The Oro Valley Police Officers Association has declared war on Council Member Mike Zinkin. This is our conclusion based on a series of simple events in the past week.The Facts
Earlier this month, Council Member Zinkin requested information regarding police overtime. He asked to receive a report regarding which program received overtime in each pay period. He did not ask for information by individual, just in total for each of the nine programs in the police budget.
Zikiin's request was made to Police Chief Sharp. Zinkin clarified what he wanted in an email to Town Manager Caton. Click here to read both of these communications.
Somehow, the OVPOA was informed of the request. Marshall Morris, President of the OVPOA, wrote a 3 page memo dated September 16 to Ron Corbin, Oro Valley Human Resources Director. The memo attacked Zinkin's request. Click here to read the OVPOA memo.
Our Analysis
The memo alleges the following:
- Zinkin asked for overtime slips of each employee.
This is not the case. Zinkin did not ask for overtime slips by employee. Zinkin specifically stated in his message to Chief Sharp that he did not want to see information by person. - Zinkin asked for such information only for the police department and not for any other Oro Valley department.
This is true. The other departments do not report to the council. They report to the town manager; therefore, Zinkin did not request overtime information on those departments as they do not report to council. - Zinkin's request was targeted at commissioned officers.
This is not true. It was asked in relation to 9 programs in the police budget, not by individual. - Zinkin wants to monitor the overtime of commission personnel.
As stated already, this is not what was requested. - Zinkin is upset that the OVPOA found out about this request.
If Zinkin is upset, he has a right to be so. He made the request to a department head, an individual who reports to council. The request was not made to OVPOA. In our opinion, someone deliberately passed the information to OVPOA, a union that is not employed by the town of Oro Valley. Their being given this information is unethical on the part of the person who provided it to them. - Zinkin has no confidence in Police Chief Sharp.
Council Member Zinkin has never made such a statement. - Zinkin has reason to accuse some officers of fraud and dishonesty when it comes to overtime.
Zinkin has never made such an accusation. - Zinkin is accusing all commissioned officers of collusion in committing overtime fraud.
This assertion is absolutely without merit. It is mere supposition, combined with imagination. Zinkin has made no such accusation. - Zinkin is attempting to reduce command staff in the police department.
There is no evidence that Zinkin's request for overtime information could, in any way, relate to an attempt by Zinkin to reduce command staff. In addition, Zinkin has never said that he is attempting to reduce command staff. - "Through his actions, Council Member Mike Zinkin appears to have
some unknown reason to undermine the efficient operations of the Town of
Oro Valley Police Department, putting its employees and the residents of the
Town of Oro Valley into unneeded danger."
How does a simple request regarding overtime put Oro valley residents in unneeded danger?
Questions Raised
Our reading of the OVPOA memo leads us to with some questions.
First, what is the intent of the OVPOA memo? Is it to intimidate Council Member Zinkin to prevent him from doing his elected job? If so, then the OVPOA is trying to disuade Zinkin from doing what he was elected to do. We hope not. The job of the cops is to uphold the law; not to thwart it.
First, what is the intent of the OVPOA memo? Is it to intimidate Council Member Zinkin to prevent him from doing his elected job? If so, then the OVPOA is trying to disuade Zinkin from doing what he was elected to do. We hope not. The job of the cops is to uphold the law; not to thwart it.
Second, is this memo is an example of the quality of the investigative prowess of the Oro Valley police? We hope not. The memo is factually incorrect. The memo is emotional. The memo presents illogical and presumptive conclusions.
Third, are there more people behind this sniping than the OVPOA? We hope not. OVPOA received the Zinkin request from someone in town hall. Could this memo be a coordinated effort to impugn and discredit Council Member Zinkin?
Fourth, why is the police union coming down so hard on a simple request? This OVPOA memo is way "over the top". To paraphrase Shakespeare: OVPOA "...doth protest too much, methinks."
What do you think?
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Third, are there more people behind this sniping than the OVPOA? We hope not. OVPOA received the Zinkin request from someone in town hall. Could this memo be a coordinated effort to impugn and discredit Council Member Zinkin?
Fourth, why is the police union coming down so hard on a simple request? This OVPOA memo is way "over the top". To paraphrase Shakespeare: OVPOA "...doth protest too much, methinks."
What do you think?
17 comments:
Mike's first responsibility is to the residents of Oro Valley. Requesting an explanation of how our tax dollars are used is fiscally responsible.
1. The Council (its members) are direct supervisors of the Police Department. Are they not?
2. Citizens have every right and expectation that their elected Council members will pursue transparency in the expenditure of funds for all areas of the government they are charged to supervise.
3. Making accusatory charges, instead of answering direct questions by the supervising body (i.e Council) is a completely obvious and distracting tactic to ignore request for honest answers.
4. Publication of such a Memorandum is an insult to a duly-elected Council Member who has every rght and responsibility to elicit honest answers as to the expenditure of Town funds.
5. Denying direct answers with insulting innuendos only serves to cause more concern for this type of smokescreen.
6. While a publicly-elected official cannot usually sue for libel or slander, this is very borderline in this most personal attack. Perhaps the Town Attorney should councel the author of the Memorandum.
