Pima County GOP Chair vying for the Marshall Home™ Award

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this year we were treated to the comic relief of Marshall Home™, sovereign citizen:

[T]he winner of the craziest story of this election goes to Marshall Home™ (I kid you not, he trademarked his name) who has filed his petitions to run for mayor, even though the Tucson City Clerk has confirmed that Home™ is a county resident and is not eligible to run in the City of Tucson.

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Marshall Home™ demonstrated that he is a few bricks short of a full load by filing his own lawsuit in which he alleges his hatred for lawyers. The Tucson Weekly reports Marshall Home Sues To Have Democratic Rival Jonathan Rothschild Kicked Off the Ballot, Says Campaign Slogan Will Be "Avoid Lawyers and Skunks":

["Not the Democrat"] mayoral candidate Marshall Home, whose candidacy is likely to face a legal challenge over his eligibility, today filed a preemptive lawsuit to try to knock Democrat Jonathan Rothschild off the ballot.

Home is pinning his legal hopes on the fact that Rothschild is a lawyer.

“I don’t want to see lawyers anywhere in our government,” Home says. “I don’t even want to see them in the judiciary. … My slogan is: Avoid skunks and lawyers.”

In his lawsuit, Home claims that lawyers, because they serve in the judiciary, are ineligible to serve in the executive branch of government.

Recently elected Pima County GOP chair Carolyn Cox is now vying for the craziest story of this election, which we will name the Marshall Home™ Award in his honor. (A Burger King™ paper crown). Ms. Cox appears to share our sovereign citizen's hatred for "skunks and lawyers."

Our sad small town newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star actually gave front page above-the-fold coverage to Ms. Cox's diatribe against lawyers. There is a serious lack of judgment in the exercise of editorial discretion at this fish wrap. Rothschild conflict put forth by GOP:

Democratic mayoral candidate Jonathan Rothschild's law firm did more than $3.2 million in legal work for the city of Tucson in the past decade.

Rothschild said his company's work on an estimated 60 cases, largely defending the city against liability claims, has saved taxpayers "hundreds of millions" of dollars.

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[But] Republicans say that reflects a candidate already too cozy with city officials. "We cannot trust Mr. Rothschild, a man who is joined at the hip with the current Democrats on City Council," insists a recent email from the county Republican Party to its supporters.

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[L]ocal Republican Party chairwoman Carolyn Cox said it should be a problem for voters. "Certainly, there's a conflict of interest. Even if he were to back away and resign and not do any work on any of the cases, the law firm still benefits his family," she said.

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"I just think he has a conflict of interest and there's nothing he can do that will satisfy me," Cox said.

Ms. Cox, like Marshall Home™, suffers under the delusion that she is the decider-in-chief. Goo Goo G'Joob! Here's your Burger King™ paper crown, lady. Get over yourself.

Ms. Cox also has a problem with telling the truth. Her "GOP newsletter mischaracterized [Rothschild's] work when it claimed his firm represents the city in Rio Nuevo negotiations and that he represented the city in 2010 in handling negotiations with Garfield Traub over a proposed publicly financed convention center hotel."

"Our firm has made zero dollars and zero cents from the Rio Nuevo board," Rothschild said.

The firm did represent the city. It was asked to look over a proposal for a downtown convention hotel and lawyer Melvin Cohen raised concerns about the contract. Shortly after, Rothschild said the council unanimously opted to can the deal altogether, saying the $190 million hotel was too risky for taxpayers.

To her credit, Star reporter Rhonda Bodfield systematically destroys Ms. Cox's diatribe against lawyers with inconvenient facts:

Mesch, Clark & Rothschild still has an open contract with the city, allowing it to be assigned cases without bidding or a competitive selection process. Rothschild has not resigned from the firm, but he has given up his ownership interest. He said he plans to resign if he wins.

Much of the work done by Mesch, Clark & Rothschild has involved fairly complex cases, including a lawsuit seeking millions in damages that alleged water damage from leaky pipes in a downtown barrio affected old adobe houses. The city won at the trial court level.

The firm represented the city in litigation stemming from botched delivery of Central Arizona Project water. And it represented the city in the 2008 death of a 14-year-old boy who was hit by a drunk driver. The $13 million verdict, the largest judgment ever against the city, was overturned earlier this year by the Arizona Court of Appeals.

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Rothschild said he has not personally handled any city cases for at least 10 years, noting most of them came with Richard Davis, who brought the city's business over with him when he switched law firms. "I'm proud of the work our family firm did," he said, noting $3.2 million seemed high, since at least $700,000 went to court costs, as opposed to money that went to his firm.

He said the firm has not received a new litigation case from the city in two years, and there are only three active cases still remaining.

He said the firm would not do any work for the city while he serves as mayor, and he will recuse himself from any votes involving the firm.

Here is how Jonathan Rothschild responded to Ms. Cox's diatribe in an e-mail sent to supporters:

[I] have a new reason to ask for your help and support.

Lies and misinformation are already being spread about me and my family's business.

A recent email from Pima GOP Chair Carolyn Cox tries to link me to Rio Nuevo. These are the facts: our family business has never represented Rio Nuevo or made a dime of Rio Nuevo money. I have never done any work on Rio Nuevo.

One of my law partners helped save the city from a terrible mistake by advising the City Council on a proposed contract. After listening to his advice, the city turned down a bad deal with a Rio Nuevo developer. I'm glad he was able to help save Tucson taxpayer dollars.

My Republican opponent, on the other hand, sits on the Rio Nuevo board and at one time was its treasurer. He's still on the Rio Nuevo board, even as it sues Tucson taxpayers for $47 million.

Clearly, the Republicans are trying to muddy the waters.

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We're working hard, talking to voters every day. We are not going to let false charges go unanswered. With your help, we can make sure Tucson voters have the facts.

Thank you for your support!