Over 71% of those polled want Rio Nuevo shut down, and politicians like Anne Kirkpatrick, a democrat, are taking full advantage of the past waste, fraud, and abuse by the Democrat controlled City of Tucson in the name of Rio Nuevo District to bash their opponents.
From Kirkpatrick’s congressional race to races for Pima County Board of Supervisors, the past bad acts by City of Tucson operatives are being used by political opportunists while the newly reconstructed independent Rio Nuevo Board tries to live to fight another day in another way.
Kirkpatrick is attempting to smear Paton with the very same waste fraud and abuse by the Tucson democrat machine that he in fact stopped. It was Paton, Senator Frank Antenori and Representative Ted Vogt who ended city control, and put in place an independent Board.
That Board immediately began audits and lawsuits against the intractable City.
Unfortunately politicians like Kirkpatrick, who has pretty much destroyed her chances for victory against Paton due to her own irresponsible spending on congressional staffers’ bonuses, have used the victimization of Tucson’s taxpayer to further victimize Tucson’s job hungry residents.
Fortunately, working with Senator Frank Antenori and Representative Ted Vogt, the new Rio Nuevo Board is working quietly behind the scenes to develop oversight functions which ensure that Rio Nuevo’s past will not be its future of certain demise. One such change would include annual audits by the Auditor General and a the ability to withhold state shared revenue from the City should the City fail to cooperate with oversight efforts.
For years, the business unfriendly Tucson used the TIF monies generated by the Rio Nuevo District to offset its budgetary crunch, due in part to reckless spending and the deterioration of its tax base. With Mike Rankin to provide legal advice and cover, the City of Tucson squandered the public’s trust and tax dollars.
“Paton, Ted, and I worked our rear ends off to tear the City Council’s greedy fingers off the public purse,” said Antenori. “The taxpayers come first and they want jobs, they need jobs. The Legislature has created an atmosphere where business people can create jobs. Over 79,000 jobs have been created and of those only 800 are in Southern Arizona. We need to give these guys the tools they need to continue to facilitate job growth and keep the crooks at the City out of the till.”
“It is unfortunate that politicians like Kirkpatrick are not holding those responsible for the corruption accountable. We are all volunteers on this Board and don’t stand a chance to turn things around as long as we have to deal with dishonest politicians once again using Rio Nuevo for their personal gain,” said Alberto Moore, member of the Rio Nuevo Board.
Fletcher McCusker, president of the Rio Nuevo Board has learned a lot on his short time on the volunteer Board, “Rio Nuevo has become a political hot potato. While some of us are working to create jobs and government oversight, there are some people committed to putting politics above principles; solid business principles.”
The false claims and innuendo aren’t limited to political races. McCusker has seen his own motives and style smeared recently by leaked and excerpted emails. The anonymous source of the smear continues to send out emails to various interests and media outlets while McCusker continues to work diligently to terminate the lawsuits on Rio Nuevo terms and move projects forward, find lost TIF revenue. The full terms of the settlement should be released in a matter of days.
Kirkpatrick has been called out for her false charges by both the Arizona Daily Star and the Arizona Republic.