What I find troubling about this is that it is again a preemptive strike, in that the OVPOA has entered into the political arena in an oblique manner, much as they did when OVPD members who are residents of the town spoke at a recent town hall meeting.
It is preemptive in that it appears to be trying to suppress certain town council members from serving the citizens of Oro Valley to the fullest extent possible. I conclude this because the OVPOA was able to submit this memorandum before the request was accommodated. Indeed, it is not clear if there has been any response from the chief of police or town staff to the request to date, as yet.
This activism by the PD is truly troubling; emotional/scare tactics are very effective for a specific demographic of the town, to which this propaganda-like attack seems to be targeted. I only hope that Garner and Burns have Zinkin's back on this, and that the citizens of OV remain vigilant in ensuring that the bureaucracy inherent in any level of government does not put its own interests above the town as a whole.
After re-reading Zinkin's e-mails, why did he need to clarify his original e-mail to Sharp to Caton? If Caton has nothing to do with management of the police department, this should be a matter strictly between those who have oversight responsibility of the PD management (i.e., the town council) and PD management. It was a mistake to try to clarify things to Caton, because the trail of how the request got 'leaked' to the OVPOA is muddied.
The Explorer has clearly gone the route of the AZ Daily Star & most other forms of media who publish their own opinions of how we should think rather than report the actual facts. In that same vein, the media attacks & people are accused of racism while they have no legitimate facts to back up their claims.
We have the Freedom of Info Act & all levels of gov't to ensure transparency. Why is there such a big objection to what would be considered 1 small part of an internal audit? If there is nothing to hide, you'd think they'd say "Bring it on!" instead of hiding behind unfounded accusations via the Explorer (clearly in their pocket.)
Seems to me that some members of Council are attempting to oust the few Council members that stand up for the people. If the People's Councilmembers don't vote in lockstep with them, they are a threat to their power.
I personally applaud anyone who exercises their fiduciary responsibility on behalf of the taxpayers.
Just think if Mr. Zinkin had requested information regarding the use of "take home vehicles", the OVPOA could have sponsored a SIX page letter accusing Mr. Zinkin of War Crimes, the Linbergh kidnapping, and Obama Care.
Thank god he only requested overtime data.
I have lived in OV ten years and watched the politics play out. Mr. Zinkin has always represented those he serves. We need more like him and we need transparency ...what is the OVPOA afraid of??
I received the following message in an email from one of our bloggers.
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Richard: I am distressed to see that our local news organ is again a propaganda machine for Oro Valley's gang of council members.
In this weeks edition of the Explorer, Sept 25, Letters to the Editor ran two consecutive letters from the same writer, and ignored others addressing the identical issue; a previously published letter dealing with 20thC wars and politics. I know this because I submitted a rebuttal which was ignored by Thelma Grimes.
So be it. Dissident O.V. residents have been dismissed before, but I had some small hope that the current Explorer management might show journalistic impartiality and objectivity. This is not to be as demonstrated by Randy Metcalf's slanted story in this week's Explorer:"
OV Council members' conduct questioned, recall effort likely".
How much more slanted can you get? Even Pravda is showing more journalistic integrity lately!
After reading the article in the Explorer, I would say there are more questions than answers. Please advise if there will be a future meeting regarding the accusations against Council Member Zinkin. This deserves our support and attention.
AMEN to all the previous comments! I am in total agreement with them.
Then, after reading the headline in today's Explorer, I am astounded.
Let me see if I understand. The WIFE of HIREMATH's CAMPAIGN TREASURER has requested documents on council behavior and information about recalling a councilmember. This, alone, sounds fishy to me.
One document supplied was this same OVPOA memo to Councilman Zinken. Another was a letter filed by Hiremath which states Councilmen Burns and Zinken violated Open Meeting laws when they approached him on police business. Does not the Open Meeting law state it takes 4 or more members meeting together to violate the AZ Open Meeting law? There was an Open Meeting law complaint about an email, sent by Hiremath, to 4 councilmembers. Another was the mayor's own documented recap of a private conversation with Councilmember Zinken.
If Jane Burge is REALLY INTERESTED in council behavior, she should watch/re-watch previous Council Meetings. She would see the mayor angrily slamming his gavel (surprising council members near him), and shouting as he calls for a vote while another council member was still asking questions. She would see a councilmember ranting about a recent Explorer article. She’d see a different councilmember trying to argue with a near-by councilmember who happened to have all the correct facts at his disposal. She’d see the mayor and some councilmembers responding to audience members in a reproachful manner. She would definitely see and confirm Hiremath’s aggressive behavior and tones during Council Meetings.
Who put the OVPOA and Jane Burge up to this?
This whole things is disgusting. The behavior of the Chief/PD and his 4 council members is unacceptable.
Has anyone read page 20 of the Explorer? Hornat's attack on Zinken on top of what is already going on.
There is something seriously wrong with part of this council we have. The behavior is childish, pathetic, and most importantly unprofessional. Sadly the PD and Chief are right there along side them and need a good straightening out too. The Chief thinks he doesn't answer to anyone. He seems to forget that he answers to all of us equally.
