Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Meet The New Candidates: Pat Straney and Don Bristow Seek To Bring Civility Back To The Oro Valley Town Council


Recently, the Arizona Daily Star published regarding each of the six Oro Valley candidates. The article is brief.  Also a local advertising circular published about these candidates. They conveniently printed only the pictures of the Majority-4, They conveniently misstated that these 4 have served 2-terms, perhaps in an attempt to increase their "gravitas".

You already know the Majority-4.   You don't need to read about what they say now. You simply need to look at their performance during the past 4 years. You simply can judge them on their performance.

But, what of the two newcomers?  Would you like to meet them?

Today, June 11, we introduce them to you. Heck, we'll even post their picture!

We've done our homework on them. We've met with them. We know what they want to accomplish. We know they are viable candidates.  We want to share some of what he have learned.

Patrick Straney For Mayor

Pat Straney
You can read about Pat's background both as President of the Ranch Vistoso Master HOA and as a senior executive at General Motors (He left long before the bankruptcy) at his web site, votepatstraneymayor.com. So, we won't repeat it here. What we do want to share are some of the insights we learned during our conversations with him.

Pat believes that our elected officials need to work as a team.  He also believes that it is the Mayor's role to seek ways to build consensus. To Pat, discord has no role in Oro Valley governance.

Pat observed to us that he understands that council members will not always agree.  He sees lack of agreement as a good thing.  Pats experience has been that the best ideas often surface through the convergence of differing views. We agree.  He has demonstrated through is work in the public and private sector that he can build agreement.

Our conversations with Pat have been reassuring. He is "calm, cool and collected." He handled our tough questions directly. When we asked him, for example, if he were friendly with any of the Majority-4. He responded that he knows Mayor Hiremath because the Mayor appointed him to a advisory activity in town. He also told us that he serves on a Rancho Vistoso Community sub committee with Joe Hornat and that he enjoyed talking to Joe about issues that are shared by both Rancho Vistoso Community and Town of Oro Valley. Pat noted: "I want to be everyone's Mayor." We think that is a good thing!

We asked Pat his thinking on the role of the Mayor when it comes to managing the town. Pat believes that the Mayor needs to do his own thinking. He said that he is ready to do the hard work of preparing for every meeting by reading the materials and then meeting with staff.

When it comes to special interests Pat believes that as Mayor, Oro Valley is his special interest. He wants to provide the leadership required to build on the Town’s strengths and help guide it to the highest level of excellence – while preserving the history, culture and uniqueness that defines Oro Valley.

Pat doesn't believe that the Oro Valley Police Department or any other town department’s 's budget and operations should be a source of contention among council members. His plan is to fully understand the ample input received from the Oro Valley residents relative to their expectation of Town services provided. It is the council’s job to fully understand all aspects of providing such services over the long term and make knowledge based decisions that support Oro Valley excellence going forward.

Don Bristow For Council

Don Bristow, like Pat Straney, has been a resident of Oro Valley for a number of years. You can read about him by visiting his website, votedonbristow.com.

There are three things that we found refreshing when we spoke with Don regarding his candidacy.

First, Don is a citizen who takes action. He is active in our community even though, at present, he is neither an elected or appointed official.  For example:

  • Don is passionate that Oro Valley’s codes and regulations should be reviewed and followed.  He believes that these codes should not ignored or administratively modified to suit special interests. Rather than complaining about violations, he actually does something about it.  When Don sees what he believes to be a sign or display code violation, he reports it to town staff, with accompanying photos.  He knows its a violation because he knows the code.  Most often, the violations he reports are validated by town staff. Corrections are made.
  • Don’s interest goes far beyond signage. He attends virtually all council meetings and many board and commission meetings. He has brought forth issues to staff and council such as permitting a u-haul rental facility where it did not belong; to challenging a staff conclusion that an RV motor coaches and towable trailers are, by definition, merely cars. This definition allows for the display of RV motor coaches and towable trailers at the Oro Valley Marketplace, a display which does little to benefit Oro Valley.
Don has demonstrated the he, like Pat, will do his homework. He will be prepared to do his job knowledgeably.  Don will listen to all presentations and ask questions before making his decisions.

Second, Don will do his council job effectively because he is a measured, respectful person. He gets along with everyone because he is respectful to all. His positions are fact-based. They are presented in a manner that is both understandable and verifiable.

Third, Don believes the only special interest group is you, the citizens of Oro Valley.  This does not mean that he will ignore other interests. It means that he will seek council decisions that balance the needs of the citizens with the needs of other interests, including the business community. Within that context, he told us that he will use the Oro Valley’s General Plan and Town regulations as his guide to making decisions while on council.

