The Skinny

MEET THE NEW BOSS—AND HIS STAFF

Democrat Nina Trasoff‘s term as the midtown Ward 6
councilwoman comes to an end next Monday, Dec. 7, as Republican
Steve Kozachik is sworn in.

Kozachik, who doesn’t plan to quit his day job—managing the
facilities over at the UA Athletics Department—says a prime focus
will be the city’s ailing budget, which is continuing to spiral into
deeper trouble. Last week, City Manager Mike Letcher delivered
the bad news that weak sales-tax collections and other problems have
left the city facing a $32 million shortfall in the current fiscal
year.

“Far too many decisions are being made without having the numbers
that make sense sitting in front of you,” says Kozachik, who warns the
issue is “going to be potentially contentious.”

Kozachik is pessimistic about Rio Nuevo’s future and concerned that
with tax collections below forecasts, there’s barely enough money to
cover debt service for the downtown-revitalization project.

“Let’s be real about that,” Kozachik says. “That patient is on life
support. There’s no money there.”

A new board will soon be controlling future Rio Nuevo spending,
thanks to a law passed by the Arizona Legislature during November’s
special session.

Kozachik says his downtown focus will be on downtown merchants so
they don’t “become the forgotten few. My sense of downtown is clean,
safe and activities. Let’s get a bunch of activities going down
there.”

Kozachik has already hired aides, including Donovan Durband,
who was executive director for about seven of the 10 years he worked at
the Tucson Downtown Alliance. Durband did what he could with the
resources at hand and remained a fierce advocate for businesses that
were trying to eke out a living downtown.

But when the TDA expanded into the new Downtown Tucson Partnership
and was placed under the control of Glenn Lyons, Durband quickly
realized that The Powers That Be had little use for him. He walked
before they made him run.

Lyons has his hands full trying to untangle himself from a political
fustercluck that’s erupted over the proposed sale of Fourth Avenue’s
Coronado Hotel, which now is home to low-income seniors. (See Page 15
for the messy details.)

Durband will be handling downtown issues for Kozachik, who praised
his new aide’s “knowledge of downtown and his familiarity and good
relationship with local merchants down there.”

We’ll see if Durband’s history leads to frosty relations with Lyons
and his staff, who are already viewed with suspicion by some longtime
downtown business owners and other Rio Nuevo skeptics.

It’s certainly not going to be as cozy of a relationship as Lyons
had with Trasoff’s office. The DTP’s marketing director, former
Tucson Citizen senior editor Cara Rene, is married to
Trasoff’s chief of staff, former Tucson Citizen columnist
C.T. Revere.

Kozachik has also hired Linda White, the former executive
director of the Pima County Republican Party, as an executive
assistant. Other aides include Teresa Olson, a lobbyist with the
Tucson Association of Realtors, and Carmen Cousins, who has
worked as an aide in the past for Bruce Wheeler, Shirley Scott,
Kathleen Dunbar and Trasoff.

Ann Charles, who managed Kozachik’s campaign, will be a
part-time chief of staff.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

We have a political marriage or adoption or something weird and
Oedipal going on over in Ward 2, where City Councilman Rodney
Glassman has hired Mary Fimbres, who has managed Councilman
Steve Leal’s office for 16 years.

Coincidentally enough, Mary also happens to be the wife of new City
Councilman Richard Fimbres, who is taking over Leal’s Ward 5
seat.

Mary will be replacing Kathy Dixon, who is retiring after
working in the Ward 2 office for close to a quarter-century.

When he’s not working on his plan to take out U.S. Sen. John
McCain, Glassman is focused on pulling together a new coalition on
the council. As part of his master plan, he’s throwing a welcome party
for Fimbres and Republican Steve Kozachik at—where
else?—McMahon’s Prime Steakhouse from 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday,
Dec. 16.

Mayor Bob Walkup will be on hand to take charge and lead us
into the bright future. No word on whether he’ll be dressed as
Willie Nelson.

(If you don’t get that one, see the video below. We don’t have the words to do it justice.)

SCRAMBLEWATCH 2010: BREWER DOOMED!

Next year’s primary is still nine months away, but we were still
treated to a cascade of polls last week.

The big takeaway: Gov Jan Brewer—our “embattled
Republican incumbent,” as Rasmussen puts it—doesn’t have much
public support.

It’s not exactly news, but the Rasmussen poll had Brewer capturing
just 10 percent in a hypothetical GOP primary. The big winner: Maricopa
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had the support of 47 percent of
Republicans. State Treasurer Dean Martin came in second, with 22
percent.

Arpaio is Tweeting—yes, Tweeting—about how he might heed
the call. We think he likes to be talked about as the ideal governor,
but doesn’t want to actually have to do the job.

There was some good news for Brewer: She was ahead of Tucson
attorney John Munger and Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker, who both
got 6 percent. The bad news: She’s not ahead by much.

Granted, the poll wasn’t the best barometer, given that Arpaio isn’t
likely to run, even though he polls better than any other Republican
against Attorney General Terry Goddard, the Democrats’ likely
candidate. Arpaio had a 12-point lead over Goddard.

In other matchups: Goddard was essentially tied with Martin and had
a 9-percentage-point lead over Brewer.

Those lousy numbers were reinforced by last week’s Cronkite/Eight
poll, which showed that 47 percent of voters support Goddard, while
just 28 percent would support Brewer.

Brewer seems to be veering back toward the right in an effort to
rebuild support. Last week, she signed bills that slashed spending for
education and social services, even though she’d condemned similar cuts
as “devastating” and “short-sighted” back in September.

“We are going to have a great Thanksgiving,” Brewer told the press,
promising to meet with legislative leaders this week to figure out what
to do next about Arizona’s financial freefall. (BTW: The latest numbers
show the state has spent $1.6 billion more than it has taken in during
the first four months of the fiscal year.)

When asked about her temporary one-cent sales-tax referendum last
week, she didn’t seem too excited about it.

“The temporary sales tax was a possibility that I thought was a
solution,” Brewer said. “It doesn’t have to be a temporary sales tax.
It can be another manner of some shape or form to increase
revenue.”

It’s a tough time for former governors, too. The Cronkite/Eight poll
revealed that only 41 percent would vote for Janet Napolitano if she
came back to run against John McCain, who still had the support
of half of Arizonans.

Meanwhile, only 20 percent of Arizonans wanted to see rogue
barracuda Sarah Palin become president.

Find early and late-breaking Skinny at The Range, our daily
dispatch.

This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2009.