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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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