Work remains to be done, but for now, absolutely nothing makes me happier than the fact that Ally Miller survived her primary! Chuck Huckelberry, Sharon Bronson, and the Pima County establishment elite tried to sic a carpetbagger on her in a protracted, ignominious primary that they cast as her referendum.
And their referendum backfired and reproved the establishment elite themselves.
District 1 is grateful for a dissenting voice, a fearless pugilist deftly fighting to improve the condition of politics in the county. In spite of the gobs of money Huckelberry’s proxies and the Winchester family threw at advertising, John Winchester could not make a valid case for him. In fact, his abominable, disgraceful campaign methods fomented a resentment and disgust toward him, and rightfully so.
The late revelation, however, that his wife served as his campaign manager and was, therefore, complicit in the misogynistic name-calling that typified his candidacy is deeply disconcerting: John Winchester is not done with politicking and you can bet his wife will goad him into some future race. Be vigilant, because he will be back, and he will still be the slimy pawn he was in this race. We will defeat him again.
And District 4. Holy mackerel, Green Valley, you mistook this for Tammany Hall and you failed to fight when you should have! Instead of selecting between two candidates that could have worked toward replacement of the establishment elite, voters across District 4 elected the candidate that has been in collaboration with the very same elites for several years looking for a government gig. Ally Miller expressed great optimism on Wednesday’s “James T. Harris Show” that she can work with Steve Christy. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but only once he proves himself to me. And I am not hopeful.
So this is my promise to you, the reader of the Arizona Daily Independent: I will keep the heat on Steve Christy to demonstrate a commitment to the betterment of this county at the detriment of the elites that bought his seat. If he bears out to be another Ray Carroll, you had better believe he will last only one term, and I will do everything in my power to convict him in the minds of the electorate. Conversely, if he stands up for his constituents and for the entire county, I will happily thank him for doing right by us and will delightedly eat crow with a side of humble pie.
Still, I have no expectation that Christy will buck the majority–unless and until the majority becomes favorable to the taxpayers and not the elite. And there is only one path remaining to accomplish that goal: Sharon Bronson must decisively lose the District 3 race to Kim DeMarco in November.
This is unequivocal, this is undeniable, this is unmistakable: Kim DeMarco must take over representation of District 3 to level the playing field.
With Miller and DeMarco as the ardent defenders of the people of the county, Christy as the wildcard, and Valadez and Elias as the only remaining apparatchiks of the Huckelberry establishment waste machine, we actually stand a chance of retiring Chuck Huckelberry in November.
This man, holding stricture on the flow of funds to taxpayer needs and opening the fiscal firehose on the capricious follies of his cronies, keeps his boot firmly on the neck of the eighth-poorest metropolitan area in the country. And yet he takes the second-highest salary of any County Administrator in the nation. And he absolutely must face an unfriendly Board of Supervisors after November’s general election.
The only way that happens is with the elimination of Bronson and election of DeMarco to the Board of Supervisors in the general election, giving Christy the opportunity to work for the people of Pima County with a mandate, instead of acting in symbolic unity with minority defenders of the people.
Still, Christy won election with the beneficence of establishment donors: If he turns against them in retiring Huckelberry, he risks a staggering new fight for his reelection; he was desperately hungry to take this office and amicable toward the people he must displace. I am less than optimistic that he will want to upset his backers, but I hope he surprises us all.
On the balance, Tuesday was a good night for Pima County. Now it’s time for all of us to go into battle on behalf of the county by screaming from the rooftops for Kim DeMarco to help her upset Bronson in November. We have to start now, we all have to participate, and we have to be active in the fight to better our community. The most lackluster presidential campaign in our country’s history affords us an opportunity to draw attention to the local races that matter, so this is the time for all of us to work toward a new regime in Pima County that does not permit the malfeasance we endure today.
Onward we fight–actively, vociferously, ardently, and passionately–to victory in November!