Tucson Weekly: The Skinny (June 10

Skinny TAX CHEATS: In recent quarter-page ads in the Star-Citizen, Pima Community College didn't exactly abide by the state "truth-in-taxation" law. PCC's ad actually withholds the truth.
The budget that the taxpayer-be-damned Pima College Board is adopting will jack up property taxes by $15.04 for the owner of a home that is valued on tax rolls at $80,000. In its "lie-in-taxation" ad, Pima falsely claimed that its property tax increase will result only in an extra $3.60. That increase covers only the increase in Pima College's primary taxes, used for daily operations.
The more meaty increase, which Pima College left out of its ad, is a wild 213 percent increase in secondary taxes that are used to pay off bond debt. Pima's secondary taxes will rise from 6 cents per $100 of assessed value to 21 cents.
Pima's lie was exposed in the June 2 Star-Citizen because the true tax rates were included in the legal notice on the page after the misleading ad. The legal notice included the real tax rates in the tiny print of Pima's proposed 1999-2000 budget.
BAILED MARY JUAN-A: Former Tohono O'odham Judge Mary Audrey Dolaretta Juan got a different look at the criminal justice system recently. She arrived May 19 at the U.S. District Court in the proverbial orange jumpsuit and handcuffs for a hearing before Magistrate Raymond T. Terlizzi.
Juan was arrested May 14 by an all-Indian unit of U.S. Customs at her remote Tohono O'odham Reservation home near the Mexican border on a charge of possessing 365 pounds of marijuana with intent to distribute it. Fifteen bales of pot were seized.
In the courthouse, a paralegal for Tucson attorney and newly appointed Tohono O'odham Judge Patricia "Pogo" Overmeyer flitted about the halls before the sharp, heavyweight defense lawyer Alfred "Skip" Donau III, whose all-star client list has included Joe Bonanno, was reeled in to represent Juan. The ever-polite Terlizzi released Juan to her sister on a $20,000 bond.
The timing of Juan's arrest was suspicious, at least politically. Customs said the arrest came as a result of a tip. But at least one of the tips was more than a year old. Her arrest came just a couple of weeks before the Tohono O'odham election, in which Juan was seeking to oust Councilman David Garcia while her sister, Vivan Juan-Sanders, was in the uphill, and ultimately unsuccessful, fight against Tribal Chairman Edward Manuel. The election furthered the careers of Manuel and Garcia, who often appear to be modeling their lives after the Chauncy Gardner character from Jerzy Kozinsky's Being There.
TOSSING OUT TULLY: The head legal beagle for the Tucson Unified School District recently railroaded one of her lawyers, Mike Tully, with the help of a hastily assembled, hand-picked cabal.
TUSD attorney Jane Butler has been after Tully for some time, but she rounded up attacks in the 11th hour from high-ranking TUSD paper shufflers to bag him. Assistant superintendents sent in late letters against Tully. One, from super-hack Larry Williams, arrived the very day of last month's hearing.
Butler knew she had the support of Mary Belle McCorkle, James Christ and Carolyn Kemmeries. But she clearly was not prepared for the questioning she got from Board member Rosalie Lopez, who exposed Butler's flimsy case. Butler claimed she had to fire Tully because his "style and skills are not suited to the needs of the district."
Saying she didn't see where "style" was included in Tully's job description, Lopez asked Butler: "What do you mean by style?" Butler froze for a painful near-minute before blurting out a lame response.
Equally preposterous were Butler's complaints that Tully had poor communication skills. Hey, he's been a lawyer for 20 years and is an old radio guy. We know Tully can communicate.
Butler was after Tully for his pro-bono help for a disabled veteran, which had been ongoing for two decades on his own--not TUSD's--time. Lopez's Q&A exposed that Butler, even if her charges against Tully were true, never took appropriate remedial action.
Indeed, Butler's performance justifying her firing of Tully was so poor that he was at least reassigned to a different TUSD department, but with a huge cut in pay.
SEE SAM RUN: Former Congressman, gubernatorial candidate and current media personality Sam Steiger is once again seeking public office--this time, running for mayor of Prescott, where he's lived for almost half a century. Steiger is one of a kind, as is his mayoral campaign.
He's challenging incumbent Mayor Paul Daly, whom he describes as "a nice enough guy who's totally owned by the developers and the bureaucracy--something I've found isn't uncommon everywhere else."
It's a campaign that's gone beyond "controlled growth, planned growth, restrained growth and no growth," Steiger says. "The only real answer to the overpopulation of the Prescott area is massive deportation."
Steiger says he would institute a case-by-case program with himself as the final decision maker. Immediately expelling everyone with a California license plate would be "a fair start."
Steiger has announced that he will not be accepting any campaign contributions in this effort, not out of any ideological motivation but simply because these days, "the paperwork is too damn complicated."
Steiger is is offering an alternative candidacy and the ultimate protest vote in another community being gradually destroyed by the Growth Lobby. His campaign illustrates the frustration of Prescott residents. His total votes will be an interesting indicator of just how pissed off they really are.
WHAT ABOUT BOB? The Arizona Republic has announced that longtime Phoenix area political hired gun Bob Robb will become the paper's new editorial columnist, essentially replacing the late John Kolbe.
The 44-year-old Robb, described by the Republic as "a veteran issues management strategist," will write three columns a week and become part of the Republic's editorial board. Robb will close his current policy managing firm before joining the Republic. As a former PR flack for the City of Phoenix and Arizona Chamber of Commerce, his political orientation will be obvious--as is his appeal to the Republic's advertisers.
This is probably a good move for Robb, as his outfit just took it on the chin losing the Rio Salado Crossing vote, which would have directed Mesa tax revenues into a new stadium for the Arizona Cardinals. Besides, Robb's collected enough bloated fees over the last 13 years to give him the semi-retirement this job really is.
The Republic also announced that for the next year, Robb would refrain from writing about any subject in which he was professionally involved.
The paper is billing him as a "conservative." Real conservatives have been gagging for years about those pundits who get that definition bestowed on them by the media, particularly those who try to sell tax boondoggles like Rio Salado.
We'll have to see if Robb will become something more than a business lobby hack. He's certainly bright enough and has been around enough blocks to be a real addition to the state's rather bleak list of political columnists. We hope the Republic and his former clients will allow Robb to become a genuine commentator.
HARDHAT PROTECTION: The Skinny noticed a large sign posted by a construction site in Oro Valley: Traffic Fines Doubled In Construction Zones.
That raises a couple of questions. Why do members of the Town Council and staff consider construction-zone violations worse than school-zone violations, or park-zone violations, or even golf-cart-crossing-zone violations? And are there any areas of Oro Valley that aren't construction zones?

Home | Currents | City Week | Music | Review | Books | Cinema | Back Page | Archives