"Boobie Baby" Cautions Us Not To Endorse Candidates

One of our more prolific bloggers who goes under the psuedonym "boobie-baby," recently cautioned us about endorsing any candidates in the upcoming 2010 election.

The comment was in response to me noting:
"If a candidate we are talking to decides to run, that candidate will have a 100% endorsement from us. We believe most citizens would agree with our assessment."

Boobie-baby had this to say:
Art, if you are talking about 100% endorsement "from us," does that mean that you are registering the blog as a political action committee? Be careful of the legalities here, as you well know.

Too bad Boobie doesn't take the time to read what is on the left column of the blog.

A Victory For Free Speech: Oro Valley Government vs. Love

The Town Clerk told us we "must" register as a Political Committee. We said no. We are not a political organization raising funds for candidates. We're just two guys focused on bringing positive change to Oro Valley. And we have a right to support whomever we want.

Along those lines, Boobie and our other readers might be interested in the following excerpt from the prestigious Goldwater Institute's 2008 annual report. Please scroll to page 11.

http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/Common/Img/2008%20AR.pdf

What Exactly Constitutes A "Conflict Of Interest?"

Those of us that were either present at the May 20 Council Meeting or watched the proceedings on the streaming video would have had no trouble noticing that Council Member Al Kunisch, a volunteer policeman for Oro Valley doing everything he could to support any and all matters concerning the police department.

Inasmuch as Kunisch is not directly involved with the police department, we would think he avoids a conflict of interest in voting "yes" for anything the police require.

Perhaps the Town Attorney could clarify that issue.

Then, there's the other issue. You probably all recall that a motion to increase Oro Valley's donation to TREO to $40,000 was passed by a 4-3 vote. Voting in the majority was Mayor Loomis, which was certainly not surprising.

But there's another issue.

If anyone checks the list of TREO Board of Directors, you'll find none other than our mayor listed.

TREO Board of Directors

Honorable Paul H. Loomis
Mayor, Town of Oro Valley

So---- is it a conflict of interest for our mayor to cast the deciding vote to fund an outside organization (TREO) on which he is a board member?

We only ask the question. We'll leave it up to our Town Attorney to determine if this is acceptable.

Even if it's not violating an legal issues, might it not be morally & ethically irresponsible to spend taxpayer's money where you have a vested interest?