Tucson Weekly: The Skinny (February 25

SHAMELESS JOE: Eastside Ward 4 Councilwoman Shirley Scott's husband, Joe Scott, has never been shy about pimping his wife. But both of them went over the top--way over--last Friday, February 19, at a ceremony honoring the Santa Rita High School students who built a house for Habitat for Humanity.
Shirley used her time at the mike to announce that she would seek a second term. Failing to take the hint when that out-of-place self-promotion fell flat, she then unilaterally changed the event program and introduced hubby Joe.
And what does Shameless Joe do? He tells the audience, gathered to celebrate the students' accomplishments for Habitat for Humanity (their work will be the new home for a Tucson family near 36th Street and Park Avenue), that his wife is a wonderful politician and that political campaigns are very expensive. He then asks for money and announces that he has envelopes ready to be filled.
All this inappropriate politicking left the crowd very uneasy. Many were justifiably angry. Joe Scott used to have a little more finesse, if not class. He wouldn't have pulled such a heavy-handed stunt eight years ago when he was running the failed Democratic mayoral campaign of Chuck Ford. But now that he has to work for his wife's political survival, he knows no bounds.
STILL AWAITING THE CALL: As regular readers may recall, the majority on the Amphi School Board has steadfastly refused to allow a call-to-the-audience segment at its regular meetings, drawing criticism from constituents, every newspaper in town and even Amphi Board members Nancy Young Wright and Ken Smith.
In its desperate squirming to avoid allowing citizens to address the board publicly, the majority of the Amphi Board asked the district's longtime attorney, Barry Corey, to determine if a call-to-the-audience segment is legal. Lo and behold, Corey studied the issue for several months before delivering his transparently tortuous opinion that call-to-the-audience is, indeed, against the law--which means nearly every other political jurisdiction, from other school boards to the City Council and Board of Supervisors, violate the law at every meeting. The Amphi staff has yet to respond to queries as to how much this twisted legal reasoning cost Amphi taxpayers, but Corey doesn't work cheap, so expect a bill costing thousands of dollars when Amphi quits stonewalling and 'fesses up.
Amphi's recalcitrance has captured the attention of state Sen. Tom Freestone, who is amending one of his bills to make it clear that call-to-the-audience is indeed legal. Freestone's bill--one of the few decent pieces of work we've seen the Legislature tackle this year--ought to easily pass. When it does--after all, who would oppose it?--we won't be surprised if Amphi Board members Gary Woodard, Richard Scott and Virginia Houston continue to find ways to block call-to-the-audience and further damage their declining reputation.
SALUD PARA BRENDA: Thrashed by Pima County Supervisor Sugar Ray Carroll and District 4 Republicans in last September's primary, Brenda Even went quietly from her Tucson Unified School District Board seat. Sort of.
Skinny First, she made sure TUSD renewed the no-bid contract her company has to operate the Family Resource and Wellness Centers at selected schools. We've said before that the centers are effective and necessary, but that she shouldn't be running the non-profit outfit that operates them.
Now Brenda is back. She and her company will benefit from a fundraising drive done partly at TUSD taxpayer expense. In lieu of a retirement dinner--as if Even "retired" from the TUSD Board--TUSD brass has sent out letters and return envelopes to solicit contributions for the Wellness Centers. TUSD offices and staff are being used for this project.
This is not a wise use of taxpayer money. Even and her well-oiled non-profit, with headquarters in the Transamerica Building that she co-owns, should do its own fundraising. And when in the hell was this approved by the TUSD Board? Or was this another one of those items--as The Arizona Daily Star recently pointed out in a story about a stinky vote to waste money on lawyers--that musta "slipped past" Board President Mary Belle McCorkle?
NO ACCOUNTING: Why have five finance directors come to TUSD headquarters and fled in the last five years? Are they receiving orders they cannot follow?
