On January 23, 2013, Oro Valley Mayor Satish Hiremath yelled at Council Member Mike Zinkin: "You're done! Your through." The confrontation happened in a closed door meeting. Zinkin spoke with us about it that day.Zinkin was so concerned at what happened that he wrote the following to Mayor the next day:
"This is the second time I have seen this display of temper and disrespect and feel threatened. I find this behavior very surprising coming from a gentleman who preaches mutual respect. This is notice that from this time forward, anytime you wish to converse with me, I will request that there be another individual present."Imagine being in a work environment where the Mayor directly threatens you!
Five days later a recall notice was taken out against Zinkin. At some point thereafter, we believe that Hiremath directed town staff to build a 'file' on Zinkin. Staff should not have complied. We have the file. It is a few pages of nothing.
We've written about this recall on several occasions, even identifying the individuals behind the recall. We've been careful not to directly link Mayor Hiremath to this recall effort. We have said that it is his supporters who are behind the effort. We did not want to assume that the Mayor would act in such a despicable manner as to go after another council member. So, we've been quiet.
Nonetheless, we've always suspected that it is the mayor who was driving this effort. On December 27, the mayor came out of the shadows. The local regional advertising circular published a Hiremath opinion piece: "Oro Valley Mayor calls on citizens to recall Zinkin." In it, Hiremath asserts that Zinkin is guilty of moral and ethical violations.
Last monday, the Mayor appeared in a interview with TV4, Hornat came out to join him. Snider is quoted in a print version of the report.
Hiremath does not state the real reason he is going after Zinkin: Zinkin has filed open meeting law violations on Hiremath
Zinkin filed a open meeting violation on the mayor last January. The mayor was upset that Zinkin had not informed him that he was going to do this. Zinkin could not inform the mayor because he had spoken of the violation with two other council members. Had he spoken to a third council member, the mayor, Zinkin would've been in violation of the open meeting law himself.
That the mayor has written a guest column that accuses Zinkin of sexual, ethical, and moral violations is outrageous. That he allowed TV4 to interview him in front of town hall while accusing Zinkin is even more outrageous. Hiremath is, after all, the mayor of this town. He is not some sleazy journalist out to smear someone. But smear he does. His words, his actions are an embarrassment to our community. He is, indeed, the leader of this parade against Zinkin.
Council Member Zinkin responded to the mayor's opinion letter in the regional advertising circular last Wednesday. You should read it.
We don't need to. We have already been through the allegations. We have written about them in various postings. Taken together, they are a mountain of nonsense. Taken individually or as a whole, nothing alleged, even if true, is worthy of recall.
What is worthy of your consideration is whether a mayor who acts in the manner that Hiremath is acting--with impunity and arrogance, with a personal vendetta against someone you elected; a mayor who is using his position to attack an elected official and Oro Valley citizen-- is worthy of remaining the Mayor of Oro Valley after the next election. That decision will be up to you.
---
Tomorrow: Why majority and the special interests need Zinkin out.
---
16 comments:
Below are quotes from Explorer News in 2011 from the "leaders" of the attempt to recall Mike Zinkin.
“The recall effort in general is just more of the same thing Oro Valley has had to deal with,” Hiremath said. “People have a right to voice their opinions, but they don’t have a right to be a distraction to town progress.”
Oro Valley Mayor Satish Hiremath called a recent effort to recall fellow council members Joe Hornat and Mary Snider nothing more than an “unneeded distraction.”
Snider called the group’s actions “irresponsible” because of the cost and the damage to the Oro Valley image a recall will cause.
Hypocrites? Seems they specialize in a message of convenience.
Your shtick is getting old, so I'm almost tempted to ignore it. But two things need to be pointed out:
1) Mike Zinkin admitted his conduct and apologized for it. Obviously we know now that his apologies were disingenuous, which makes it even worse. Since the LOVErs have moved from being Zinkin supporters to being Zinkin worshipers, they have no problem excusing his repeatedly despicable behavior. Instead, they are in the midst of concocting a big conspiracy theory. I can't wait to hear how far they are willing to take it. I've got my popcorn ready.
