Big Dollar Contributions Have Power Because Money Buys Access and Special Consideration

Rodman and Solomon votes "follow the money"
In the two years they served with Hiremath and his majority, Council Member Solomon voted lockstep to approve every developer request. Rodman voted to approve all but one request, a request to rezone a property that we believe is near his home.

Instances in which they voted in favor of contributors.
November 16, 2016
At their first council meeting in office voted to approve blading of the Silverhawke property. This property was owned by the Kai Family, one of their contributors.

March 15, 2017
In March of 2017, Solomon and Rodman approved the PAD rezoning that allowed major campaign contributor Diamond Venture' Self Storage facility at Steam Pump Village.

May 16, 2018
Rodman and Solomon voted to approve rezoning of land owned by the Kai Family. This involved approximately 199-acres located west of La Cholla, between Lambert Lane and Naranja Drive; and 8.2-acres located on the northwest corner of LaCholla and Naranja Drive.  Their vote in favor of this rezoning is particularly noteworthy because Solomon and Rodman allowed multiple concept plans for each of the parcels within the PAD. The owner only needs to have further town review if they want to switch to a different concept that was approved in this bundle of plans.

On November 20, 2014, while on the Planning and Zoning Commission, Rodman approved the general plan amendment that allowed this master planned community.

Rodman and Solomon supported the construction of high density residential homes on top of Big Wash
December 6, 2017
Solomon and Rodman voted to approve General plan Amendments to allow residential housing to be built in in Rancho Vistoso Neighborhood 5. This land is on top of Big Wash. While on the Planning and Zoning Commission, Rodman had voted to amend the general plan to approve this land use change.

The "Big Wash" Project

Will the "beat go on"?
June of 2020
As a lasting thank you, we notice that Rodman and Solomon 2020 Campaign signs are posted in front of the Silverhawke Sanctuary property at the intersection of First Avenue and Lambert Lane.  This, at a time, when council is to consider a general plan amendment to add more residential land to Silverhawke, a Kai sponsored General Plan Amendment.  

Unseemly but not illegal
There is nothing illegal about taking a campaign contribution from a contributor and then voting in favor of their requests. It just feels unseemly.

Apparently, the voters agreed in 2018.

Tired of seeing all those yellow signs announcing possible land use changes and knowing the likely outcome if Hiremath remained in power, they decided it was time for a change. They replaced Mayor Hiremath and his majority with four resident centric council members: Mayor Winfield, Vice Mayor Barrett and council Members Jones-Ivey and Nicolson.

Perhaps they will consider the same when it comes to the reelection of Rodman and Solomon.
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The Solomon Chronicles. Part 3. Who funded Solomon’s 2016 Town Council campaign?

With the Town Council election on the horizon, LOVE will be presenting a series of articles entitled, “The Solomon Chronicles,” highlighting the abysmal record of Councilmember Steve Solomon who is running for re-election. This weekly series will highlight his 4-year record of incivility and his interdependent relationship with local developers. This series was written by a LOVE contributor and contains a synopsis of previous LOVE articles plus new information.
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Solomon plays hide and seek with the voters
The following information was obtained from Solomon’s Campaign Finance Report covering the period from June 1 through August 18, 2016. Of note is that this report was due between August 19-26 and Solomon submitted it to the Town Clerk on the very last day at the very last minute…August 26th at 4:45 PM.

One can only assume that he was attempting to withhold this information from the public for as long as possible, knowing that local media would report on it and he didn’t want Oro Valley voters to know that his campaign was entirely funded by wealthy special interests.

Another indicator that he was trying to hide his donor funding came during the August 16, 2016 candidate forum when the candidates were asked how they financed their campaign. Rather than admitting that his campaign was funded by wealthy developers and builders, Solomon answered that his campaign was funded by people "who share my values."

 
Solomon’s 2016 Town Council election donations

HSL Properties                       $17,912.
Venture West                              1,000.
Peter Fasseas (Developer)         1,000.
Diamond Ventures                      1,900.
David Godlewski (SAHBA)            145.
Realtors of Arizona PAC             1,000.
SAHBA PAC                                  250.

TOTAL                                    $23,207.

Solomon received no campaign funds from Oro Valley residents

Of note is that only one contribution ($145.00) “technically” came from an Oro Valley resident, but this resident also happens to be the Director of the Southern Arizona Homebuilders Association. All other donations (totaling $23,000) came from individuals who do not even live in Oro Valley!

Questions to ponder
• Why did no Oro Valley residents contribute to Steve Solomon’s campaign?
• Why were developers and builders so driven to get him elected?
• Why was Solomon so compelled to keep his campaign donors hidden from voters?

NOTE: A $5000. donation from Jim and Vicki Click was included with the HSL donations because they have a cross-donating agreement with HSL on other matters.
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The Solomon Chronicles: Part 4. “Conflict of Interest” will be published next Wednesday.