The latest victim is Judith Knight, who last summer delivered the most thorough explanation of TUSD's property tax bite and budget details to an incompetent Board. As her resignation was being announced at a Board meeting earlier this month, Board members unanimously asked that Knight stay and that Superintendent "Cadillac" George F. Garcia do something to get her to stay. But while Garcia went through the motions, he didn't keep his word. He reneged on the key part of the deal--namely, that Knight would not have to report to Garcia's right-hand man, Bob O'Toole. So Knight departed last week. She'll be missed.
TUCSON LOSES ANOTHER MORON: "Bent" Rod Smith, editor and publisher of Inside Tucson Business (published by the wonderful world of Wick, which also controls the Daily Territorial), is on his way out of town. A semi-literate gypsy who was barely here long enough to plant his eager lips on the ass of our community's power structure, Smith first came to our attention when he blatantly plagiarized an item from this fine journal for his insipid Scuttlebutt column. ("Bent" Rod, of course, denied borrowing the word-for-word passage and instead insisted it was merely a coincidence.) Although plagiarism is a firing offense at any reputable publication, the powers-that-be at Wick instead promoted Smith to the publisher's desk.
"Bent" Rod took a final inaccurate shot at The Weekly in his last Scuttlebutt dispatch, which we quote directly so that readers can get a taste of his cliché-ridden, mangled grammar: "Tucson Weekly claims it is increasing 'circulation' from 50,000 to 55,000 per week. Get with it guys! Circulation to most people means readers, not copies printed. When you catch a gander at all the copies left over at bookstores and the Main Gate, you almost have to wonder how many people are actually picking it up--not just what they are doing with it."
As John McLaughlin would say: WRONG! Circulation in the newspaper biz means copies printed, period--which goes to show you how utterly stupid Wick's "publisher/editor" is. And, in point of fact, The Weekly's circulation is closely monitored by Verified Audit Circulation, a national company that tracks pick-up rates for hundreds of publications across the country. The numbers from Verified show a return rate of less than 3 percent a week.
Now, on the subject of readership, which we also closely track: Our most recent readership survey from The Media Audit, an annual study of the Tucson market, showed that, on average, 3.6 people read each copy of The Weekly, meaning that each week, more than 198,000 readers peruse our fine publication--and that figure is growing.
Those are numbers Smith would drool over--but then, he's probably drooling anyway, as congenital idiots have a tendency to do.
Speaking of circulation, since "Bent" Rod brought the topic up: While ITB tells its advertisers it has somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000 subscribers, we suspect that figure's padded. We bet the number of paid subscriptions is far lower, and the rest are mostly freebies passed out to justify Wick's biggest local income source--legal notices.
Years ago, some locals who owned a printing press got the Legislature to set up criteria for government-paid advertising based on minimum circulation, with a requirement that a set percentage be paid subscriptions. Those with larger circulations and lots of real readers but free distribution, like the sterling Tucson Weekly you're currently perusing, are dealt out of this lucrative market. The eligible group in these parts included the Star/Citizen, the Ajo Copper News, and the Territorial.
Even though they were part of a sleazy political deal, the old Territorial Publishers at least produced a reasonable product. Since being acquired by Wick, however, they have obviously figured out that they really don't have to produce anything. A buffoon like Smith could print his rag upside down in Swahili, and as long as a few thousand people bought it because they needed the legal notices, Wick would make money. Corporate welfare strikes again.
Now Smith is out the door, heading where so many aging third-rate hustlers try to kickstart their plummeting careers: Las Vegas, where he'll be editor/publisher of Wick's Vegas holdings, which include both business papers and, sadly, the alternative weekly, which will no doubt lick the boots of the rich and powerful under Smith's brown-nosed leadership.
THAT SALPOINTE SPIRIT: A gang from Salpointe Catholic High School, a magnet for many of the pampered and spoiled brats of this dusty cowtown's self-appointed upper crust, demonstrated a real lack of class during the recent high-school basketball playoffs.
