End of Zinkin Recall: Now It's Time To "Let Oro Valley Excel"

Last night, we reported that the effort to recall Council Member Zinkin failed to gather sufficient signatures to force a recall election. There is more to the story, of course: A story in which Mayor Hiremath and two sitting council members, plus the spouse of a third council member, lead an effort that, despite their 9th inning heroics, failed.

Hornat With Recall Petition

Yesterday morning, Council Member Joe Hornat was at Fry's soliciting recall signatures.  When asked by a passerby what the recall would cost the citizens of Oro Valley Hornat replied: "I don't know but whatever it costs its worth it."  What a flip, disrespectful answer to an Oro Valley citizen.

Where was Hornat supposed to be a at 9AM?  At a meeting at Securaplane with one of their largest customers.  Hornat was supposed to be there to represent the town.  Rather than that, Hornat chose to stand at Fry's trying get signatures.

Frys, by the way, has a policy that prohibits such activities on its store properties.  At some point. late in the day, they told the recall people to leave.

This is a victory for the citizens of Oro Valley. The citizens will see their duly elected representative fulfill the term to which they elected him. It is a victory for Mike's spouse and his family, who have endured months of witnessing Zinkin vilified.

It is a victory for the citizens of Oro Valley that was earned against the odds:

• Mayor Hiremath put the weight of his position in front of this effort in a late December hit piece on Zinkin that he had published in the local advertising circular;
• Shortly thereafter, Hiremath appeared in front of town hall in a TV4 press interview, extolling the need for the recall. It was a press interview that was, at best, biased against Zinkin.
• Hiremath's political machine, led by the spouse of his campaign treasurer, was behind the group that sponsored the recall.
• Council Member Hornat extolled his support of the recall on a number of occasions.  
• Council Member Snider stated that she supported the recall. She went even further stating that she was personally offended by a word Zinkin used.  We observed that she should not be on council if she is that offended by so little that happened so long ago.
• Then, there's the strage last minute filing of a complaint on Zinkin by Town Economic Development Director Amanda Jacobs.  Jacobs dredged up a complaint regarding a now 20-month old incident; an incident in which we observed that if anyone was abused, it was Zinkin.
• The group took out large advertisements supporting the recall in the local advertising circular. One ad was given special placement by the circular. It appeared next to Zinkin's "rebuttal" of Hiremath's hit piece.  As of January 31, the group had not yet paid for these ads.  Generally, in the advertising business, you pay for an ad in advance!
• The group used a web site that had been created in reaction to the results of the 2012 election, when Council Member's Garner, Burns and Zinkin were elected in the primary.  This site rants about Zinkin.  We have been told that their rhetoric is relentless.
• The group had a number to call that had a recorded message comparing Zinkin's alleged "sins" to those of the "crack-smoking Mayor of Toronto."  
• The recall group gained the complicity of the leaseholders of the Saturday Farmers Market to provide them space for getting signatures; and this leaseholder called the police to have Oro Valley resident John Musolf removed for trespassing because John was carrying a "We Need Zinkin" sign.
• Even though we argued that the recall group was not a civic group as allowed in the Farmer's Market lease clause 21 (c), Town Attorney Sidles wrote to us that such a group was a "quintessential" example of a civic group.  There is no reference in any literature that a recall group going after one individual is a civic group, Tobin. The Girl Scouts are a civic group!
• Council Member Waters spouse paid particular attention to us at a friendly gathering to break ground at Naranja Park.  She referred to the fact that we took pictures of the recall tables and of those who participated in the recall effort.  Yes we did. Those responsible for this effort should not be anonymous.  They should be held accountable.
• The Oro Valley Police Officers Association wrote a complaint of great length to Oro Valley's human resources director because Zinkin dared to even question police overtime.
• Retired police officers solicited signatures at friendly poker games!
• And let's not forget the "Dirty Trickster," always lurking in the shadows.

We reported on all of this . We reported the facts to you. 

All that weight against one person. All that weight against a retired guy who gets maybe $10,000 a year to do a thankless job; a job that he does to the best of his ability.  All that weight against Mike's wife Ramona and the Zinkin family.  

All that weight focused on one individual.  And you made them fail.  You, the registered voter of Oro Valley, doomed them to fail by not signing the petition.

Yesterday was, indeed, a great day for Oro Valley.

Now, its time to bring Oro Valley together, Mr. Mayor:  "Let Oro Valley Excel!"
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