Abuse of The Electoral Process

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

David Safier has posted about the recall petition drive of Humberto S. Lopez, aka HSL Properties, a collection of real estate development, property management (Hotel Arizona, the Santa Rita Hotel, and numerous apartment complexes), and investment companies (Pinnacle West Capital), who is the front man for the Take Back Tucson! committee seeking to recall the mayor and select council members of the City of Tucson. You can bet that the usual suspects Jim Click, Bill Arnold and Bruce Ash are hiding somewhere in the wings.

Take back Tucson from whom exactly? The citizens who elected the mayor and council in a fair and democratic election? There is something very undemocratic and elitist about such presumptuousness.

Years ago local governments were dominated by a "shadow government" of pro-growth old-boy elitists known as the Phoenix Forty and, if memory serves correctly, the Tucson Twenty. They were mostly wealthy and powerful real estate developers and banking and investment types. These groups no longer exist today, but the "shadow government" of wealthy elitist businessmen who believe they are entitled by virtue of their privileged station in life to dictate the outcome of political decisions by local governments to their financial advantage most certainly does still exist, i.e., Humberto Lopez, Jim Click, Don Diamond, Bill Arnold, Bruce Ash, etc.

Real estate developers still get their way most of the time with the Pima County Board of Supervisors and the Tucson City Council. Development Services is a captive agency of the developers. But developers have not had as free a hand as they did in the past. Neighborhood associations have objected to and prevented several developments or forced concessions from developers, and development impact fees have been enacted upon the demands of city and county residents.

"How dare these peasant serfs challenge our entitlement to lord over them!," these corporate elitists must say in their heart of hearts. "The world belongs to the rich and powerful." Again,there is something very undemocratic and elitist about such presumptuousness.

The rich and powerful do not get to abuse the electoral process for "do-overs" until they finally get their way and override the will of the peasant serfs, er, the electorate. Humberto Lopez and the businessmen behind Take Back Tucson! are essentially telling Tucson voters that "you didn't vote our way so we will force you to vote over again – at your expense, not ours – until you vote our way."

There should be a better reason for a recall election than your candidate did not win. It should at least involve conduct that rises to the grounds for impeachment. Article 8, Part 2 Section 2 of the Arizona Constitution sets forth the grounds for impeachment: high crimes, misdemeanors, or malfeasance in office. Admittedly, the constitutional provision for recall is silent as to grounds for recall. Article 8, Part 1, Section 2 provides:

Every recall petition must contain a general statement, in not more than two hundred words, of the grounds of such demand, and must be filed in the office in which petitions for nominations to the office held by the incumbent are required to be filed.

The statements attached to the recall petitions in question do not allege conduct rising to the level of high crimes, misdemeanors, or malfeasance in office. It is an attempt to criminalize policy decisions with which these elitist businessmen disagree. (Remember how Republicans claimed this when Democrats wanted to impeach George W. Bush for his actual violations of the Constitution and laws of the United States?)

And what are the flimsy policy disagreements given as the reason for the recall? Recall leader takes out petitions:

Recall organizers wrote separate 200-word statements explaining why each of the three were being targeted, although all three focused heavily on the Rio Nuevo downtown redevelopment project that has been rocked by questionable spending and delays.

The statement on Walkup says the city is in worse shape than it was in 2001. "The chief role of a city leader is to take responsibility for what happens on their watch," it reads, saying the past few years have brought "the mismanagement and bungling of Rio Nuevo" as well as the loss of spring training, the over-regulation of business and the deterioration of confidence in the city's ability to handle basic responsibilities.

Organizers noted that under Romero's watch, millions were wasted on Rio Nuevo projects, with few tangible results. The statement criticized city decisions to allow $1 rent on city-owned properties. "Downtown business remains stale, while Romero's political allies have been rewarded with outright giveaways and subsidies," it reads.

The petition on Uhlich calls her a "disaster," saying she failed to deliver on a promised audit of Rio Nuevo spending and failed to deliver on regulatory reform. The effect has been to drive business and sales tax to surrounding communities, it states.

This is a litany of opinion, sour grapes and policy disagreements. That is why we hold elections. The mayor and council members in Wards 1, 2, and 4 are up for election in 2011. A recall is an abuse of the electoral process.

And by the way, the "questionable spending and delays" in Rio Nuevo mostly occurred during the planning phase 1999-2005 when Republicans Bob Walkup, Kathleen Dunbar and Fred Ronstadt formed a coalition with Carol West on the council. They are all gone now, but for Walkup, who is likely to announce his retirement in 2011. This occurred before Karin Uhlich and Regina Romero were even on the city council. Apparently Mr. Lopez has a way back time machine which somehow makes Regina Romero a council member before she was first elected in November 2007.

The Rio Nuevo audit was recently authorized by the council after state legislators led by Sen. Jonathan Paton, the wannabe dictator of Tucson, got done passing legislation to treat the City of Tucson as the ugly red-haired stepchild of Maricopa County politicians. That audit should be completed this year.

What Humberto Lopez is really upset about is that the council did not agree to his redevelopment plan for the Santa Rita Hotel when he owned it, and the council rejected his Hotel Arizona for the new convention hotel (based upon an analysis that determined it was unsuitable) in favor of the Sheraton Hotel. The recall is a personal vendetta.

And spring training? Please. This is a county problem. Spring training is gone because County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry failed for years to sign a fourth team to train in Tucson, allowing the Rockies, Diamondbacks and White Sox to break their lease. Mr. Lopez is barking up the wrong tree.

The loss of tax revenue is due to the economic depression brought about by conservative supply-side economic policies. Tucson (and Arizona) were hit particularly hard because our economy is based upon uncontrolled development and rapid population growth. The very real estate developers who are behind this recall are the persons responsible for Arizona's dysfunctional and unsustainable economy.

Organizers have 120 days to get the required signatures once they get the petitions from the city — which should be next week. They will need roughly 16,000 for Walkup, 15,000 for Romero and 18,000 for Uhlich.

Please use common sense and good judgment and refuse to sign such nonsense. And contact Mr. Lopez to tell him what you think of his personal vendetta, and his elitist and undemocratic attitude.