Two Oro Valley residents share the same concerns on filling the third council seat in the upcoming election. Some may say "none of the above," but that would be non-productive.
Who does OV want in last council spot?
Thanks to John Musolf for caring enough to research the sources of council member Terry Parish’s significant contributions. Sixty-five contributions from outside of the Tucson area are monumental. Only four donors are Oro Valley constituents who might have an interest in how growth occurs locally. Sixty of the contributors knew exactly how much they could donate ($390) so they would slide under the radar.
Parish’s day job is law enforcement in Pima County, yet he is accepting contributions from individuals associated with the building community who want to influence decisions made and use methods barely inside the parameters of the law. None of the other candidates has the resources Parish has available to him.
Are Oro Valley voters questioning this disconnect in his functioning … supposedly upholding the law but stretching its implementation to the extreme? How can someone whose methods are so sneaky possibly represent Oro Valley constituents with integrity?
May 20, Barry Gillaspie challenges Terry Parish for the remaining seat on the council. Who do you want in that spot?
Michelle Saxer
Oro Valley
Columnist hit the nail squarely on its head
Emil Franzi’s March 19th Inside Track opinion, “OV election lessons,” hit the nail squarely on the head. I certainly hope the new council will consider his well-made points.
Oro Valley citizens have seen enough of the tax and spend behavior of the current council. The results of the primary election were a mandate from the people for a more fiscally conservative elected leadership.
In the May general election it is clear, as Franzi pointed out, we are faced with a choice of electing the lesser of two evils. Both Terry Parish and Barry Gillaspie have not served their constituents well during the past four years. Based on his campaign contributions from the development community, Terry Parish is in their back pocket. It appears that much of that money funneled to him was obtained in a rather clouded if not downright murky manner.
While Barry Gillespie has not served in the best interests of Oro Valley, he is the lesser of two evils and I plan on voting for him. I hope he gets the message that the voters sent to him. If he does, he will work in concert with Latas, Garner, Carter and Abbott to change the governmental direction in Oro Valley.
That governmental direction should include a laundry list of repealing the utility tax, repealing the storm water surcharge on water bills, terminate all retain economic development incentives, say no to annexation of the Arroyo Grande, and halt the unbridled growth of Oro Valley government.
Richard Purkey
Oro Valley
4 comments:
I do not consider Barrie Gillaspie as "the lesser of two evils". Having spoken with him on a few occassions, having listened to him in candidates" forums as well as in council sessions, I have found him to be intelligent and thoughtful even though I have disagreed with the end results of his voting on several issues. I believe that he can be 'a person unto himself' asset once free of the bondage that seems to exist within the council at this time, a 'slave mentality' that can be neutralized once Salette Latas and Bill Garner have taken office. There is NO real comparison between Mr. Gillaspie and Mr. Parish. Mr. Gillaspie has a grasp of reality and, I believe, is an honorable person; Mr. Parish, who cannot logically formulate his own
'visions' because he is a 'paid' performer, is not.
I probably should have said that Barry Gillaspie should not have been characterized as "the lesser of two evils"; that would have been
a more appropriate statement.
It's good to see some level-headed evaluation of the remaining candidates. LOVE has managed to place the citizens in this "lesser of two evils" quandry by ignoring the clear differences between Barry Gillaspie and remaining Council members. The push to vote for only two candidates in the primary now exposes the Town to the real chance that Parish will be reelected. Unless an effort similar to the one for Latas and Garner is initiated for Barry, then LOVE bloggers will have themselves to blame for reinstalling the developers candidate on the Town Council. The money supporting Parish is reflected in the votes cast for him in the primary election, and that is still going to be a huge influence at the next election.
Write letters to the Explorer in support of Barry. As painful as it might be, get one of his campaign signs and post it in your yard. Whatever you do, don't sit back and hope for the best. This is going to take some effort.
It would be truly shameful if, by being too self-congratulatory, LOVE bloggers neglected the next phase of the elections process. Afterall, isn't it everyone's goal to seat candidates that are qualified and on the side of the citizens?
While I acknowledge it was my "headline" for this posting, I used the statement from the letter to the Explorer by Richard Purkey, who wrote:
"While Barry Gillespie has not served in the best interests of Oro Valley, he is the lesser of two evils and I plan on voting for him."
I would also acknowledge that many of the citizens I know that voted for ONLY Bill & Salette are now supporting Barry, as they feel Terry's "closeness" to the developers will not serve the interests of the people.
As one who supported Barry in his initial run for council in 2004, I do not feel comfortable with many of his votes in the last four years.
Terry's votes and actions make it it impossible to consider supporting him, and therefore,at this point I say---"Que sera sera" (Whatever will be will be.)
There's sill more than two weeks until the ballots are mailed out for the May run-off election. Things may change between now & then. We'll see.
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