Hartung is their biggest target
I find it interesting that council candidate Ryan Hartung is the biggest target of the M-4 and their supporters.
He's clearly the one they find the most threatening.
An Eagle Scout who’s active in his church. A nice respectful guy with a Ph.D. Wouldn’t that only be scary to people who aren't very nice, aren't respectful, and perhaps aren't all that bright?
Remember also that Hartung is running against Joe Hornat. Of the Majority-4, Hornat received the least amount of votes in both the 2010 General Election and 2014 re-election. Perhaps the incumbents fear that Hornat will be the easiest one to beat and this has led to the all-out attacks we’ve seen on Ryan Hartung. Rumor also has it that Hartung was beating Hornat in a recent telephone poll sponsored by the incumbents.
Some of the lies
1. The Community Center lie.
One of the lies perpetuated about Hartung is that he wants to close the community center. Wrong. He said he would seek out community feedback on what to do with it, giving the citizens a voice in the matter. He said that if they can stop the golf losses, he’d be willing to keep the community center open while we build a new one. He discussed having the Hilton run one of the 18-hole courses (allowed in the contract) as a way of cutting the town’s expenses. He also believes the community center should include the items that citizens requested on the town survey, which is not currently the case.
2. The Incivility lie.
Hartung holds firefighters and police in high regard, yet a former firefighter wrote a scathing letter about Ryan, a man he’s never met, in which he claimed, among other things, that Ryan is uncivil for labeling developers “special interests.” Let’s be honest. The M-4 do not like having their donations put under the spotlight. They know it’s a problem that in the 2014 election, 80% of their donations came from the development community.
Lacking objectivity, the person who called Hartung uncivil has no problem at all with the mayor calling certain citizens, “the whiny minority” or “elitists.” Read that again. Calling developers “special interests” is uncivil. Calling citizens “the whiny minority” and “elitists” is not.
3. The Negative Signs lie.
This same person accused Ryan of owning the “Paid for by Special Interests” signs. Wrong again. Those are not his signs. In fact, all four of the challengers have been repeatedly accused of owning the anti-M4 signs. This is blatantly false. Most of the signs have been paid for by the PAC, Accountable Government Now. Other signs have been paid for by individual citizens, myself included.
4. The Character Assassination lie.
He also accused Ryan of lying about not knowing the man accused of “assaulting” Vice-Mayor Waters. Fact: That person was not on the list of e-mail supporters who were helping to organize the recall and Hartung had never met him. He just showed up to support the recall on the day that the petitions were being turned in. The whole story was blown out of proportion in an attempt to diminish Hartung’s character.
Keep in mind that if that person (a large man) had really “charged” at Waters as claimed, then Waters being elderly and of a slight build, would have hit the pavement. But that didn’t happen. What did happen was that Waters remained upright the entire time and even felt well enough to continue standing there taking pictures. If you were just charged at and assaulted, wouldn't you need to sit down?
5. The Challengers are anti-OVPD lie.
The spouse of an OVPD officer stated the following in a letter to the editor: “The four members being targeted in this recall are the four standing between our law enforcement remaining intact…and it being dismantled.”
Fact: When Ryan was asked during the Sun City Candidate Forum for his opinion on having an outside efficiency study performed on the OVPD, he responded:
“People say that I and some of the other people that are running are anti-police and that’s ridiculous. I have a wife and two little girls. Would I not want this community to be the safest it possibly can?.....I would not vote for anything that would reduce the ability of our police to protect us. It’s just ludicrous to even think that that would be an issue for anybody.”
The M-4 endorsements by police and fire are hollow. Firefighters and the FOP never wanted to meet with the challengers. How do you endorse one side when you’ve never even met the other side? Public safety is just a red herring that the incumbents use as a scare tactic to get votes.
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Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. Combining her love of animals and writing, she wrote her first protest letter at the age of 12 to the Canadian Prime Minister in support of ending the annual baby harp seal hunt. Years later, she flew by helicopter to the ice floes off the coast of Newfoundland where she was able to pet baby harp seals recently born on the frozen tundra. Her other interests include reading, nature photography, traveling to National Parks, Native American history, art galleries, museums, and following politics. In her past life, she worked in medical research at various University Hospitals in New England, including coordinating Oncology Clinical Trials and preparing manuscripts for publication in medical journals. Her husband is an Army veteran who served in Germany and South Korea. A former hippie, he attended the 1969 Woodstock Festival in Upstate New York. ---
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