Little Bits

Cox to take on the OVCN challenge

Oro Valley resident and former Planning and Zoning Commissioner Don Cox announced last week that he is going to try to broker a deal among the town, the Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene ("OVCN"), and the Concordia/Buena Vista Group. His goal is for all to avoid litigation that he asserts will happen if the request by OVCN to build a sports facility on land next to the church is denied by the town. You can read about what OVCN wants to do and how the affected residents feel about that here. Cox made his announcement on the Oro Valley Podcast.

Cox posted the following on Nextdoor: "I have been told by reliable sources that OVCN has an alternate plan. I have also suggested that since there are more multi-purpose fields coming on line in the relatively near future, OVCN and the Town may be able to work out some deal with the Town of Oro Valley that is compatible to all parties (Town/Neighbors/OVCN). If not, then I see this issue heading to litigation. That’s not beneficial to any party. The Town NEED’s to get more involved. Once again their secrecy isn’t doing them and favors." 

The situation is complicated.  The town can not get involved at this point because it has not completed the application review process. The Church must complete the process, which includes an appeal to and denial by the Board of Appeals, before it has a case to bring to court.  Still, anything Cox can do to help would be good.

Keep Oro Valley Strong PAC closes...Oro Valley First PAC opens

The PAC, Keep Oro Valley Strong, raised $52,000 in funds in the last election. The funds were used to support the candidacies of the challengers by disparaging the accomplishments of the incumbent candidates. The PAC has closed operations, disbursing its remaining funds: $4,100 to the Arizona Heroes Memorial LLC and $2,000 to the Oro Valley First PAC. That PAC was opened in late December. The chairperson is Carolyn Cox. The treasurer is Don Cox. This is the same Don Cox who is working on the OVCN deal noted above.

Preserve Vistoso devises a new mission... implies "partnership" with town.

The group, Preserve Vistoso, has a devised a new mission. Originally, the group was formed to save the former Vistoso Golf Course from development. They raised $1.8 million from residents to help fund the purchase, together with the town and with The Conservation Fund ("TCF"). The problem was fixed when TCF, brought in by several Rancho Vistoso residents, thanks to a recommendation of former Council Member and then council candidate Bill Garner, purchased the property. TCF then turned the property over to the town with a permanent conservation easement. The town is in the process of building a master plan for that property. Tomorrow night, the Town Council will study the latest plan. 

Preserve Vistoso claims to be working in partnership with the town. "We’ve had several conversations with Kristy Diaz-Trahan, Oro Valley Director of Parks and Recreation, about how we can work together to realize the vision of the preserve and we’re excited to further define our new role..."which is "...partnering with the Town of Oro Valley to support the implementation of the soon to be completed Vistoso Trails Master Plan." No formal relationship has been established.

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Guest View: Barrett Details Alleged Campaign Finance Violation By Council Challengers

Yesterday, LOVE investigated assertions and allegations being made by a PAC in mailers to residents. That article referred to a Campaign Finance Violation complaint filed by Vice Mayor and Council Candidate Melanie Barrett. Today Barrett, in this Guest View, explains her assertions.  LOVE added the subheadings for reader convenience.

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Those hateful and untruthful mailers got me thinking… 

You, like I, may have received the hateful and untruthful mailers being sent out by a political action committee or PAC, Keep Oro Valley Strong (KOVS). 

Upon receipt of these mailers, I began to look closer at the Campaign Finance Reports of this PAC. I wanted to find out who would fund those kinds of lies and slanderous flyers against Mayor Winfield, a man I know to be honest and well intentioned. 

My opponents are likely violating campaign finance laws

Instead, I found something even more concerning..a very likely illegal campaign finance violation being committed between the PAC and the 4 candidates running for office that they are supporting. Accordingly, I have filed a Campaign Finance Violation Complaint on July 11, 2022 with the Town Clerk, and posted it on my Facebook and web site. You see, the PAC is representing itself as an independent entity from the candidates it supports, but is it? If there is illegal collusion going on, then a serious campaign finance violation against state law has occurred. 

The Candidates Guide to Campaign Finance states: “There are certain factors that create a presumption of coordination: - An agent of the person making the expenditure is also an agent of the candidate whose election or whose opponent’s defeat is being advocated by the expenditure. For example, “a political consultant should not advise a candidate and an outside group that conducts expenditures in the candidate’s race.” (State law is ARS 16-922).

