The roster is finally set for this year’s city elections with yesterday’s deadline to file petitions.
Mayor Bob Walkup’s moderate ways appears to have won over Democrats, seeing how they were unable to scare up a candidate to challenge him. And, sadly, Bruce Gerowitz, who sells hot dogs outside of a Speedway strip club, decided against running as an independent.
So that leaves Dave Croteau, a Green who made the legalization of pot the centerpiece of his campaign against Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, as the only guy who’s willing to take on Walkup.
We’ll just go ahead and congratulate Bob on his re-election right now.
But, with the retirement of City Council members Carol West and José Ibarra, we will see some changes by the end of year.
In Ward 1, where Ibarra is stepping down after three terms of steady political self-destruction, the GOP failed to field a candidate. That means the primary, which will be limited to Ward 1 Democrats, will decide the race between Regina Romero and Ken Green.
Romero has the Grijalva political machine at her back; hubby Ruben Reyes works as an aide to Raul.
Green is a pastor and president of the A Mountain Neighborhood Association.
Over in Ward 2, where Carol West is retiring after two terms, we’ve got a Democratic primary as well: Rodney Glassman vs. Robert Reus.
Though he’s just turned 29, Glassman already has a lengthy political resume, including a stint as an aide in Grijalva’s congressional office.
Reus, who owns an art shop on Fourth Avenue, doesn’t have the same kind of political connections. The thrust of his campaign revolves around changing the current form of government to give the mayor more power and go for an alderman-style council—a topic he has often brought up at council meetings and on his public-access TV show.
Even Reus admits that he’s the underdog in the race because Glassman has more name ID, more organization and more money.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Lori Oien in the citywide general election. Oien, a native Tucsonan, has been active in the Bear Canyon Neighborhood Association.
Finally, in Ward 4, Councilwoman Shirley Scott is facing a challenge from Republican Dan Spahr as she campaigns for a fourth term. Spahr, a financial planner, is making his first run for public office.
“I have always, my entire life, been a servant,” says Spahr, who moved to Tucson about four years ago. “I’ve always been doing things to help out other people. This is next step in the journey.”
Spahr says he wants to develop a “faith-based” effort that will team up the police and church groups in the fight against crime. “I call it “servant evangelism,” he says.
We’ll tell you more about the candidates in next week’s Skinny, but if you want to see them for yourselves, they’ll all be on display at a Nucleus Club form at 5:30 p.m. tonight at the Viscount Suites, 4855 E. Broadway Blvd.
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2007.
Nintzel’s ill fated sucker punch against opposition to the RTA scam was well-timed before the May 16th election of 2006 should have prompted his resignation- not just an apology for bad math. Unfortunately, the current state of journalism in Tucson positions him as one of those “hip” sources with a lowdown of the local political scene. It’s an effort to quickly and formally marginalize the only opposition to the Raytheon shill we have as a mayor. Nintzel should be the last person to tell us where our hopes should lie. I watch the Tucson Weekly only to learn of the damage they are capable of.
Thanks, J.T.! Way too few people have given me the credit I deserve for single-handedly convincing 60 percent of county residents to support the RTA proposal after they’d rejected the previous four transportation measures. And you’re quite perspicacious to recognize that I scared off any Democratic opposition to Mayor Walkup and have now doomed the Green candidate, who surely would have crushed Bob if it hadn’t been for this blog entry. Appreciate the props!
The number of times your drivel hits paper and ink has nothing to do with your skills as a writer or journalist. I think you need to abandon this sort of self aggrandizing stance whenever somebody points out the damage of having 50,000 copies of your crap pushed out into the streets under the dubious label of alternative press. Can’t you do better than that? Don’t you have something better to do?
J.T., thanks again! As a writer and journalist, I always appreciate it when someone encourages me to take my game to the next level because they recognize that, as good as I am, I’ve still got plenty of unrealized potential. It’s fans like you that keep me dedicated to TW! Keep on reading!
Any time.
“This sort of self aggrandizing stance?” Oh-oh … another irony-impaired reader. Better keep J.T. Waldron away from Colbert and “The Onion”; what righteous indignation they would trigger! As for the post that launched this thread, let’s cut Jim some slack! At least this time he’s not calling the election on the basis of campaign finance reports!
Reel: I’m saving that for next week’s Skinny! Now you’ve blown my Big Reveal!
Speaking as an outside observer, I didn’t notice any self-aggrandizement (nor any self-reference at all) by Mr. Nintzel. I’m not sure what has so upset J.T. Waldron, unless he doesn’t like the mere existence of other people calling political scenarios as they see them. If Mr. Waldron would actually take the time to explain what it is he disagrees with, instead of just calling the Tucson Weekly “crap” and vague references to a “sucker punch,” etc., then maybe I would have more to go on.
Anyway, I think Dan Spahr’s discussion of a “faith-based” effort to team up police and religious groups sounds like a disaster in the making. What do religious groups have to do with law enforcement? Maybe Mr. Spahr can bring together cops and nuns to stop the scourge of chewing gum in the classroom.
Reading this string, I am reminded of an old saying that goes something like: Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man.