Archive for May 11th, 2009

Tucson’s election process is under fire  
Legislative bill to seek end of partisan races for council

By Rob O’Dell
Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.15.2008

State Sen.-elect Jonathan Paton believes Tucson’s City Council has become so dysfunctional that lawmakers from Phoenix need to step in and mandate changes.

What is needed, the Tucson Republican contends, is nonpartisan elections — an idea Tucson voters have rejected several times, most recently in 1993. Efforts to put the issue back on the ballot since then have fallen short.

Paton’s bill, to be introduced next month, would also abolish Tucson’s unique system where its council members are nominated by ward but are elected citywide.

That system has been in place since 1929 and has survived several public votes and failed initiative drives.

Paton, elected to the state Senate in November, will be part of a growing GOP majority in the Legislature when it convenes in January. Democratic leaders and City Council members say he is using that political clout to let Phoenix make a decision best left to Tucsonans.

Paton said his push to reshape the predominantly- Democratic city government stems from what he describes as “a general dysfunction” on the council, caused by decisions based on politics rather than the public good.

He points to the lack of progress on the Rio Nuevo Downtown redevelopment as a prime example, calling it “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“Ideology is more important than getting things done,” Paton said. “The city is the level where you just have to get stuff done. You need people focused on getting those things done. Partisan elections really run counter to that.”

But most Democrats called Paton’s push a thinly veiled attempt to alter the political balance of power in the city, where Democrats have a solid advantage in voter registration.

“They want nonpartisan elections for partisan reasons,” said Democratic Councilman Steve Leal.

Tucson is the only city in Arizona that still has partisan elections, after an initiative passed in South Tucson in November that eliminated them there. Nogales, another longtime holdout, went to nonpartisan elections a few years ago. More than 75 percent of cities nationwide have nonpartisan elections.

Paton contends Tucson’s odd-year elections, combined with its party primaries, push candidates on both sides of the aisle toward the party’s base and special interests. The goal of nonpartisan elections is to get more pragmatic and independent-minded people, he said.

“You get more people who are interested in getting things done than they are in party politics,” Paton said. “It would be harder for interest groups around parties to control the process.”

Mixed reaction

Most Democrats slammed Paton’s proposal.

“How do you claim partisan elections are OK for his office but not right for local elections?” asked Vince Rabago, chair of the Pima County Democratic Party. “I don’t see the logic there.”

Rabago also pointed out that Republicans controlled the council for part of the time Rio Nuevo has been languishing.

But Rabago is concerned about the prospects of the Legislature mandating nonpartisan elections, now that Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano is moving to Washington and after the Republicans increased their majorities in the November election.

Judi White, chair of the Pima County Republican Party, was more open to Paton’s idea. But she said she had mixed feelings, too.

“Taking partisans out of the process changes the whole process,” White said. “Do people still know what party you’re from? It evens the playing field a little bit for independents.”

Does it lower turnout?

Leal and Rabago both pointed to research from former Tucson Mayor Tom Volgy showing having nonpartisan elections lowers turnout.

But local pollster Pete Zimmerman said he believed nonpartisan elections would increase turnout by boosting the number of votes cast by independents, the city’s second- biggest voter block.

“I don’t think there is a Republican or Democratic way to run the city,” or fix a pothole, said Schorr, who led an unsuccessful Southern Arizona Leadership Council effort to put the nonpartisan election issue on the 2001 ballot.

Schorr noted that the Phoenix City Council, which has long had nonpartisan elections, gave rise to the political careers of both 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and current Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard, albeit 40 years apart.

“Phoenix’s rise is due in part to the fact they had nonpartisan elections,” he said.

What about local control?

Paton’s bill would target Tucson, the only city in Arizona left without nonpartisan elections. Paton said he believes Tucson is also the only place affected by the second provision, requiring representatives be elected only by their wards or district.

Several people questioned how the state can trump the voter-adopted City Charter.

City Attorney Mike Rankin said it depends on how Paton’s bill is written to determine if it overrides the charter.

Courts generally see elections as local issues, but it depends on the bill’s language if the state law will pre-empt the City Charter, Rankin said.

Katie Bolger, an aide for Councilman Rodney Glassman, said it’s “hypocritical” for Paton and other Republicans to push for change from Phoenix.

“The Republicans are supposed to be for local control,” she said.

Rejections by the voters

Tucsonans have rejected nonpartisan elections at the polls many times, most recently in 1993. Efforts since, including an initiative drive in 1998 and lobbying campaigns in 2001 and 2003, failed to make it to the ballot. Initiative drives to change the city’s ward system have failed as well, most recently in 2007.

Council members, including Glassman, Karin Uhlich and Nina Trasoff, said they would want the change to be approved by Tucson voters.

“It is something city residents should decide rather than Phoenix dictating how we operate,” Uhlich said, adding that it’s an issue the council could refer to the committee looking at charter amendments.

But Schorr pointed out that it was the council that refused to put the issue to the ballot in 2001 and 2003, adding it’s tough for initiatives to “push the ball over the goal line.”

Paton contends that partisan elections serve the cause of special interests because council members must appeal to these groups during the primary campaigns, especially in Tucson’s off-year elections.

“It’s an environment that encourages your own ideological agenda ahead of the projects getting done,” Paton said.

Read more about local and state political news in our politics blog at go.azstarnet.com/politics

● Contact reporter Rob O’Dell at 573-4346 or rodell@azstarnet.com.

Great Comments:

Leal and the rest of them look so pathetic. They’ll do or say anything to keep their power. I think Paton is actually going to succeed in changing things.