A personal tale of how Pima County Elections continues to disenfranchise voters.

I live in Precinct #33 in Pima County near Fairview and Limberlost. This precinct contains both City of Tucson and Pima County voters. Voters in this precinct are in the Amphitheater School District. This election, Nov 2, 2010 voters in #33 shared a polling location with Precinct #32. Those voters reside in Flowing Wells School District and also contain city and county voters. The voting place was the Flowing Wells Community Center on West Wetmore. There should be a total of 4 possible ballot options available at the polls.
I went to vote just after the polls opened this morning and completed my ballot. I turned the ballot in and it was scanned into the machine. After getting in my truck to leave I remembered that I had not voted for Amphi School Board. I pay taxes in Amphi so I’m pretty sure I get to vote on School Board elections. After checking the sample ballot on the wall outside I realized that the Amphi election was not on the sample ballot. After questioning the the Precinct monitor the workers could not find any ballots that included Amphi School elections. After a call to Pima Elections and the Recorder’s office we were told that if its not on the ballot you don’t get to vote. We were further notified after being on hold that the main office was just notified that the election for school board was canceled.
After a lot of back and forth and multiple phone calls to all three Amphi candidates it was determined that the correct ballots were at the precinct but had been over looked. This was after 8:00am. The best they can determine is that somewhere between 9 and 18 people that were eligible to vote for Amphi Schools were not given the opportunity to vote prior to 8:00am or so. They were disenfranchised BY Pima County.
I was able to cast a Provisional Ballot this afternoon for the School Board but there is no guarantee that the vote will count. I can only pray that the actual vote count doesn’t come down to a handful of votes.

I have a simple question. Why do voters in Pima County deserve this kind of treatment? Why are the folks in charge not held responsible for these continuing problems?

Can you hear us know? A few weeks back Wake Up Tucson put together an opinion piece for Inside Tucson Business with the idea that until our elected officials fear the business community they will continue to marginalize our efforts and vote against us. The article spelled out that until elected officials realize that we have the power and money to actually influence an election the business climate will deteriorate. Those groups that actually get out and influence an election will have the influence. The article sparked a fire storm from the Pima Democratic Party to the Tea Party group and the Star.

We are seeing that conversations around busines have definately changed. We only hope that our words helped move the pendulum in the last 6 weeks. Is our city on a new path or is it just 11th hour politics? 

Take a look at the last few weeks since the article came out:

1. Karin Uhlich added a Small Business Tab to her web site.
2. Kozachik and Trasoff’s debate on Arizona Illustrated revolved in large part around small business
3. The Arizona Daily Star endorsed the incumbents all the while chastising their performance. The incumbents received low marks in their handling of small business issues in particular development services and our ridiculous Land Use Code.
4. Candidate forums at NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber took on a decidedly unfriendly tone towards the incumbents. Everyone wanted to be the friend of business but the crowds weren’t buying it.
5. The below article appears in the Sunday version of The Star:

In many ways, this year’s City Council race is a replay of 2005.

That year, Democrats Karin Uhlich and Nina Trasoff rode to victory on a wave of anger over higher taxes.

This year, the sides are reversed. Republican hopefuls Ben Buehler-Garcia, Steve Kozachik and Shaun McClusky say the city fosters “a culture of no” when it comes to growing or serving business. And they say the incumbents frittered away money on the Rio Nuevo downtown redevelopment project, with little to show for it.

The Democrats — Uhlich, Trasoff and Richard Fimbres — agree the city needs a better business environment, and the two incumbents say they’ve been pushing for reforms. As for Rio Nuevo, the incumbents say they inherited a mess. It took time to find a focus, they say, but progress is being made.

Local Republican Chairman Bob Westerman predicts Democrats — disheartened by the glum national mood — will stay home on election day while Republicans will be jazzed about voting.

But political science professor and former Democratic Tucson Mayor Tom Volgy said the Tea Party influence, while it may motivate Republicans, could also propel Democrats to the polls.

“Things have gotten vicious nationally, and it’s being replayed a little bit locally,” he said. “All that does is strengthen Democratic convictions that you can’t turn government over to those folks.”

