Last week, the Oro Valley Town Council considered and approved a conceptual design for El Corredor. This is a project is located on the northeast corner of Linda Vista and Oracle Road. The council voted to approve the plan.The developer and owner of the property is Ross Rulney.
We have pieced together the following facts:
- On December 7, 2011 the Council voted to approve a general plan amendment rezoning the Rulney property to commercial and multi-family housing. There were two people who voted against this amendment. They were Council Member Bill Garner and Mayor Satish Hiremath
- On January 30, 2012, two months later and almost two years after the Mayor was elected, Ross Rulney, the developer of E Corredor, contributed $410 to Mayor Hiremath's PAC, according the the Mayor's filed report. Rulney or his company had not previously contributed to the Mayor's campaign.
- At the May 16, 2012 Town Council Meeting, there was an agenda item to approve the Ross Rulney (El Corredor) PAD Ordinance 12-07. Mayor Hiremath voted to approve the PAD.
- Last week, Mayor Hiremath insured that the El Corredor conceptual plan was voted upon, even though the council appeared to want to continue the item to discuss a "friendly" amendment.
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The questions we pose are: Did Mayor Hiremath act improperly to even accept a donation from Rulney barely a month after he voted against a general plan amendment for the Rulney project? Did Rulney's try to buy influence? Did the Mayor have an epiphany?
We don't know. We will never know.
We don't know. We will never know.
As a minimum, we assert that Mayor should have recused himself from voting on anything to do with this project after he received this strangely timed contribution. He was, after all, voting on matters directly related to a very strange, years after the election political contribution.
What do you think?
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10 comments:
This is an "investigative journalist wanna be" posting.That's the high end of the spectrum. The low end is that it is simply an amateurish attempt to accuse the Mayor of accepting a bribe. How tacky.
There is no legal reason for the Mayor to "recuse himself" in this matter.
How many votes have Garner and Zinkin made that favor the position of a financial supporter to their campaign? I suggest you could find many.
If you want credibility I would suggest you look into that also.
But I doubt you will.
"Strangely timed contribution" tells me everything I need to know.
Why would Rulney donate to Hiremath's PAC shortly after Hiremath voted AGAINST something that Rulney wanted? Especially when Rulney had never donated to Hiremath in the past.
Then Hiremath has a change of heart after receiving the donation.
Purely coincidental, I'm sure.
I took OV Objective Thinker’s suggestion, and used the Town Clerk’s website to review the election contributions of Council members Garner and Zinkin. Almost exclusively, these contributions were SMALL DOLLAR AMOUNTS from INDIVIDUALS. If they have cast any votes for a financial supporter, it was a vote for the individual residents. This is what Burns, Garner, and Zinkin do. They represent the residents of Oro Valley.
I also reviewed the election contributions of Mayor Hiremath and Council members Hornat, Snider and Waters. The real estate PAC donated the maximum allowed by law to Hiremath. All four received financial support from one or more of the following organizations; real estate, builders/developers and businesses/business PACs. The Golder Ranch Fire Fighters were also major contributors to Hiremath.
There is not enough space to list the number of favorable decisions and votes by Hiremath, Hornat, Snider and Waters on behalf of their previously cited donors. It was not unusual for these decisions/votes to bypass Town codes.
OV Objective Thinker, if you want credibility, do your homework.
OV important.... All of the contributions are small dollar amounts. Are you really naive enough to believe that any elected council person can be bought for a couple hundred dollars versus $75?
Do you truly believe that Mayor Hiremath would sacrifice his self esteem and reputation for $400. If so, I suggest you have other issues that make sensible converstion impossible. He is an honorable man who has served this community well.
But regardles of the dollar amounts, your commentary points out a really important issue. Our Town Council is elected to represent both the interest of the residents (all residents) and the business community that financially supports the Town, whether they be engaged in the sale of real estate, building homes, selling nuts and bolts or fighting fires in our community. In fact, the strong efforts of the busines community in this town is the ONLY thing that separates us from a huge local property tax.
Many in this community believe and in fact vocalize that the business community has no rights and that every decision made should exclude the voice of local business.
There have been instances when the people living in apartments have been besmirched by other residents because they are not property owners and therefore have no voice. One of the Garner/Zinkin supporters actually testified on three separate occasions that she didn't want apartments built, "because those people living there will walk their dog down my street." That's a sad testimonial.
Lastly I thank you for taking the time to do some homework. You are one of the few who post here that make the effort. But I can assure you that most of the records you looked up are in my file cabinet five feet behind me and have been there since shortly after they were made available to the public. You really don't want to get into credibility argument with me over the topic of doing homework.
Have to agree with Don on this:
"Do you truly believe that Mayor Hiremath would sacrifice his self esteem and reputation for $400. If so, I suggest you have other issues that make sensible conversation impossible. He is an honorable man...."
I do not, however, think our current mayor has served the town well.
OV Objective Thinker raised some interesting points in his posting. Following his suggestions, I had reviewed the contributions made to Garner and Zinkin and posted my findings. It appears the results were not to his liking. He feels I may be naïve enough to believe an elected Council member can be bought with a sizable contribution.
For the record, the real estate industry through PACs and individuals contributed over $2000 to Hiremath’s election fund. The fire fighters contributed over $1,500 to Hiremath’s election fund. Is this excessive for a small Town election? It is up to the voters to answer this, not OV Objective Thinker or me.
The citizens clearly understand the purpose of campaign contributions from organizations. While not bribes, the intent is to gain influence and support for their desires. The reason is the same whether it is a national, state or local election. Again, the voters must decide if any of these groups requested and received favorable treatment. Why the significant contributions by the fire fighters? Only the various fire fighters associations can answer this question.
While I cited various organizations as special interest, I never did or will state that they should not express their needs and concerns to Town government. I never implied they do not contribute to the needs of the Oro Valley’s residents. The Town should respond to their legitimate needs, but only after weighing their desires with those of the residents.
OV Objective Thinker needs to give facts regarding an Oro Valley property tax. Explain how the local business community makes “strong efforts” to help us avoid a property tax. The over whelming reason businesses, which collect sale taxes, locate in Oro Valley is to make a profit. It is not their intent to prevent Oro Valley from having a property tax.
OV Objective Thinker states a supporter of Garner and Zinkin made a negative comment regarding apartment residents; therefore Garner and Zinkin share this view. Isn’t it interesting during a meeting of Planning and Zoning Commission, one member, who supports Hiremath, Hornat, Snider, and Waters, made a negative comment regarding apartment residents? This commissioner indicated his concern about apartment complexes -- the residents tend to create problems which require police actions. Should we then contend Hiremath, Hornat, Snider, and Waters consider people living in apartments to be trouble makers? I hope not.
Christopher Fox, I agree with you.
Christopher Fox:
I, too, do not think our current mayor has served the town well.
"We don't know. We will never know." This is so true. It is difficult to know what is going on in matters that our outside our direct control.
I find comfort in trust. I trust and try my best to understand the good intentions of my leaders.
It is hard for me to understand everything that goes on between Mayor Satish Hiremath and his partners. I pray he has good intent and trust that he knows what is best for the Town of Oro Valley.
It is hard for me to understand everything that goes on between Mayor Satish Hiremath and his partners. I pray he has good intent and trust that he knows what is best for the Town of Oro Valley.
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