Archive for January 3rd, 2010

You can go to City Council or Board of Supervisors meetings, but to see government in action, the place to be on any given day is Rigo’s Restaurant on South Fourth Avenue.

If it’s not a center for backroom politics, it certainly offers a front-row seat to behind-the-scenes politicking.

Who goes there? Who doesn’t? It’s the home base for the South Tucson-Pima County Hispanic political power structure.

County Supervisor Ramón Valadez can be found there as many as five days a week, by his own accounting.

“It’s where I go to lunch as often as I can,” he said. “If you want to conduct business, you need to be in a place where a lot of people go to conduct business.

“It’s a convenient place. Prices are reasonable. Food is really good. Word gets around.”

Valadez ran down an abbreviated list of people who make their way regularly or on occasion to the eatery owned by Rigoberto Lopez to conduct business: his fellow supervisors, Steve Leal and other members of the Tucson City Council, South Tucson Mayor (and Valadez’s chief of staff) Jennifer Eckstrom, members of the South Tucson City Council, county Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, City Manager Mike Hein, state Sen. Victor Soltero, director of the governor’s Southern Arizona office Jan Lesher and local lawyer/mover-and-shaker Larry Hecker.

“I have lunch with Bob (Mayor Walkup) here every other month or so,” Valadez added.

On Wednesday, Sunnyside Unified School District Superintendent Raul Bejarano ate with a companion at Rigo’s at one table, while developer and businessman Joe Cesare and his son Jeff enjoyed bowls of cocido at another. Behind them, county official Art Eckstrom joined Deputy County Administrator Enrique Serna to talk about creating educational-internship opportunities for youths at Kino hospital.

The reigning king of Rigo’s hadn’t made an appearance by the time I left. Dan Eckstrom, a former county supervisor and now private business consultant who, by most accounts, still wields tremendous political clout, holds court daily at Rigo’s.

Eckstrom didn’t return phone calls for this column, but I ran into him there one day.

“This is my corporate office,” he said.

He laughed, but he wasn’t joking. People call looking for him, and the restaurant staff passes along messages and business cards, Lopez said.

In another nod to “Danny’s” considerable power, there’s a mock movie poster on the wall adjacent to the cash register, depicting Eckstrom as the Godfather in the final version of “The Godfather,” set at Rigo’s.

“Watch the wheeling, dealing and blood oaths,” it says.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva can be seen at Rigo’s on occasion.

“I only go when I’m summoned,” he joked recently.

What’s also interesting about Rigo’s is the people you won’t find there. South Tucson Police Chief Sixto Molina is more likely to dine across the street at Micha’s, which has a plate named for him.

Both Valadez and Eckstrom have dishes named in their honor on Rigo’s menu.

 The “mucho very good carne asada chimichanga, Sup. Valadez style” mixes Mexican cheese with the meat filling so that it melts around it, Valadez explained. It’s served enchilada-style with more Mexican cheese on top.

“It’s the ultimate comfort food,” he said.

The Dan Eckstrom salad plate has a choice of meat, with lettuce, tomatoes and chunky salsa on the side.

What gets talked about at Rigo’s? I asked Valadez. Anything and everything that affects the community, he said.

 n this unofficial setting, there’s no official agenda, but topics at Rigo’s over the last year have included the regional transportation plan and other road issues, the Kino hospital mental health facilities bonds, the transfer of the library system to the sole control of the county, the parks system, economic development through work force investment and faith-based initiatives 

Details that shape the future of our community get hashed out over plates of chicken mole and bowls of spicy posole.

Why can’t these things get done in a county office or more traditional setting?

Maybe politics is easier to swallow when accompanied by chips and salsa.

Anne T. Denogean can be reached at 573-4582 and adenogean@tucsoncitizen.com. Address letters to P.O. Box 26767, Tucson, AZ 85726-6767. Her columns run Tuesdays and Fridays.

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