From TREO (Tucson Regional Economic Opportunties) Economic Outlook Report in 2006:

A current area of weakness that can transform into one of the region’s core strengths is the entrepreneurship environment. As a small business community, and place where the University of Arizona is known for its entrepreneurship program, Tucson must revaluate its current small business resources and recommit to supporting entrepreneurship stronger going forward.

 

Many of the region’s small business leaders feel passionate, if not livid, over the perceived lack of support provided to entrepreneurs. Some of them believe that small business is withering on the vine in Tucson and Pima County for many reasons. There appears to be a significant miscommunication and general lack of communication that is creating a low awareness of available services. There are too many commissions and groups supposedly helping the small business community but their report cards of success are not evident.

 

A byproduct of too many groups doing too little is the development of an attitude of entitlement. Being a successful small business is not about entitlements. These entrepreneurs do need support in the areas of finance, accounting, legal assistance, management and employee training, a total resource center providing information on permitting and licensing requirements, but not entitlements.

 

Before Tucson can fully optimize the economic benefits of its entrepreneurship community, it must first restructure its strategy and develop a robust support system to the benefit of the region’s small businesses.

By Joe Higgins, and Chris DeSimone – Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, September 25, 2009

You’ve quietly mumbled under your breath while watching the evening news. You’ve commiserated with colleagues at lunch. You may have even taken the time to write an e-mail or call the office of one of our elected officials. A handful of you may have even showed up at a city council meeting, taken your three minutes of fame at the podium delivering a speech that would make Jimmy Stewart proud. Or maybe you rationalized that you’re too busy. That someone else will carry the load. You wrote a check to a business association or chamber of commerce so your work is done. 

What have your efforts accomplished?

Try higher property taxes, increased bed taxes, taxes on tanning salons, ballooning utility costs, more regulations and red tape, a rotting city core, larger pot holes, scarier streets, more graffiti, less baseball and a whole lot more vacancies. As business people, we want to believe Tucson welcomes our entrepreneurial spirit. We tuck in each night dreaming of a community that wants us to succeed. They appreciate the hard work and risks we take. After all small business is the economic engine the politicians all love to brag about. Dream’s over – time to wake up!

Our current flock of elected officials seem to have little interest in supporting you or making your road to riches any easier. You’re in this community to be taxed, regulated and demonized. If you’ve made a business career here you’ve really done something special. 

Want to know how we got here? Take a look around. How many of our local politicos have ever owned their own business? How many have built a successful career in the private sector? How many have spent their careers in nonprofit or government jobs? Most have risen from the ranks of the progressive party machines. Are there exceptions?  We guess so.

Let us share the real problem the business community has in our region. Our politicians don’t get us. They don’t respect us. And they certainly don’t fear us.

Since the dawn of the democracy, when elections come around politicians count votes. Environmental lobbies, neighborhood associations, unions and university and government employees vote. When a politician’s primary goal is to get re-elected or move to a higher office, catering to the groups that walk the streets, pick up the phones and show up at rallies is perceived as essential to future success.

What are we as a business community to do? For starters, we need to identify strong pro-business candidates then truly support them. The heat will get turned up on you or your business but you must take a stand. A trite chamber of commerce endorsement isn’t going to cut it.

We must ensure that our elected officials are true friends of business. If they aren’t we must take them out of office in a strong and swift show of force. When we do win a seat, the business community needs to remind the other sitting officials that we have the power to influence an election. Once they fear us, they will respect us. Once they fear us, they will listen to us. Once they fear us, things will change.

Don’t fall back on your indifference. Don’t go back to watching “Dancing With The Stars” or “The Biggest Loser.” Sure, we can continue to wait and hope someone else will carry the load but how’s that worked out for us so far?

Wake up business community. Wake up Tucson.

Early ballots will be arriving in mailboxes Oct. 8. If you haven’t requested an early ballot, call (520) 740-4330. Any registered voter in the city of Tucson can vote for any of the six council candidates running. This is a partisan race — for now — and it’s not limited to individual ward-only voting. Inform your employees, family and friends of what is at stake in this election. Research the candidates and measure results.

Vote.

