, Ajo, Picture Rocks, Sahuarita, Amado and Sasabe – is heavily Democratic.
The Tucson Citizen endorses Democratic Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson for re-election in District 3.
Violence spurs Sonoran alert
Public gunbattles are erupting in broad daylight in Nogales, Son.,
with warring drug cartels posing dangers for innocent bystanders.
The U.S. State Department is warning Americans to be cautious in the
popular Mexican shopping town of Nogales. U.S. citizens also should
exercise great care along Route 15 between Nogales and Hermosillo, as
criminals have been targeting Americans along that stretch.
Paramilitary units with automatic weapons and hand grenades use police and military disguises.
This development is only the latest in a series underscoring the
drastic need to bolster border security and reform our immigration
policies.
U.S. citizens in Mexico should stay on main roads during daylight and travel in groups.
For more advice on visiting Mexico, see this story at tucsoncitizen.com/opinion.