It turns out, all four challengers and the PAC are using the same marketing company. It is legally a presumption of illegal collusion. That company is “Campaign Associates of Southern Arizona.” (Casapolitical.com) Under the law, doing this creates a presumption of illegal collusion. The only possible defense to this is proof of following a pre-arranged strict firewall that separates the PAC from the candidates.

That marketing company seems to be a one person organization

Looking more into Campaign Associates of Southern Arizona, I learned some interesting things. The address of this company is someone’s residence in downtown Tucson. This limited liability company was formed on March 18, 2021. This is less than 3 months before Danny Sharp announced his Mayoral Campaign according to The Arizona Corporation Commission (source link). The contact is Matthew Mann, the very same person who designed all 5 websites of the candidates and the PAC. 

A one person organization is too small and conflicted to be able to legally avoid collusion

In law school I learned about firewalls that separate information and treatment of entities. They require a large enough organization to have and strictly maintain the firewall. One person acting as an agent cannot maintain a firewall. It seems unlikely that this small, mysterious company in someone’s apartment run by what appears to be a single individual or a very small organization has the policies and administrative controls to operate an effective firewall. 

If this is true… what does it mean Oro Valley for a former Chief of Police and three council candidates to be in violation of the law?

Simply put, if this highly likely scenario ends up being the case, Danny Sharp, his council candidate slate, and KOVS PAC have been illegally colluding under campaign finance law for the majority of their substantial expenditures. 

There seems to be blatant disregard for not only the facts, but also for the law and state campaign requirements.

That disappoints me from a man I used to respect. 

Update: Latest Candidate Campaign Finance Reports further demonstrate illegal collusion between the candidates and the PAC

This Guest View was written prior to the latest Candidate Campaign Finance Reports being released. The staggering number of donations from developers and special interest groups to the PAC and challenging candidates almost make Quarter One numbers, the ones upon which I based my view, seem quaint. However, the fundamental and serious problem remains: The Candidate Committees seem to be illegally colluding with the KOVS PAC. If anything, this illegal collusion is amplified by greater PAC expenditures.

I will be performing some analysis of the updated financials and filing new campaign finance violations. First, it would be helpful to get the actual information, as several campaign finance reports were flat out mis-filed. Sharp leaves off the required occupation and employer information for many. Rodman includes no disbursements at all. Hurt, the self proclaimed "numbers guy," includes only one page of donations from individuals and is missing approximately $14,000 in donations from individuals. (Likely at least $11,000 of this is coming from HSL properties as it did for Erceg.) More to come when the correct information comes in.

Melanie Barrett

Oro Valley Vice Mayor and Council Candidate

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Note: The subtitles in the view were created by LOVE for reader convenience.

Glossy Mailers and Flashy Ads Misstate the Facts… Add Nothing To The Conversation

Glitter ain’t gold

Glossy mailers and ads in a local advertising circular are making assertions against the incumbents running for Mayor and council. These mailers are being paid for by the “Keep OV Strong Pac”. 

A week ago Friday, resident Jack Stinnett wrote a Guest View disclosing some of those behind this PAC. They include current Council Members Mo Greene and Steve Solomon and current council candidate Bill Rodman.

One marketing company working for all

It is rather unseemly that a current Council Member and one who wants to be a Council Member would condone these ads and mailers. According to a campaign violation complaint filed by current Oro Valley Vice Mayor and Candidate Melanie Barrett, the PAC is allegedly using a third party (Campaign Associates of Southern Arizona) to collude with the campaigns of the challengers. That organization is operated by MattMann Creative, a Tucson based individual (aka Mattmannportfolio).  That entity, under the various companies, has received ten’s of thousands of dollars from the PAC and from the candidates, according to their filed campaign finance reports.

The assertions that are being made add no value to what should be a serious conversation about the future of our community.
Let’s take a look at three of them:

“You put us $52 million in debt past year”
It is true that the town issued bonds in the amount of $52 million last. year. However, $27 million was used to eliminate a liability the town owed to the State of Arizona Public Service Pension Retirment Fund. So, the net added debt incurred was $25 million. 