Contact Joe Higgins at joe@joehigginsinc.com or Chris DiSimone at provenpartners@comcast.net. They’re the hosts of “Wake Up Tucson,” which airs 6 a.m. – 7 a.m. weekdays on The Voice KVOI 1030-AM. Information about the show is online at WakeUpTucson.net

Meet ALL the City Of Tucson Council challengers

Richard Fimbres          – D Ward 5
Judith Gomez              – R Ward 5
Shaun McClusky          – R Ward 5
Steve Kozachik           – R Ward 6
Ben Buehler-Garcia    – R Ward 3

Thursday April 30th, – 5:30 at McMahon’s – Please RSVP – we are expecting a big turn out.
RSVP to Joe@JoeHigginsinc.com

Brought to you by Wake Up Tucson and TucsonChoices.com. Wake Up Tucson is on M-F at 6am on KVOI 690am. The hosts, Chris DeSimone and Joe Higgins talk daily about the issues of importance to our region. The show is aimed to Wake Up our elected officials, Wake Up our leadership and Wake Up the community to the issues that affect us each day. Tune in, it’s more critical now than ever!

This will be your FIRST opportunity to meet the challengers for the upcoming City of Tucson Council elections. Prior and future events will feature the incumbents.

This is the third TucsonChoices.com/Wake Up Tucson event. Our goal is to bring the business community together with elected leaders. Our gatherings are incredibly important to learning about issues and letting our leaders know about your concerns for the community.

Our first meeting featured:

Sen. Al Melvin
Rep. Frank Antenori
Rep. David Gowen
Rep. Vic Williams

Our second gathering featured

Councilman Rodney Glassman
Councilwoman Nina Trasoff

Join us Tuesday April 28th at 5:30 at the TCC for the City of Tucson budget hearings.
Tune in this Wednesday for our interview with Richard Fimbres – (D) Ward 5
And Thursday for our interview with Judith Gomez – (R.) Ward 5
Also tune in for Free For All Fridays and Positive Mondays
KVOI 690am The Voice – M-F 6am-7am
Stream Online at www.TucsonChoices.com
McMahon’s Steak House is located at Swan and Ft. Lowell

It has been confirmed that Sean McCluskey is in the race for the Ward 5 seat being vacated by Steve Leal. McCluskey is a political rookie that’s fed up with the way Tucson is being run. He will challenge Judith Gomez in the ward primary. The winner will face Fimbres in a city wide election.

So here’s the run down so far:

Ward 5-

Incumbent – None
Democratic Candidate – Richard Fimbres
Republican Candidates – Judith Gomez and Sean McCluskey (winner of primary moves on to general)

Ward 3
Democrat Incumbent – Karin Uhlich
Republican Candidate – Ben Buehler Garcia

Ward 6
Democrat Incumbent – Nina Trasoff
Republican Candidate – Steve Kozachick

It should be a long, hot summer!

Councilman Steve Leal announced that he will not be seeking another term of office.  An open seat on City council will surely make for fun blogging in 09′.  Will the business community field a candidate? Will the discussion change from plastic bags, rain water harvesting and Kidco/Jobpath to, I don’t know, IMPORTANT STUFF?

From an earlier blog post regarding Leal:

This story goes right up there with Leal locking himself in Pima County jail over night.

This is better than Barney Fife and an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. 

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Some of the AZ Star comments worth a look:

8. Comment by Max M. (20YearResident) — December 22,2008 @ 1:17PM

Ratings:   -9 +22

 Steve Leal had all the makings to be a great city councilman.However, he chose to pander those qualities away and as the writer above said became an empty suit.Mr. Leal when you try to stand for all things your message is that you stand for nothing.The rest of your city council will follow suit as the public sentiment to transparent crooks is become worn and frayed.

Perhaps if you had taken your actual constituents to heart rather than businesses money to pocket you would’ve become someone great in this town.

Yet, I am sure you have built love with Jim Click and friends and perhpas one of them can find you a job selling cars or insurance.

But history will only look at you as another crook in a city full of crooks and you will be soon forgotten.

Thank God.

Merry Christmas Tucson.

 

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