Phil Richardson: Why You Should Vote For Mike Zinkin As Oro Valley Mayor

I've seen a lot of politicians come and go in the past half-century. I've also been in the advertising business most of my life and a great amount of my income was derived from political advertising. So, the current campaign for Mayor of Oro Valley has drawn my interest more so than usual.

The politically active are very much aware that I've become a fan of Mike Zinkin’s common sense views on governance, finance and modest demeanor. He is what we old, skinflint, conservative, pro-business people recognize as a true team leader.

Mike is a rare find: A fiscal conservative with a forward looking game plan on how to work full time to enlist a team dedicated to leading Oro Valley out of the doldrums.

What brought me to writing this missive are those giant postcards from his opponent. The first thing I noticed was a clever but totally false claim that his opponent is “the one candidate for mayor in opposition to a property tax.” Over six months ago, Mike Zinkin told us he opposed a property tax. He repeated it in forums and newspaper accounts many times. I can only conclude that the writer of that postcard presumes that no one is paying attention. That’s an insult.

Then, I just got a giant postcard last week with the logos of a lot of organizations that back Mike’s opponent. My first appraisal is that a relatively few of their number live in Oro Valley.

All of those outside interests pouring money into the campaign expect something in return. They and the folks who keep dreaming up new ways to tax and spend, want to return to the ways that have led Oro Valley to the brink of insolvency.

If you've been impressed by this deluge of advertising dollars, let an old street fighter remind you of something. If you took every member of all of those big-money organizations who are allowed to vote in the coming Oro Valley election and put them in the bleachers at the next football game at CDO High, they wouldn’t fill but a small section of the seats.

There are a lot more of us then there are of them! It’s as simple as that. All you have to do is vote on Election Day May 18, to prove that money won’t buy every election.

My greatest experience in this regard and I know in the memories of many of my readers was the Presidential race of 1948. If you were alive then and paid attention to the heavy money backing Tom Dewey, you might have thought that Harry Truman didn’t stand a chance. But he proved them wrong. Nobody liked Harry Truman….but The People. I’ve since seen this repeated time and time again.

With a very small investment of your time you can make a huge difference on Election Day, May 18.

-Phil Richardson