A lot of excellent points! Mike and Brendon seem to be in the "Bulleye" of the majority currently on the OV Council. Obviously they fear them... Transparency, objectivity, representing the residents of OV. OMG, if Mike, Brendon and Bill raise the bar on them they're exposed!
I know Mike Zinkin to be an honorable person who has stepped on the third rail of OV politics-- he dared to ask a question about the management of the police force. The reaction of the police was to attack him. We ALL need to speak up in defense of Mike and demand that the police department answer his legitimate question. I for one think that we need to be as noisy in defense of Mike as those that have attacked him. Don't back down Mike,we've got your back.
The unsupported, irrational recent claims and actions by the OV Police Officers Union and Mayor Hiremath should not surprise anyone who has been following the Town Council and Chief Sharp. Mayor Hiremath, councilmembers Hornat, Snider, and Waters have used the police department as a political tool since they were elected. They position anyone who questions the Chief or his department as being against a safe community for the residents and businesses.
They continually read letters of praise for the police department even though almost all the actions cited are everyday expectations of police officers’ duties and responsibilities. They portray the police department as perfect, without any human or organizational short-coming. They state the opinion that the primary reason people and businesses move to Oro Valley is because of the police department. They have blocked every effort to implement a scheduled-review of the police department. Almost all of the other major departments have successfully completed outside reviews. The Mayor allowed OV police officers to speak and attack Councilmember Zinken, and praise Chief Sharp at a recent council meeting, even though the agenda item under discussion was the Town’s budget. This is total violation of Roberts’ Rule of Order.
Chief Sharp has remained silent regarding the outside-review scheduled for his department. He remains silent regarding the unprofessional and unethical political actions of his police officers and their union. Chief Sharp reports to all seven Councilmembers rather than the Town Manger. He uses his unorthodox reporting structure to wrap himself and his department in a web of secrecy which lacks accountability. If Chief Sharp wants to regain the citizens’ respect, he must stop and examine his actions and those of his department. He must then implement changes to restore community support for his department.
The Mayor, Councilmembers Hornat, Snider, Waters and the police officers will continue their fabricated planned attacks on Councilmembers Burns, Garner and Zinken. They do not like Burns, Garner and Zinken putting the citizens first; trying to support the General Plan, and wanting to follow Town Codes.
The current unwarranted, unethical actions by the Mayor and the OVPOA cannot be tolerated in Oro Valley. Oro Valley does not need to be a police state where anyone and everyone with a question or opposing view is met with intimidation. It is time for the residents to step up, attend Town Council meetings and tell the Mayor and the others to stop their unprofessional behavior.
Any citizen can make a Freedom of Information request.
What is the OV Police Union afraid of? Strong management of overtime is required because the opportunity for fraud is always present.
We need an independent audit of the overtime accounts. NOW!
Pt 1
Another of my issues with this blog is that some readers do little to verify any information that is posted. VC, Cares, OV Impotent, Fave, R u and several others read stuff here and think it is gospel. It isn’t. Richard Furash, a friend and a person who knows me pretty damn well, still presents a slanted view of fact. That’s what this blog does. That’s the history of this blog. Frankly, there is nothing wrong with that. But readers should understand and formulate that into their acceptance and response. When I read something on here that I think may be slanted I do my homework and research the topic in depth. It is in that vein that I present the following.
Starting with his run for Mayor, Mike Zinkin, has had a personal vendetta against the police department which has manifested itself in many forms. One needs only to do a little research to verify that statement. I searched the archives of this blog and copied the following from a citizen’s (not me) posting on the LOVE Blog back when Zinkin was running for Mayor. It was the poster's attempt to distinguish candidate Zinkin from Loomis and Hiremath. The poster's observation at that time was expressed as follows:
“Running for Mayor: Keeping THE POLICE status quo: Loomis (incumbent) Satish Hiremath
Want to cut OVPD force: Mike Zinkin.”
There are many morelike assessments. You just have to look.
Once elected to the Town Council, Zinkin’s repeated attempts to slash the OVPD budget and his failed attempt to change the reporting structure of the Police Chief so he could pressure the Town Manager to do his dirty work are further examples of his mind set. Given the continuum of this effort, there can be little doubt in anyone’s mind that a vendetta exists.
This blog has been supportive of Mike Zinkin from day one. So it is not surprising that when the proverbial brown stuff hits the Westinghouse they would BLINDLY run to his defense. What is surprising is that the new management of the LOVE Blog could be so sightless to blatantly obvious misconduct and in fact be supportive of such behavior. This is disappointing and certainly counter to the claim “Oro Valley’s Most Trusted News Source”.
Let me start off by clearing up one erroneous assumption made by the post of Mr. Furash and accepted by some who have repeated the incorrect assumption. The police department DOES NOT report to the Town Council. Through highly talented sergeants, lieutenants and others, the police department reports to Chief Danny Sharp. And it is Chief Sharp’s and his direct report’s responsibility to monitor overtime.
Bloggers,
I have removed OVOT's part 2 posting because it contained factually unsupported information.
Richard
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