This comment was just posted by a blogger using the pseudonym "Desert Voice" in our posting "PLEASE! Do Not Allow Special Interest Money To Buy The Oro Valley Mayoral Election"
We thought it deserved its own posting and we hope all our readers will not only hear the words of "Desert Voice" but listen to what this blogger has to say.
*************************************************************************************
Art,
There is a feeling of naivete in the SH (Satish Hiremath) that you describe; well meaning but untried. While young from our perspective as we are "vintage" among younger mortals, it is surprising that he's allowing himself to be manipulated by his backers. Forty-something, he is idealistic and ripe for political string pullers.
Zinkin, with fewer financial resources, will emerge from the campaign as noble. He had the opportunity to file against the councilwoman who complained about him on his use of the Town logo. He maturely accepted responsibility, took the financial hit and moved on. Zinkin declined to file a complaint against SH for having four people campaign on four corners of Oracle without a legal permit to do so. He also said at the beginning of the race, that he thought he and Satish could be friends. One wonders now how he feels. He could have taken dollars from big backers but remained steadfast to his word, to remain independent of political debts to big backers. Perry of the Explorer, whose bias was clear to the perceptive reader, from the start invited him to be interviewed and not surprisingly backed SH. In the spirit of sportsmanship he has told business that if they don't vote for him that won't change the way he will treat them when he is elected. Now that is a real statement of class.
While SH might be a very nice person, his political views remain unrevealed. What is very scary is that more and more of Hiremath's documented misrepresentations hit the news.It is reminiscent of feeding time in a shark tank with great thrashing for the meal. Thrashing, throwing money at the goal of getting the vote, but little substance.
I concur with both Nombe and Art that Zinkin's getting in depends on each and every voter to get to the polls even if we can't donate to the cause or walk for him, we can vote for him and get everyone else we know to do the same.
As Art said "other backers" have literally thrown money to Satish and will expect return favors...We need to stand behind Zinkin to keep that basic American freedom of the voice of the people alive, listened to and forming American government.
15 comments:
For those who have been paying attention to the Greek financial crisis, have you seen what happens when unions don't get their way? They set fires to banks and kill innocent civilians, one of whom was a pregnant woman.
SH is heavily backed by unions and this should cause concern.
I continue to maintain that unions are causing great damage to our communities by demanding unsustainable pensions, salaries, and benefits and then "buying" political candidates who acquiesce to their demands. Thereby perpetuating the cycle.
For fun, pull up some information on SEIU on YouTube, or teacher's unions, or police and fire unions. Read about their requests, i.e., demands.
I realize that there are hard-working, honest folks that are in unions. I would challenge those individuals to study the politics of their association. Is a slight increase in your wages worth the price of higher taxes? Do you know that your money supports radical liberals who are literally tearing this country apart? I submit that if you actually understood your association with unionism and unionism's link with socialism/communism/Marxism, and radical left-wing philosophies, you would drop your union membership today.
All of this to say, when SH ties himself to union politics and principles, what does that ultimately mean for our community in the long run? Will he acquiesce to their demands and increase our taxes to do so?
One last note on unions, remember that there was a time when the reason that public (union) employees had great benefits was because their pay fell short of their privately employed peers. Now, public sector, union employees have greater benefits AND pay than their privately employed peers. This would be great, if only their pay and benefits was not linked to an increase in my taxes.
Seriously folks, when a good person runs for election without tying himself to political favors against a candidate who has no experience in politics and is heavily backed by union money, do yourself a favor and consider a vote for Zinkin. I believe he has made it clear that he intends to work collaboratively with fellow elected officials, business, and residents to create the best OV we can. And he won't owe anybody any favors in doing so.
For whom do the bells toll? Well, they...
Nice commentary....really appreciate the language and,of course, the point-of-view.
Complimentary to Mr. Hiremath, but negative about his backing, and probably his "bent".
So different than Jill Andersen :) I am tired of the nastys.
Who was the councilwoman who complained about Zinkin's use of the town logo? Mary Snider?
If this is a fact, then her name should be published. If Snider stands behind her complaint, then she should have no problem with it being made public.
I believe that it is disingenuous for Toll For to compare the the unions involvement in Greece to unions that are backing Hiremath. The events that precipitated the unfortunate tragedies in Greece do not bear any resemblance to Oro Valley. I do agree with Toll For in his/her assertion that unions are causing economic damage by continuing their unreasonable demands on businesses and government.
Hi James--- While I may not agree that it was "disingenuous" of "Toll" to compare an international issue (Greece's monetary problems)with Dr. Hiremaths "love affair" with the police & fire unions, I believe he was trying to show that it was somewhat of an analogous situation.
Certainly, it's not for me to explain someone else's thought process, but suffice to say, these two unions concern themselves with looking out for their own.
How can that benefit our community?
It can't!!!
Therefore,I come down on the side of "Toll for."
