Some members of Oro Valley Thrives (aka The Green Shirts) have posted false information on social media. Another “Green Shirt” wrote a scathing email to the mayor and council where she made numerous false accusations against Mayor Winfield and Vice-Mayor Barrett. While speaking at the podium at a recent council meeting, she admitted to (and apologized for) sending the email containing her “little tantrum.” I then submitted a public records request to view the email for myself.
I won’t publish the names of the offenders so as not to embarrass them. What’s important is what they have falsely asserted and the fact that they are representatives of Oro Valley Thrives.
Are the leaders of OV Thrives disseminating this false information to their members or are these members just making it up as they go along? Either way, it doesn’t reflect well on them.
The “little tantrum” email
Below are some of the false accusations in the email that was sent to the mayor and council regarding council discussions that took place at the October 16th meeting.
1. She accused Mayor Winfield of removing Councilmember Rodman from his role as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner. She was furious about this. She referred to Rodman as "one of the most brilliant leaders on the commission."
Fact: Rodman is not a P&Z Commissioner. He is the council liaison to the P&Z. She didn't understand the difference. Second, the mayor cannot make the liaison appointments. He can only make his suggestions for these appointments. It is then decided by a majority vote of the council.
2. After falsely accusing Mayor Winfield of removing Councilmember Rodman from P&Z, she claimed that he did this so that Winfield could stack the commission with people who would vote to close the golf courses.
Fact: P&Z Commissioners have no power to close the golf courses. P&Z is an advisory board only and the most they can do with any planning or zoning issue is to make a recommendation to the town council, but it is the town council who has the final say and they are not required to follow the recommendation of P&Z.
3. She accused Vice-Mayor Barrett of lying about Town Council Attorney Cohen’s advice to not discuss the proposed council liaison appointments in advance in order to avoid the possibility of an open meeting law violation. She tore into Barrett asserting that Barrett’s claim of Cohen giving her that advice “was outrageous” and she accused Barrett of throwing Attorney Cohen “under the bus.”
Fact: It was Mayor Winfield, not Barrett, who stated that Cohen advised him to not discuss the liaison appointments in advance of the council meeting. Additionally, Attorney Cohen confirmed that he did give that legal advice to Mayor Winfield “out of an abundance of caution.”
4. She also claimed that Mayor Winfield was “boldly calculated and disrespectful” in deciding the liaison appointments on his own. She claimed that she attended the Town Academy and that Town Manager, Mary Jacobs “precisely outlined the protocol for council and issues” and she came away from this class believing that the council liaison appointments should have been “put before the Town Manager for ultimate decision.”
Fact: Again, the mayor proposes the liaison appointments and the town council ratifies them. I doubt that Jacobs ever said that this was the Town Manager’s role. It’s more likely, given this woman’s difficulty in understanding town protocols, that she once again misunderstood the information that was presented to her.
I am seeing a pattern here of a very ill-informed person who thinks that she’s well-informed. Why is this a problem? If she is out collecting signatures for the recall or posting comments about town issues on social media, she will be disseminating false information to Oro Valley residents who might sign the recall petition based on that false information.
Councilmember Bill Rodman showed some integrity
Despite all the false claims and accusations that she made in her "tantrum" email to the council, Councilmember Rodman was the only one of the Hiremath Holdovers who wrote back to correct her errors, stating that he wanted “to be sure that the facts are portrayed accurately.”
Councilmembers Solomon and Pina remain silent
Although Solomon responded to her, he did not correct any of her false claims. He simply said, "I share your concerns." Pina did not respond at all. By not correcting her, Solomon and Pina were allowing her to believe that all of her wild assertions were true. I guess when you don’t have any valid reasons for a recall, you have to allow people to believe in falsehoods and delusions in order to drum up enough signatures to get the recall on the ballot. Shame on Solomon and Pina for being accomplices in the propagation of this nonsense.
Part 2 will be published next Wednesday.
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Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006. In 2014, she organized a citizens group, who over a 9-month period, successfully negotiated a controversial 200-acre development project. In her past life, she worked in medical research at various University Hospitals in New England. Her interests include reading, writing, nature photography, travel, art galleries, museums, and politics.
