Tea-Publican tyranny: auditing Pima County

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Our Tea-Publican overlords from the state of Maricopa and their Tea-Publican insurgents in Baja Arizona went ahead and did it — they passed "special" legislation requiring a forensic audit of Pima County bonds — and only Pima County — as a political favor to Tea-Publican insurgents in the Town of Marana.

I posted about this previously. Tea-Publican Tyranny: Micromanaging Cities and Counties:

Then there is the ongoing feud between the Town of Marana and Pima County over the Tea-Publican legisature seizing a sewage treatment plant from Pima County last year and handing it over to Marana, for which Marana has yet to pay the county. In retaliation, a Senate panel of the Tea-Publican legislature on Wednesday voted to audit Pima county's bond spending. Senate panel OKs audit of Pima's bond spending:

Rep. Terri Proud, R-Tucson, said there are many discrepancies between what the county claims to have built with the bond funds voters authorized and what actually exists. That's because, Proud contends, "there's some bullying going around with (County Administrator) Chuck Huckelberry."

To address that, the measure she pushed through the Senate Committee on Government Reform calls not only for a forensic audit of where the 1997, 2004 and 2006 bonds were spent, but also whether the county changed the timing or amount of projects "to reward or to punish an entity, party or official who stood to benefit from or be affected by the project."

Proud is not alone in the push. The town of Marana is lobbying for the examination, too. [Jonathan "Payday" Paton is a consutant to the Town of Marana.]

County lobbyist Michael Racy told lawmakers they are free to spend state resources to put the auditor general to work. And he said they also are legally entitled to force the county to spend the money to respond to each request.

But he said HB 2408 amounts to using "public money for what is more of a McCarthyesque witch hunt."

Martin Willett, the chief deputy county administrator, called Proud's proposal "a political vendetta". . . "I'm not surprised she's confused that something doesn't seem to reconcile," Willett said.

But just because Proud doesn't understand how to read them doesn't mean they can't be reconciled, he said. He offered to have county officials sit with her to go through the documents.

* * *

[Pima County Administrator] Chuck Huckelberry said this bill – and another one Proud sponsored to impede the county's bonding ability – can be traced to the fight over control of the sewage treatment plant, which Marana obtained after losing several court battles before finally getting the Legislature to force the county to hand it over.

Huckelberry said Marana still owes Pima County nearly $200,000 in legal fees.

Wednesday's committee approval of HB 2408 comes just a day after Proud backed off a separate demand to create a new bond-oversight committee for Pima County – and only Pima County – which would have given three smaller incorporated municipalities the ability to veto bond plans for the entire county.

The Tea-Publican Senate passed HB 2408 on a vote of 20-8 with two not voting on March 26. All of Baja Arizona's Tea-Publican insurgents voted against Pima County and for our Tea-Publican overlords from the state of Maricopa.

On Wednesday, it was the House. Keep in mind that HB 2408 is a "strike everything" amendment. The subject matter was never debated in House committees. Despite this, our Tea-Publican overlords from the state of Maricopa and all of Baja Arizona's Tea-Publican insurgents voted against Pima County and for HB 2408 by a vote of 41-18 — with one Democrat, Rep. Daniel Patterson (LD 29), voting with them. WTF? The bill now goes to the Governor.

At first blush this bill appears to be "special" legislation targeted to a single entity, Pima County, which makes it unconstitutional. I am sure Pima County will consider a legal challenge to this special legislation should Governor Jan Brewer sign this bill.