|
|
 |
 Looks Like Supervisor Candidate Brenda Even Has A Lot Of Homework To Do. By Chris Limberis WHAT WILL BRENDA Even know? And when will she know it? Voters need to know. But with 10 weeks remaining before they go to the polls to choose a Pima County supervisor, District 4 voters can determine this much from listening to Brenda Even: There will be studies. There will be analysis. There will be talk. There will be examination. There will be lots of "looks." There will be more studies, analysis, talk, looks, and more looks. To death.
Even says a lot of nothing at District 4 forums and on the radio with cushy, goofy talk-show hosts. In fact it was with cranky, out-of-touch Bert Lee (who mystifyingly and incorrectly talked about how Pima County is a Republican county) on June 11, that her study mode took its absurd extreme. Asked if she would agree to a three-way debate filling a full two-hour Lee show, Even said: "Well, I'll certainly have to check with my campaign committee, see what they think and whether we're available." Even's nebulous responses arise either out of ignorance or from a stratagem created by Byron Howard, the operative who helped engineer her late husband John's District 4 victory in 1996, as well as the more stunning victory in 1992 of the man John Even ousted--Paul Marsh. Marsh was one of Pima County's premier know-nothing, do-nothing candidates. He also frequently promised to look at this issue, study that problem, examine this controversy, or analyze that situation. It worked. Marsh defeated the much brighter, more detailed Lee Davis, as well as incumbent Reg Morrison, who had also acquired an acceptable working knowledge of the District 4 and the county in his two terms. District 4 voters now know the danger of the indecisive candidate. While Marsh was busy being non-committal and stupid, he was already quietly under then-Supervisor Ed Moore's spell. The two formed a majority with Mike Boyd to wreak havoc with county personnel, the healthcare system and finances. The damage was costly. Neither Ray Carroll nor Ken Marcus are brilliant orators. They sometimes misstate facts. They've both wished they could have taken back things they've uttered. They have not, however, tried to cover their homework. Brenda Even is not stupid. But that has not stopped her from giving an endless stream of non-answers about most county issues:
Asked on the June 5 John C. Scott Show about the unelected commission directing Dr. Deputy Richard Carmona and the county health system, Even said:
On care for the indigent, Even added: "I think that we as a community or as a county have to determine exactly what are we going to do in terms of supporting those who cannot afford (healthcare) and who will come to Kino (Community Hospital) regardless of what is happening." Lee, on June 11, asked Even if she would join Supervisor Sharon Bronson in "lynching" (firing) Carmona. Said Even: "I think I'd be more interested in finding out what Richard Carmona has been able to do with regard to the healthcare system. I've been connected with Kino in a variety of different ways over the years, and certainly Rich has some ideas that he has purported, and I think we need to take a look at what he's accomplished and also what the commission has been able to bring to that. This is a whole new approach for Pima County. I think we need to have some outcomes."
At a Pima County Republican Women's lunch on May 18, Even said: "I am also interested in our examining the tax structure, taking a look at how we can be sure fair and reasonable taxes are in fact assessed." On property values that drive up tax bills and the possibility of making corresponding cuts in the tax rates, Even said: "And I think probably what we need to do, as far as the supervisory board is concerned, is to be sure we are watching definitively what is being done with the money that is going into the general fund." She added: "I do think that the important thing, though, is that we check carefully for waste in government and that we be sure that the budget process is an effective one in terms of the county itself." In the same forum, Even talked about cutting county personnel (from the admittedly bloated 7,000-plus). Said Even: "I think one of the most effective ways of moving ahead to downsize county government would be to examine and carefully look at the attrition structure and find out how many people we could eliminate if they were not needed to do a specific job...so, yes, I would like to see us examine that carefully and to be sure that we look at how we could possibly and feasibly and cleverly work through a reduction in force." A couple of days after County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry released his proposed $742 million budget, Even went on the John C. Scott Show to say that spending increases shouldn't be automatically accepted. "I guess I'm still looking for the accountability factor.'' Later she said: "Well it would seem to me that we don't have to accept it, and I guess that the kind of a thing you want is a supervisor who is going to ask the hard question and say, 'You know, what about this? And why do we have more of that? And do we need the law enforcement? If we do, what is it that we don't need or we don't need as much of?' And I guess we probably, in my mind if I'm elected, I would want to call for that kind of analysis to see if it is absolutely necessary that not only our people rolls, but our tax rolls keep increasing."
Speaking June 11 on the Bert Lee Show, Even said neither environmental nor development "extremists" could be dealt with. Instead, she said: "I think you need to have a lot of regional discussion and I think you need to come up with a balanced decision on what growth is going to mean, and with these two polarities, figure out what they can do to make this a coordinated effort, and that's the way I would approach it." More specifically on Fairfield's proposed extension of the community of Green Valley to Canoa Ranch, the most critical development issue facing District 4, if not the county, Even told the Neighborhood Coalition of Greater Tucson on May 26: "I'm hoping to learn more about that and in fact have several appointments to go down and actually see that and to take a look at the specifics related to the number of homes, the septic tanks, the etcetera, the etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I do not think that that is going to go through as stated, and that's what I'm looking into." Asked by members of the Neighborhood Coalition about the county's $1,550-a-unit impact fee, Even said: "I would support impact fees if in fact that was clearly analyzed and it looked as if this is what needed to be done in order to make a particular area workable as far as transportation is concerned...for me there would have to be a lot of analysis before I would say, 'Yes, I'm in favor of $1,500, $20,000'...again I think there has to be clear analysis and examination of what the needs are." Even emphasized the need to "look" at possible solutions five times during a brief talk on transportation at the Neighborhood Coalition. It was on transportation, however, that she provides her most interesting detail:
Transportation also was on Even's mind at the GOP Women's meeting, particularly because, she lamented, it took her mother and friend 40 minutes to make it to the Doubletree Hotel on Alvernon Way from the Even spread in the Tanque Verde Valley. "I think it is important," Even said, "that we look for specific answers for our transportation problems...And the suggestions that are coming out of the transportation bond, such as graded intersections and widening a few roads here and there, that we're really not doing it. We're going to have to look for more effective solutions along those ways." Later, at the same luncheon, Even said: "I think we have to be looking at such things as perhaps a light-rail operation that circles the city that only allows people to get where they are going around the periphery of the city rather than clogging the center. I think we need to look at some different ways...we ought to be looking at any and every possibility. Even the old parkway in the Rillito might be something we have to look at again."
Republican voters will look at Even, Carroll, and Marcus in the
September 8 primary--assuming they all get their nominating petitions
properly signed by the deadline (Thursday, June 25).
|
 |
Home | Currents | City Week | Music | Review | Books | Cinema | Back Page | Archives
|
 |
© 1995-97 Tucson Weekly . Info Booth |
|
No details have emerged from Even, the woman who always boasts
that her community experience and eight years on the Tucson Unified
School District Board make her more qualified than appointed incumbent
Supervisor Ray Carroll and challenger Ken Marcus.
"I think the Board of Supervisors at least in this instance
were trying to take a look at another way of examining the problem
and going with a community commission and then having someone
who's specifically named to head that area in the county budget
and in the county programming. But what it seems to me is we're
going to have to have a very careful analysis of what has happened
in the time that Dr. Carmona has been heading the operation."