2) Despite the story that LOVE has been trying to spin for the past years, Mike Zinkin is NOT "the man of the people" against "the special interests." We've been through this so many times. The majority of citizens in Oro Valley is not hostile to what you call "special interests" (that being: businesses, the police department, developers). The majority understands that for our town to continue to progress, we need to work together with these parties. Zinkin and, by extension, his LOVErs have no such understanding. They are conspiracy theorists. They believe businesses, the police department, and developers are evil and are out to harm our town.
How can you tell Mike is not a "man of the people?" Look at the number of votes each council member received to become elected:
Waters: 8,555
Hornat: 7,244
Snider: 6,683
Garner: 5,576
Burns: 5,067
Zinkin: 4,975
Mike received fewer votes than any other council member! I wouldn't call that a "man of the people."
Your shtick is getting old, so I'm almost tempted to ignore it. But two things need to be pointed out:
1) Mike Zinkin admitted his conduct and apologized for it. Obviously we know now that his apologies were disingenuous, which makes it even worse. Since the LOVErs have moved from being Zinkin supporters to being Zinkin worshipers, they have no problem excusing his repeatedly despicable behavior. Instead, they are in the midst of concocting a big conspiracy theory. I can't wait to hear how far they are willing to take it. I've got my popcorn ready.
2) Despite the story that LOVE has been trying to spin for the past years, Mike Zinkin is NOT "the man of the people" against "the special interests." We've been through this so many times. The majority of citizens in Oro Valley is not hostile to what you call "special interests" (that being: businesses, the police department, developers). The majority understands that for our town to continue to progress, we need to work together with these parties. Zinkin and, by extension, his LOVErs have no such understanding. They are conspiracy theorists. They believe businesses, the police department, and developers are evil and are out to harm our town.
How can you tell Mike is not a "man of the people?" Look at the number of votes each council member received to become elected:
Waters: 8,555
Hornat: 7,244
Snider: 6,683
Garner: 5,576
Burns: 5,067
Zinkin: 4,975
Mike received fewer votes than any other council member! I wouldn't call that a "man of the people."
Richard keeps deleting my comment below and "banning" me from voicing my opinion on this thread. I wonder why Richard is displaying this much cowardice... Please see the original comment below:
Your shtick is getting old, so I'm almost tempted to ignore it. But two things need to be pointed out:
1) Mike Zinkin admitted his conduct and apologized for it. Obviously we know now that his apologies were disingenuous, which makes it even worse. Since the LOVErs have moved from being Zinkin supporters to being Zinkin worshipers, they have no problem excusing his repeatedly despicable behavior. Instead, they are in the midst of concocting a big conspiracy theory. I can't wait to hear how far they are willing to take it. I've got my popcorn ready.
2) Despite the story that LOVE has been trying to spin for the past years, Mike Zinkin is NOT "the man of the people" against "the special interests." We've been through this so many times. The majority of citizens in Oro Valley is not hostile to what you call "special interests" (that being: businesses, the police department, developers). The majority understands that for our town to continue to progress, we need to work together with these parties. Zinkin and, by extension, his LOVErs have no such understanding. They are conspiracy theorists. They believe businesses, the police department, and developers are evil and are out to harm our town.
How can you tell Mike is not a "man of the people?" Look at the number of votes each council member received to become elected:
Waters: 8,555
Hornat: 7,244
Snider: 6,683
Garner: 5,576
Burns: 5,067
Zinkin: 4,975
Mike received fewer votes than any other council member! I wouldn't call that a "man of the people."