How strange that Hiremath is being endorced by UNIONS. He came to Republican meetings begging for support and monies, eventhought this is a NONPARTISAN election. Usually the Democrats are the ones who encourage UNIONS to support their DEMOCRATIC candidates. This is a pattern all over the United States, so for Hiremath to be endorsed by them and then ask the REPUBLICANS for support sounds "fishy" to me. Perhaps Hiremath, like some other Candidates only join the Party to get support. Why would "smart " Republicans support someone who has done nothing (walking, calling etc.) for the Party. Even Mr. Michael Savage would be suspect of this one. Perhaps he is really only a Republican in name. His actions socially and finacially do not READ CONSERATIVE REPUBLICAN. Perhaps the Republican Party has been DUPED.
VC--
Didn't the Star note yesterday that someone from the Town's own Communications division had provided Zinkin with the artwork for the Town seal? Doesn't that strike you as a little weird? Do the Town's employees not know the law or the Town's policies?
James- I will concede your point, to a degree. Comparing today's unions that support SH to the labor protesters in Greece is a stretch...today.
But what are the bounds of today's labor groups? If concerned taxpayers don't don't draw hard lines now, are we the next Greece in ten years? Personally, I would have never thought the Federal government would mandate I buy private health insurance and fine me if I didn't. But here we are. As suggested, do some research on SEIU. Very violent thugs. Are they the future of unions?
The reason Greece is rioting is because the country is out of money and is cutting salaries and pension benefits to public (union) employees. The unions don't like this much at all and of course we see the images of people on fire.
Every city and government that I know of is out of money. But most unions keep demanding more. Or, they do not want to make necessary cuts to meet new structural changes in business/service paradigms. We have seen soft violence, such as the New Jersey Education Association President Joe Coppola sending an email to 17,000 members to pray for the death of Governor Chris Christy because she cut the state school budget. She had to, there was no money.
Do a Google search of "union violence" and you will get 31.7 million hits to read. Yes, that's "million."
I hope that our modern day unions never resort to violence. But, in this crazy world, not much is surprising me anymore.
All of this to say, I don't think SH is a violent man, not at all. Nor do I think most unions are violent. But unions DO have a documented history of violence and it's hard to say what our economic climate could drive them to do. Especially those that live on the radical fringe of their association.
With that said, and speaking only for myself, it causes me great concern that any candidate ties themself so heavily to union support and backing, such as SH.
Having spent 10 years as a member in a large union and been in a union environment for 20 years, I can tell you that it's dirty business and I just can't cast my vote for someone who is tied to it.
Ghandi once said, I like your Christ, but I dislike your Christians. Using that same analogy, I would say, I like your teachers, firefighters, and police officers, but I don't like your unions.
I will exercise my political freedom and cast my vote for Zinkin; primarily because I greatly appreciate his campaign slogan: "the people's choice."
P.s. I disagree with Ghandi, I like Christians.
Toll For:
I totally agree with you that unions look out for the union and no one else. Unions served a purpose 100 years ago. The need to band together to get reasonable working conditions and pay don't exist today like they did during the "robber baron" days. I too am concerned with the demands of unions regarding their pension benefits, full health care following retirement. I also agree that a line needs to be drawn regarding these demands or we will be in more trouble than we are in today. Good discussion.
Well, it looks like we have a consensus.
The Firefighters and Fraternal Order of Police Unions that support the Hiremath campaign have their own self-serving interests, that are NOT helpful to the people of Oro Valley.
"Toll for" and I know that Mike Zinkin will serve us well.
Can we count you in, James?
Remember, it will be in your best interests----and the same is true for all Oro Valley citizens.
Toll For - for the record, Governor Christy is a man, not a woman.
Astute Gal,
I didn't see the article in the Star about someone from the town providing Zinkin with the artwork for the town seal, but I've been wondering that very thing all along...
How did Zinkin get the template for the logo in the first place? Didn't someone from the town have to provide it?
So you ask a good question, "Do the Town's employees not know the law or the Town's policies?"
Which leads to this question: Will the people who filed complaints against Zinkin also file complaints against those town employees? I doubt it.
Freedom- indeed he is. My typing error.
Of interest: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ai35iM38zN08&pos=9
I have alway suspected that the public safety "unions" had something to do with the forced ouster of former town mgr. Andrews. We have never learned the true story behind the Andrews affair. I doubt if the citizens of Oro Valley will ever learn the truth. I believe that Mayor Loomis and Mr. Carter both lost in the primary, in part, because of non-transparent nature of Mr. Andrews' firing. The people have spoken, no secret back room deals, no to undue union" influence and hopefully, no to Dr. H who may, if elected, return to the "bad old days" of the LACK axis of evil.
Nombe--- As usual, you are "right on" as it concerns the OV cop union.
They wanted David Andrews terminated because he (Andrews) had the "audacity" to try and balance our budget without raiding the contingency fund.
As is always the case, the FOP union refused to work with Andrews and only concerned themselves with their own well being.
We helped in phase 1----getting rid of the two remaining culprits---Loomis & Carter.
Now, as you point out, we must not revert back to the those dark days,
We MUST ELECT MIKE ZINKIN, Mayor & MATT RABB to Council.
Post a Comment