The Democratic slate easily won reelection in this week’s Tucson City Council election. In fact, the most intriguing development at the Democrats’ jubilant victory lap of an event might have been the choice of Sonoran hot dogs from BK’s rather than El Guero Canelo.
Although three to four thousand votes remained to be counted, incumbent Council members Richard Fimbres and Karin Uhlich held leads larger than the number of uncounted ballots over their Republican challengers, while Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik was unopposed.
Uhlich was ahead of Republican Ben Buehler-Garcia, 58 percent to 41 percent, in the Ward 3 race. This race was expected to be at least somewhat closer, considering Buehler-Garcia only narrowly lost to Uhlich four years ago.
“We were singled out from the get-go. Everything was thrown at us,” Uhlich said at the Democratic Party’s election-night celebration at downtown’s Riverpark Inn. “We won and we won big, and that means we’re on the right track.”
Fimbres was holding a similarly commanding lead over Republican Mike Polak, 60 percent to 39 percent, in the Ward 5 contest.
“We moved this city forward,” said Fimbres. “Lots more needs to be done. We’re not out of the tunnel yet, but we’re moving forward.”
Although more than 65,000 ballots were returned to the city via mail, thousands were turned in at polling locations on Election Day. Those ballots will be counted later this week once they have undergone a signature check by the Pima County Recorder’s Office.
The Republican candidates, in front of a small crowd at the Tucson Mall Sir Veza’s location, remained hopeful, despite the fact that the basic math of the remaining ballots was not on their side.
“In Tucson, you never concede until the vote actually is done,” said Buehler-Garcia. “It’s hard for me to say because of my concern about the turnout. We have to look at the numbers and take some time to assess them.”
Mike Polak held out a similar bit of hope. “I’m going to wait until the end, because there are lot of ballots that haven’t been counted yet,” he said. “We’re going to keep a positive attitude and hopefully more votes will come in.”
Two ballot propositions are nearly certain to have passed.
Proposition 401, which would increase the city’s spending cap, was being supported by 62 percent of voters, while Proposition 402, which will update the city’s general plan, was being supported by 66 percent of voters.
For Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, the apparent success of these measures and the reelection of all three councilpersons are encouraging signs. “This is an affirmation of what we’ve been doing for the last two years,” said the Mayor. “We’re going to keep this team in place and get better from here on out.”
In other elections around Pima County:
• 57 percent of voters in Vail rejected formally incorporating the community into a town.
• The Sunnyside School District’s pitch for a budget override was losing early, with 53 percent of voters rejecting the proposition.
• Two budget overrides in the Catalina Foothills School District seem set to pass, with 62 percent (Prop. 406) and 64 percent (Prop. 407) voting yes.
• 60 percent of voters rejected a budget override in the Altar Valley School District.
A final count of ballots in those contests is expected to be completed in the coming days.
This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2013.
Well I guess Fimbres is right. They will move Tucson forward……to running out of money. Maybe Fimbres can spend the next several years learning not to read all of his questions at the Council Meetings off of a piece of paper. In fact I never see him say anything without reading it first.
Fimbres is prepared and asks questions Fraser. That is the purpose of the meeting and he must doing the job right since he got the endorsements of the Chamber of Commerce, SAHBA and the Realtors. PS Richard Fimbres was the top vote getter of the contested races. Tucson voted and he won, and won big.
Don’t read too much into his win Niles. It’s about what you would expect for his Ward.
1200 jobs, 71 new business opened through his changes to certificate of occupancy, openings and expansion of Costco, Curacao, Walmart, APAC Pharmaceuticals, Bruker Nano, expansion of CAID Industries. His Ward saw a lot, as did the City, thus the big win and well deserved one.
If I had no other reason to rejoice at the victories of Council Members Fimbres and Uhlich, the mathematical challenges under which Messrs. Polak and Buehler-Garcia labor would be sufficient. Both Democrats led by 10,000 votes with 6,000 to be processed and the anti-mathematicians weren’t ready to concede? Just let them at the city’s budget. It’s Thursday morning and the County election office hasn’t yet completed its check and count of the 6,000 so there’s still no reason to concede. Parallel universe anyone?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Insane, continue to elect the do nothings. I am not a Republican, but there are times when they should be elected to make Tucson a better city. The Democrats are failing in growing Tucson, creating jobs and making the city better for businesses. Enough is enough, elect those who will help the city, not continue to take it backwards. Fimbres and Uhlich have not done their jobs to make Tucson better. they need to be replaced. Come on voters elect those who really want to make Tucson progressive and better. Not waste tens of millions doing nothing.
To Sam Smith:
You have to realize that those two council people you refer to are just serving their respective communities. Hispanics on the south side and LGBT, Progressives for the other. Entitlements and Liberals…how could we not loose. Tucson is screwed, we just don’t know it yet. Some of us do.
The strategic question is: – How many voted?………..less than 1/3
Its like Ford, the Tea Party Mayor in Toronto. The Tea Party loves him so matter how much crack he consumes. It not about accomplishing anything. It about just being in the seat doing nothing.