The curious case of Mayor Bob Walkup

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Pima County Republicans, with the assistance of certain individuals at the Arizona Daily Star, have tried to characterize the Tucson City Council as "dysfunctional" and leaderless.

First of all, the hands-down winner for "dysfunctional" government in Arizona is the Maricopa County government, where everyone is suing everyone else, and the Sheriff and County Attorney are engage in political witch-hunts against county supervisors, and they themselves are under investigation by the Attorney General and, in Sheriff Arpaio's case, by the FBI and Justice Department. These Maricopa County Republican politicians make the City of Tucson look like the model of efficiency and serene government.

If Republicans want to give the City of Tucson what Maricopa County has, No Thank You! (It is curious that the Arizona Daily Star never reports on the goings on in Maricopa County government to give Pima County residents some perspective on what a truly "dysfunctional" government actually looks like.)

And who are our Republican legislators to cast stones? Senators Jonathan Paton (LD 30) and Cap'n Al Melvin (LD 26), and Representatives David Stevens (LD 25), Vic Williams (LD 26), David Gowan (LD 30) and Frank Antenori (LD 30) have been the enablers to the most "dysfunctional" state legislature in Arizona's history. This GOP-dominated legislature failed to produce a balanced budget as required by the Arizona Constitution for the first time in our history. They should be fired. People who are failures at their own jobs should not be casting stones at those who actually do their jobs.

Which brings me to the curious case of Mayor Bob Walkup. Mayor Walkup is the most successful Republican politician in Pima County, having been elected Mayor of Tucson to his third term in a Democratic voter registration city. The Democrats did not even run a candidate against him in 2007.

Tucson has a "weak mayor" system. An unelected appointed City Manager does all the heavy lifting in running the city. Mayor Walkup essentially is a cheerleader for the City of Tucson and ribbon-cutter-in-chief for new developments or grand openings. He excels at this very limited role.

Mayor Bob Walkup is not a strong leader by any stretch of the imagination. He is just an all around friendly guy and likable enough, so people vote for him. So if Republicans have a problem with a lack of "leadership" in the City of Tucson, let's begin with the shortcomings of their very own Mayor Bob Walkup.

Moreover, Mayor Walkup has consistently voted with the Democratic majority on the Tucson City Council. The vast majority of votes taken since 2005 are 7-0 or 6-0 (when someone is absent), or 6-1 when one of the Democrats wants to make a point by objecting. There has been near-unanimous bipartisan support for most major actions taken by the Tucson City Council. And Mayor Walkup is always the first to speak to the press to defend the action taken by the City Council as both appropriate and necessary to move the city forward. Mayor Walkup gives cover to the City Council for its actions.

And it is was Mayor Bob Walkup who first ran for office on the promise of the Rio Nuevo downtown redevelopment plan. Doesn't anyone remember that? He has been its most active and vocal supporter and cheerleader. If you have a problem with the pace of the Rio Nuevo downtown redevelopment plan, you should direct your questions and complaints to Mayor Bob Walkup, it's cheerleader-in-chief.

When Pima County Republicans whine about the "Democratic" City Council, they invariably fail to mention that their own most successful Pima County Republican politician has regularly voted with the Democratic majority and endorsed and supported their actions in a bipartisan fashion. The Republican whining is the height of hypocrisy.

It would be a different story if Mayor Walkup was consistently the voice of opposition to the Democratic majority in 6-1 votes, but this is simply not the case.

It is the Pima County Republicans who are out of step with their own "Bipartisan Bob" Walkup, and are exhibiting the hyper-partisanship we see from Maricopa County Republicans in the state legislature. Tucsonans do not want any Maricopa County-type Republicans in the Old Pueblo. Let's contain this malignant cancer and keep it North of the Gila River.