I LIKE MIKE
A personal assessment of Mike Zinkin, candidate for Mayor of Oro Valley.
I feel qualified to mention Mike Zinkin’s attributes because I probably have known him longer than most anyone in Oro Valley – ever since he was a student at the U. of A, where he got his Bachelor’s Degree in 1967. We worked together on a civic project. A Big Man on Campus (BMOC), he could have become your high school history teacher.
Instead, he started Naval flight training as a Commissioned Ensign and that led to Air Traffic Control Officers School and a lifelong career as an FAA Air Traffic Controller.
I can’t think of a job that demands better judgment and ability to perform perfectly under pressure. He finished his career as an Area Supervisor – at Lambert Field, St. Louis and moved to Oro Valley in 1998. He got involved in community affairs almost immediately.
I didn’t have anything to do with Mike running for public office. In fact, I had no connection with him for over 40 years
I never heard him attempt to manage a long queue of planes stacked up over an iced-in runway, but those who’ve served with him on the Canada Hills Community Association, the Oro Valley Development Review Board or the Steam Pump Ranch Task Force know him to be a genial guy, willing to listen to everyone, but firm in his convictions and decisions. He is truly an independent person, beholden to no power structure – only to us citizens. Once you compare his list of contributors to other candidates’ backers, you’ll see this is true.
Mike is big enough, has presence enough and people naturally like him well enough so that he doesn’t have to quibble over petty issues.
This has also served him well while officiating at high school football and baseball games. If Mike has a weakness, it’s for sports. Don’t try to best him at sports trivia. This began shortly after he was born in Indianapolis in 1945. Name a major league player or a Tucson high school coach and he knows them well.
Mike Zinkin is a strong person, a terrific candidate, and we’re fortunate to have him retired in Oro Valley and willing to assume a heavy burden during a very important and difficult time in the life of our community.
I’ve been an activist, editorialist and participant in a score of community boards and commissions, and this is the first time in my life I’ve felt compelled to do such an endorsement. The biggest reason: I prefer Mike Zinkin’s feeling for keeping a tight rein on the purse strings and an appreciation how taxation impacts all of us - but the wage earner most of all.
-Phil Richardson
