There are some people you just can’t make happy, and apparently James Kelley, author of political blog The Cholla Jumps, is one of them. Kelley is a active member of the Republican community here in Tucson, serving as a precinct and state committee person, so you’d think he’d be psyched that fellow conservative Steve Kozachik got some time in our paper.
Has City Councilman Steve Kozachik gone to the dark side? In a recent op-ed piece at the socialists rag “The Tucson Weekly” (hippies use it in their outhouses); Mr. Kozachik lays out a diatribe against the State Legislature over their efforts to rein in business killing local regulations. He posits,
“The men and women who are appointed to the state agencies now under scrutiny bring a skill set and level of expertise specific to the agency for which they serve. Legislators cannot have a breadth of knowledge sufficient to intelligently rule on the broad spectrum of areas encompassed by the various state agencies, nor do they have the time or staff necessary to properly educate themselves on the array of issues. Ours is a complex social fabric that must rely on the interplay of experts in a variety of fields to come together and adopt a coherent set of guidelines that reflect a sustainable, long-term greater good.”
Has he gone mad? Has he been sitting too close to Regina Romero? Mr. Kozachik has done nothing to increase the transparency of the Rio Nuevo mismanagement. He has not helped one iota in uncovering and bringing to justice the individuals within city government present or former who stole $230 million dollars in tax dollars. So what is he doing?
The same socialist political posturing we have always gotten. “We are smarter than you, we know what’s best for you, let us make the rules, you follow them.”
Keep it up Steve and you may find yourself without conservative support very quickly.
Decide for yourself. I thought Councilman Kozachik made a lot of sense, but maybe that’s the problem.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.
I agree, I think Kozachik does make sense. I’ve actually been fairly pleased with him as a council member.
The point is, oversight of bureaucrats belongs to the elected. The Tucson City council never takes responsibility for that stewardship. If neither the entrenched bureacrats nor the elected city council will hold anyone responsible, we have to go to the state legislature to get things done.
Calling them megelomaniacs and stupid doesn’t help Tucson’s cause. When the bond holders start feeling the pain, we might, just maybe get a new council, but as long as Romero and her ilk continue to indebt future generatrions to enrich the pockets of a select few of her friends, Tucson will be a rotting shell of a community, overtaken by Maran, Oro Valley, Vail and Sahaurita. Hell maybe even South Tucson might get some cojones and start annexing.
Jim, interesting that you whine that Steve Kozachik engages in name-calling, when you do the very same thing (“socialists rag”). Just sayin’.