It was the worst kept secret in Pima County, so much so that it is not news to report that Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll announced in bits and spurts this week that he wil not seek re-election. It wasn’t years of taxpayer abuse that finally forced the crony-coddling Carroll to bow out; his retirement will be vested in 2017.
The rumors of his departure have been flying for months, or more precisely since a primary challenger made their presence known. Then, after the Pima County bond proposals went down in flames, he had little choice but to bow out in shame before anyone realizes that the bond money was needed to prop-up the County’s shattered infrastructure.
For the less-than-bright Carroll, who would have difficulty performing tasks that require more than three brain cells firing at once, retirement is one of the few things he could do.
He held his retirement press conference in his wife’s clothing store outside of his own district… the setting was odd, but not as odd as Carroll… he was pushing his wife’s brand on Friday, but has destroyed Pima County’s brand for years to come….
Thanks for the memories Ray! From a few years back………………
During a Save the Scenic Santa Ritas event held a few years ago, Carroll spoke frankly to his audience, using off-colored language.
When asked about the viral video by a radio show host, Carroll said that he “should have better speech writers. When pressed, he acknowledged that he did not have speech writers. Carroll called in to remind Lewis that he had apologized to Rosemont when the comment was made a couple of years ago, and “I promise that I will leave the off-colored jokes to Abraham Lincoln from now on.”
Carroll called for the ban on Rosemont advertising as local newspapers were laying-off staff and cutting back on column inches.
One long time Republican called the remarks regrettable. “This is America, since when did business owners lose the right to free speech? Or demand that a newspaper refuse revenue? They take political ads, and those guys are dishonest and produce no jobs.”
Ray Carroll has been a Tucson resident since 1984. In 1997, Carroll was appointed to the Pima County Board of Supervisors by former Board Chairman, progressive Congressman Raul Grijalva.