It’s been a couple of weeks now since Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll announced he won’t seek reelection. Those on the far right are quick to celebrate with the expectation that the next supervisor will be able to get the job for District 4, accusing Carroll of not being conservative enough. Typical tea-party rehetroic tossed at what we used to consider regular GOP.
Those who’ve enjoyed observing Pima County politics, even going back long before Carroll was first appointed, know that Carroll hasn’t changed. The political climate, however, has—the one that elected Supervisor Ally Miller, Carroll’s fellow Republican on the five-seat board. It’s hard not to look back on the old days and remember how well Carroll worked with former Supervisor Ann Day, a Republican. Nostalgia.
Back in those days, how interesting it was to watch the two work together during budget season. Miller, in comparison, is a pest. Carroll and Day, a true thorn. There was a feeling that there was a balance in a Democratic-controlled county government. Once the tea-party element entered the picture, that was gone. Carroll understood that his constituents weren’t all Republicans, and that because of the characteristics of his district many of them cared about the environment and water. They cared. He cared. That showed in how he came forward about the Rosemont Mine before any of the Democrats were ready to step forward. Carroll did so, in his Chicago-style fashion, and it was fun to watch.
I know many people on the far left from different districts would sometimes go visit Carroll to seek advice. No one was every turned away. There are also only a few supervisors who observers feel actually work—who treat the elected position as a job. It is a well-paid gig. Carroll worked. It isn’t the same, so I can understand why it’s time for Carroll to move on.
Still, it’s too bad, and yes, he’ll be missed. The lesson is that serving Pima County means needing to rise above tea-party political platitudes. Let’s hope the candidates who come forward keep that in mind.
— Mari Herreras, mherreras@tucsonweekly.com
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2016.
What is being missed are the thousands of good and high paying jobs that Ray Carroll said no to. All those families that don’t have the opportunity to earn a good living, have a career, provide for their children. And all the related businesses that would benefit from the increased commerce with “new” money, money that doesn’t originate from the government.
But he’s all in favor of giving 15 MILLION of your tax dollars to Mark Giffords, I mean Kelly.
5th poorest metro area in the country and Ray Carroll is damn proud of it.
Sorry, What Again, perhaps you missed the global commodities crash.
The well-paying jobs you’re bemoaning the loss of yore, would be the layoffs of today – and the odds are very good that those folks would have taken on debt in the interim.
Arizona has a rich history of mining, in the right place at the right time.
Can’t speak to your rant about Pima County being the lender of first resort for the balloon folks because the public wasn’t privy to the details.
All I know is that Mr Carroll raised his family here, and I can’t imagine that he ever wanted to leave the county worse off for his children and their children.
High time we all strive to be good stewards, and pass this place on in better shape than we found it.
“All I know is that Mr Carroll raised his family here, and I can’t imagine that he ever wanted to leave the county worse off for his children and their children. “
That’s funny. We never hear that explanation when Republicans are accused of wanting dirty air and dirty water.
There are many obligations and motivations that cause elected officials to abuse tax payers. One is simple misguidance.
Well said Mari. Unfortunately, based on the comments, there are some who will never rise above the platitudes you caution against. The only jobs that Supervisor Carroll may have been a part of preventing are the ones that would have come at the expense of our air, water, and recreation areas with the destruction of the sacred Santa Rita mountains. And I hope, on the other side, that some of the partisan Democrats who tried to beat Ray up over the years will someday truly understand his value. As someone who worked for Ray for many years I am certainly biased, but I can assure you no one worked harder at the job than he did. Happy Trails man.
Did you block Grand Canyon U because of its religious connections, or because of it’s competition to UA revenues? Lofty platitudes there.
Grand Canyon U was blocked because Ray Carroll’s daddy whom he owes everything to, Raul Grijalva, said no way to white christians entering Grijalva territory. Browns only, whiteys not welcome.
The overwhelming opposition to the Grand Canyon University scam that was attempted to be perpetrated against westside residents (and in reality, all taxpayers of Tucson) has nothing to do with their religious nature (although many objected to their anti-gay policies) or any concern over competion with the UA (that’s a new one) or, for that matter, Supervisor Ray Carroll. The fight was about the plan to give-away of over 100 acres of publicaly owned, inner city recreational green space to a private development and the insuing violations of the right to public documents on the scam.
This fight, by the way, is far from over and is still being fought in court, although nobody knows this because of the media blackout that has been imposed on the issue by this newspaper and others. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond!
Why didn’t we take the opportunity to negotiate a different location? We don’t discriminate based on religious beliefs, or did you just do that?