Love Exclusive: Special Interest Money Poured Into The 2015 Recall and The 2018 Primary Election

This is the second of a three part series on the influence of developer and contractor donations on Oro Valley politics. Our first article covered the special interest campaign the Hiremath epiphany years: 2010 through 2014. We follow today with a discussion of the special interest donations to the special election of 2015 and the 2018 election.
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El Conquistador Country Club purchase causes recall election
In 2014, weeks before the primary, Mayor Hiremath had an epiphany. Suddenly, Oro Valley needed a community center and it was his top priority. The community center came with 45 holes of golf, purchased from his top campaign contributor, and the top campaign contributor to his three majority members, HSL Properties. This we reported in the first article in this series.

The purchase of the property by a 4-3 council majority vote threw the town into chaos. Residents initiated a referendum to challenge the purchase. The referendum secured ample signatures. The town clerk rejected the petitions on the basis that a wrong number was used on the top corner of the petitions. A court upheld her decision. Petitioners then initiated a recall of the Hiremath Majority.  There were ample signatures for a recall election on each of the four.  The Hiremath Majority retained their council seats.

Click to enlarge

2015 Recall Election
Who did the Hiremath Majority turn to finance the 2015 recall campaign? The same people who got them elected in 2014. This included HSL, the company that sold the golf courses to the town.

HSL contributed 44% of the $61,291 special interest money raised by the Hiremath Majority.

Add to that PAC money of $8,500, which is also special interest money. The total is almost $70,000. That's the total raised, except for a large family contribution that Hiremath received.

2018 Primary Election
Fast forward to the 2018 election. This is the one that the Hiremath Majority lost. By this time you might have guessed who financed the 2018 primary election of the Hiremath Majority. If you guessed "special interest" and "HSL" then you have it right... again.

The Hiremath Majority raised more than $85,000 from individuals and $14,500 from PACs. Special interests contributed nearly $75,000. That's 87% of all individual contributions. And yes, HSL was the number one contributor.

By now, you probably see a pattern: Big money from a few contributors flowing into Oro Valley's election of the Hiremath Majority.

Next week, we going to look at the 2016 election. That is the one that current council candidates Rodman and Solomon won. We'll see if special interest money financed their campaigns.
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Next Monday: Special interest money and the 2016 Election

LOVE Exclusive: How Special Interests Can Corrupt Oro Valley Politicians

This is the first of a three part series on the influence of developer and contractor donations on Oro Valley politics
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Satish Hiremath introduced big money fundraising in 2010
Satish Hiremath introduced Oro Valley to the power of money in small town elections in 2010, He funded his campaign at a level five times greater than his opponent. Hiremath raised more than $45,000:

$20,000 from personal loans, which his PAC later repaid

$13,000 from special interests contributors

$12,000 from family and individual contributors

Hiremath won the election by less that fifty votes.

2013: First time HSL donates to Hiremath campaign
Many more donation were to follow.

2012: End of Innocence
In 2012, Hiremath got a taste of developer money as Diamond Ventures entered the scene.

In 2013, HSL Properties jumped on board (panel right).

This was the beginning of the end of innocence in Oro Valley fund raising. What was once a very pleasant, peaceful community was about to become a Developer paradise. Every general plan amendment and just about every zoning change was approved by council from 2010 through 2018.

$59,300 in developer money bought the 2014 election
In 2014. Mayor Hiremath and incumbent council members Hornat, Snider and Waters practiced the big money campaign finance model. This time special interest contributors kicked in $59,300. This was a four fold increase from 2010.

2014 Donations to Hiremath Majority

The top five donors (panel left) pumped $59,300 into the campaign of the incumbents. This is 76% of all contributions from individuals.

They did this at a time when these donors had continuing business dealings with the town, dealings that required council approval.

Here's the big one....

August 2014: Hiremath extols concept of community center... HSL becomes a "community partner"
On August 7, 2014, during a 2014 candidate forum, Hiremath extolled the virtue of Oro Valley having a community center.

At that time, LOVE asked if Hiremath had an epiphany. Up to then, the only council member who had even mentioned the need for a community center was current council candidate, then council member Bill Garner.

We reported in 2013: "Council Member Bill Garner has been advocating for a community center for years. His calls have been ignored by the Majority-4. 'I've been investigating a public/private partnership that could put a community center at Steam Pump Ranch,'" 

Now, suddenly, a community center was Hiremath's idea.  According to Hiremath speaking at the forum: "I'm in dialogue with other community partners about maybe doing something of a community center." (Source: Greater Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum) "

The HSL Community Center
The "other community partner" to whom Hiremath had referred was HSL Properties. HSL was negotiating the purchase of the El Conquistador Resort. They needed to shed the golf courses in order to make the deal financially advantageous for them. At the same time, they wanted to retain five-star resort status. This meant that they needed to be able to offer golf.  The deal they cut with the Town of Oro Valley gave them both.

What Hiremath did not say at that forum was that the "community center" was a clubhouse that served the El Conquistador Country Club, that  the country club was part of the deal and that the seller was his biggest campaign contributor. He also failed to share this salient information during LOVE's September interview with him.

The result of all of this was a 2015 Recall Election and even more special interest money. That's our story next time.
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