How serious was Kozachik about wanting that Rio Nuevo job?

by David Safier

A little over a week ago, I posted an email city council candidate Steve Kozachik sent to Nina Trasoff's office that was basically a job application for a big job with Rio Nuevo. He wrote it before he declared as a candidate.

In a Star article today, Pima Dem Chair Jeff Rogers cited the email and claimed Kozachik's bid for the council was spurred by "bitter feelings" about not getting the job.

Rogers suggested "bitter feelings" helped fuel Kozachik's desire to try to take Trasoff's seat on the council. "When he didn't get his no-bid contract, he decided to throw his hat in the ring," he said.

Kozachik called the claim "ludicrous."

There was no project even open to bid at the time, [Kozachik] said, adding he just thought he'd see if his skills might be a good mesh. "I don't have sour grapes. I've got a good job," he said.

He makes his interest sound pretty casual, kind of a passing fancy. But in the email, he's selling himself pretty hard. He wrote that he wanted to contact the arena manager firm

. . . to discuss the prospect of my hiring on with them to oversee the actual construction of the arena, beginning with design, then as stakeholder representative through the building and finally building ops manager when the project is completed. . . . I believe the fit is perfect, as is the timing.

He goes on to make some specific suggestions about how to build the arena to show he knows his stuff. You can read the complete email in the earlier post.

Were there "bitter feelings" or "sour grapes" involved? Here's what Kozachik said in a Why I'm Running piece in the Star in April.

I reached out to Councilwoman Nina Trasoff's office in the middle of last year because I saw they were floundering. They didn't answer. It makes me crazy to use out-of-towners for Rio Nuevo.

Maybe the snub just made him crazy, not bitter.