We asked Don what he would like to accomplish while on Council.  He responded that he would like to transform the Oro Valley Town Council into a highly cooperative team, a team that demonstrates respect not only for fellow council members but also for the citizens of Oro Valley.  He would seek fiscal responsibility by spending wisely on priorities that matter to the residents of Oro Valley.  He would also advocate for environmental, historical and cultural preservation in Oro Valley.  Of course, all of this would be done, he noted, in the context of maintaining quality of life and public safety for all in Oro Valley.
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Both Pat and Don are registered Independents, like us.

15 comments:

Richard Furash, MBA said...

I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here, but I just want to point out that the term "senior executive" generally refers to a c-level position (CEO, COO, CFO, CIO,...).

Richard Furash, MBA said...

That sort of experience can be a VERY good thing.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

The point being that Patrick Straney was not a 'senior executive' at GM. Again: I'm not trying to get another hopeless fight started on here. This is not a comment about Mr. Straney's qualifications; I'm just trying to point out that the blog post is misrepresenting them.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

Anyone who takes a moment to read Mr. Straney's resume will conclude that he is obviously more than qualified to sit in Oro Valley's mayoral office. As President of Delphi/Canada and holding various director positions at GM - these were probably signed off by the Board - does this define these positions as "senior executive?" Who cares?


Nitpicking about whether these were "senior" positions distracts from the obvious fact that Mr. Straney would serve our town more than adequately, and he would bring a refreshing change to our Town's executive office.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

You guys just can't help it, can you? It's really simple, actually. Call it nitpicking, or call it misrepresentation.

I don't know Mr. Straney and haven't actually come to an opinion about him. It's clear he has experience directing lots of people from his resume. But what would otherwise be a big accomplishment (by which I rmean his regional executive position with a GM subsidiary/spinoff) becomes diminished when you say he was a "senior exec at GM."

Again, I'm really not trying to knock down Mr. Straney here. I hope he would agree with me on this, actually. GM is simply an absurdly large corporation. It's a big enough deal to be in mid-level/upper management for them (and actually likely to be more applicable to the mayoral position).



I almost feel helpless at this point. This is something as factual as it gets. Yet, you guys can't help but have a knee-jerk reaction to anything I post.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

senior executive
BusinessDictionary.com
Definition:

A long standing and top ranking member of the management of an organization. In the business world, a typical senior executive is well respected within their company and has either been well educated in business matters or has worked their way up through the ranks of their company to gain an extensive range of experience.
Patrick Straney certainly was a senior executive.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

"You guys can't help but have a knee-jerk reaction to anything I post" said the person who just had a knee-jerk reaction to the words "senior executive."

Richard Furash, MBA said...

Notovdad - it's not ABOUT YOU! Get over yoursellf.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

senior executive
BusinessDictionary.com

Definition:

A long standing and top ranking member of the management of an organization. In the business world, a typical senior executive is well
respected within their company and has either been well educated in business
matters or has worked their way up through the ranks of their company to gain
an extensive range of experience.

Patrick Straney certainly was a senior executive.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

senior executive
BusinessDictionary.com

Definition:

A long standing and top ranking member of the management of an organization. In the business world, a typical senior executive is well
respected within their company and has either been well educated in business
matters or has worked their way up through the ranks of their company to gain
an extensive range of experience.

Without misrepresentation, Patrick Straney certainly was a senior executive.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

Anybody but the Dentist! (ABD)

Richard Furash, MBA said...

senior executive
BusinessDictionary.com

Definition:

A long standing and top ranking member of the management
of an organization. In the business world, a typical senior executive is well respected within their company and has either been well educated in business matters or has worked their way up through the ranks of their company to gain an extensive range of experience.

Without misrepresentation, Patrick Straney certainly was a senior executive.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

senior executive
BusinessDictionary.com

Definition:

A long standing and top ranking member of the management of an organization. In the business world, a typical senior executive is well respected within their company and has either been well educated in business matters or has worked their way up through the ranks of their company to gain an extensive range of experience.

Without misrepresentation, Patrick Straney certainly was
a senior executive.

Richard Furash, MBA said...

Okay - CaresOV, what's your point?

Richard Furash, MBA said...

You're the guy who brought it up - I'm just wondering what your point actually was? Arguing over whether the original post "misrepresents" what it means to be "senior executive" is pointless, and a large red herring flopping around on the ground. We all know a little more about the candidate, which is good.