When the girls' team, which played a damn good game, lost to Amphi on February 4, some Salpointe parents blew a gasket. They accosted the girls' coach, insulting her and promising they'd see her fired. Plenty of folks saw them surrounding her, pointing fingers in her face as they yelled.
Not to be outdone, the boys' fans caused a scene at the Salpointe/Pueblo game played at Amphi High on Friday, February 12. Before the game began, Salpointe parents and fans, evidently unhappy with the parking arrangements, were seen rearranging boulders in the landscaping so they could park in otherwise restricted areas. Later, many exited the parking lot by driving on sidewalks near the school's swimming pool area.
During the game Salpointe parents and fans chanted, "Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit," when they didn't like a call. And they taunted Pueblo fans and parents, saying Salpointe kids were college-bound while the Pueblo kids weren't.
No Salpointe administrator could be found on the premises to deal with these arrogant assholes--a violation of Arizona International Association rules which could have meant Salpointe's automatic forfeiture. Not even a lowly Salpointe teacher could be found. Guess they were all too busy putting together a seminar on public morality or good citizenship.
When an Amphi administrator tried to prevent a Salpointe parent from walking through a restricted area, the parent cursed and shoved him. Police were summoned, but the suspect ran away and remains at large. Later, another Amphi administrator was almost run down in heavy traffic after the game.
The good news is that the Pueblo parents, instead of joining in Salpointe's childish displays of rudeness, impatience and nastiness, chose to be helpful in getting fans out of the gym in an orderly manner.
Nice work, Pueblo. In the game of life, it's obvious your kids already have a big head-start on those over-inflated Salpointe wankers.
GIANT WEENIE NAMED BILL BITES TORTOLITA, FILM AT 11: The residents of the embattled Town of Tortolita are feeling much more paranoid these days--and rightfully so, as the Growth Lobby machine grinds away at its ultimate goal: a sea of pink tile roofs where the saguaros now stand.
First, GOP state Rep. Bill McGibbon, who had championed the right of self-determination in the last legislative session, decided the State Land Department's rights are somehow more important than those of mere citizens. McGibbon has introduced legislation that would once again retroactively allow Casas Adobes and Tortolita to exist, but with a kicker. While his bill retroactively cancels the veto power granted existing cities over the creation of new ones within six miles of their borders, it grants similar veto power to the State Land Department if anything in the Land Department's control is within the boundaries of the new town.
McGibbon has clearly abandoned the principle of self-determination by subordinating it to the will of a non-elected bureaucracy. He stated his goal is to preserve Casas Adobes (where the existing City Council is unabashedly pro-development and just waiting to pounce on the new sales tax revenues they will impose on its residents), and he has basically trashed Tortolita for having the audacity to try to incorporate without being fully "urbanized."
Excuse us, Billy boy, but being fully "urbanized" is just exactly what the folks in Tortolita are trying to avoid, and they find no legal, moral or other legitimate reason why they shouldn't be able to.
But there's an odd kicker in McGibbon's bill--it doesn't grant the Land Department retroactive power. In other words, it doesn't actually do what he said it would, leaving Tortolitans puzzled over why he went out of his way to badmouth the town and claim his bill contained a provision it didn't, or at least still doesn't.
On another front, the bulldozers got what has to be classed as a favorable ruling when brand-new Federal Judge Raner Collins dumped the claims by Tortolita residents--and others from Casas Adobes--out of federal court. The plaintiffs had alleged, among other things, that the existing incorporation statutes violated their constitutional rights under federal law.
Collins didn't want to hear the merits of the case, choosing instead to send it back to state court, where regardless of the final outcome, it will end up being appealed back to federal court. Stretching out any legal process, as this will, always accrues to the interest with the deepest pockets--in this case the Growth Lobby, who are fronting their case with taxpayer money via the City of Tucson and the Arizona Attorney General's Office.

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