“You lied about the Naranja Park Bond” 

We know of no lie that any of the incumbent candidates made regarding the $25 million parks bond. They never hid its purpose. What is true is that the incumbents abandoned the town’s forever “pay as you go only” philosophy for building parks by supplementing funding for parks with these bonds. These same incumbents had previously publicly supported “pay as you go only.” Not exactly a lie….but a definitely change in position.  The bond is paid from an existing sales tax revenue source. There are no new taxes. This is Winfield’s justification for supporting the bonds.

You violated Arizona open meeting laws on several occasions

The “violation” to which the mailers refer was filed with the Pima County Attorney Office. They looked into one complaint. The county attorney made a preliminary finding of a violation without investigating the matter with the town. Town outside council Rothschild provided the facts. After reviewing these facts, the county attorney concluded that “further investigation would not be productive and further action on the complaint is not warranted.” That letter further states that “…the additional materials [provided by Rothschild] demonstrate that the Council’s use of executive session was arguably justified… and that the OVTC made good faith efforts to comply with the OML in conducting town business.” (Source: Letter From Pima  County Attorney, March 31, 2021)

We suggest that you throw the glossy mailers away and focus on what the candidates are saying

None of these assertions form the basis for an informed decision for whom to vote. We suggest that you focus on what’s real… The candidates… What they have done for the community… What they would like the future to be.

Because it is the future that matters.

The real issues need to be debated by serious candidates, not by a PAC of wolves.

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Guest View-Jack Stinnett: Who’s Behind the Keep OV Strong PAC?

It's election season in Oro Valley. We’ve seen numerous political attacks on Next Door by Keep Oro Valley Strong (KOVS), unsolicited emails, postcards and even a tacky four page tabloid decrying the ethics and honesty of our current Mayor and Council.

So I ask the question – who’s behind this? Political Action Committees must report expenses and donations.  I checked the Town clerks' website.

Here are the "founding father” donors to the KOVA as reported in their 4th Quarter 2020 initial campaign finance report (pages 5 and 6):

1. Dr. Harry “Mo” Greene - Current councilmember 
2. Don Cox – Chairman 2018 KOVS; a Sharp advocate on Next Door and in Explorer letters to the Editor 
3. James Prunty - Former OVPD volunteer training coordinator; author of Next Door attacks on our "inferior" council members 
4. Terry Wolf - 2022 President Carmel Pointe HOA Board of Directors ( in Canada Hills) 
5. Phillip Wheeler – 2022 KOVS treasurer and 2022 Treasurer Carmel Pointe HOA Board of Directors ( in Canada Hills )
6. Joe Hornat - Former Town Councilmember; Voted off Council in 2018 
7. Bill Rodman - Former Town Councilmember; Voted off Council in 2020 and Current council candidate 
8. Thomas Plantz – Current Chairman of KOVS and Chairman of failed 2019 recall of Mayor Winfield and Vice Mayor Barrett 
9. Dick Johnson - Former Town Councilmember 
10. Mike Schoeppach - Former Men’s Golf Association President 

Since the initial filing, additional donations were reported in the KOVS 1st Quarter 2021 report. Dr. Harry “Mo” Greene kicked in another $100 and current Councilmember Steve Solomon contributed $250.

The majority of Keep OV Strong contributors are located in Carmel Pointe and other Canada Hills neighborhoods.

So what is the common denominator? This is only my opinion, but:

First and foremost, KOVS consists of current and replaced “pro-growth” politicians and Hiremath supporters. They were unhappy that the Hiremath council was ousted in 2018 and that they no longer run the town. They oppose Winfield’s responsible growth vision and support 75’ high and 800’ long apartments at the Oro Valley Marketplace.

The second issue is that many former country club members resent sharing their golf courses and tennis courts with the rest of us. Remember, they had exclusive access to a 18 hole course every week before the Winfield Council hired Indigo Golf and changed the town courses from a country club to a public course model.

The final straw was when the Winfield Council voted to expand "their" half percent sales tax revenue from dedicated to golf and the Community Center to support all town parks. This enabled the town to use golf savings to fund the expansion of Naranja Park, fix the golf irrigation on both courses and rebuild the tennis courts.

I fully support town residents being involved and politically active. But this group’s slime ball attacks belong in Chicago, not Oro Valley. When you are barraged with biased opinions and false information, it helps to know the source.