After reading the Zinkin reply in the Explorer, I phoned the Managing editor, Thelma Grimes to discuss the placement of a recall Zinkin ad next to the article. I felt this to be inappropriate. She informed me that this was a placement ad, meaning that the paper charges extra for the advertiser requesting specific placement. It should also be noted that the advertiser had advanced knowledge that the Zinkin reply was going to be published in that edition because the paper noted in the Hiremath article of the week before that Zinkin would have a chance to reply in the next edition. I asked that the Explorer explain in their next edition how they reached the decision to accept this ad and to place it where they did. I wrote a letter to the editor about all of this and was told it would be in the next edition of the paper.
I am very concerned that a situation is being created that will cause anybody that is considering a run for town council office to think long and hard about that decision. As a result, we may lose the contributions of some very capable people.
Chuck, you are absolutely correct. This developing situation will prove toxic to Oro Valley civic participation, and is especially worrisome as General Plan programs are about to roll out. Mayor Hiremath has done the town a huge dis-service with this New Year's present.
Some things are very obvious.
(1) It's obvious that the recall campaign is not going well and they don't expect to have the needed signatures by February 11th. DESPERATION mode sets in so Hiremath writes a Guest Opinion in an effort to collect more signatures.
(2) It's also obvious that they FEARED Zinkin's response, since before they even knew what it would say, they had already plotted to run a recall ad adjacent to his Guest Opinion in an effort to MINIMIZE his response. They knew his response would be more civil and would appeal to more people than Hiremath's amateur high school rant. They also knew that Zinkin would be able to counter every accusation made by Hiremath (and he did!) That's why they paid extra for the special placement of their ad.
They're as transparent as Saran Wrap.
Some things are very obvious.
Victorian Cowgirl is the smartest lady around. I succumb to Richard's cowardly comment deletion strategy and your impeccable logical thinking.
Wow, pretty strong accusation in calling some a racist, and hope you have the solid rock hard documentation to prove it.
Unfortunately in this day and age, do not only do sticks and stones break someones bones, but words that are not 100% documented can be used by the disingenuous to break someones spirit and character.
Zinkin is quoted as saying, "we’re only meeting a bunch of Mexicans and Mexicans don’t wear ties anyways.” What would you call that? At a minimum, I can't imagine this comment making anyone feel comfortable. At it's core, it is terribly offensive.
Fear, for the purpose of your argument, temporarily set aside the racism comment. The numerous inappropriate comments, jokes, whatever made by Zinkin to female town staffers can not be overlooked. The fact that the Town Manager has communicated with Zinkin regarding these comments speaks volumes! And the fact that Zinkin has apologized, yet continued to make missteps (that is an understatement) speaks to his character. That is my opinion, just like most everything else on this blog.
There isn't anything that Mike has been accused of saying that would cause me to "think long and hard" about running for Town Council and working with him. There's nothing earth-shattering there. I guarantee that the women who complained are also women who did not vote for him so they have a motive for trying to get him out of office. Your group is so afraid that you're going to lose your majority on council in 2014 that you needed to start a character assassination on Zinkin in order to prevent that from happening. Interesting how you aren't trying to win re-election by comparing your votes on council with his votes. No...because if you did THAT, you'd be admitting that your votes are all special interest based while Zinkin's are citizen based. And thank you for always pointing out how smart I am.
Having Satish Hiremath as Mayor with his documented violent temper and his constant need to belittle and lecture and name-call anyone with whom he disagrees will cause anyone "considering a run for town council office to think long and hard about that decision. As a result, we may lose the contributions of some very capable people."
Funny how Hiremath's character doesn't concern you at all.
Please let me know where you got your law degree from, and your background in employment practices liability litigation.
.
You called Richard a coward for deleting your prior comment. Hilarious! He deleted it because you addressed me by name. You want to expose others names while keeping YOUR name anonymous. Doesn't that make YOU the coward?
By the way, if you haven't figured it out by now, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE and have hinted at it in many posts. You're not as anonymous as you think.
Doesn't look like your letter made it into the January 8th edition, Chuck....
you are correct. i phoned thelma grimes and she said she thought they had put it in the edition and if they did not, they would next week. So, I guess we will just all have to be patient or disregard it altogether.
Post a Comment