The primary 2010 election will be held in March. Previously, Satish Hiremath announced he would run for Oro Valley Mayor.
Now Mary Snider announced she is a candidate for Town Council.
The terms of Mayor Loomis and Council Members Abbott, Carter & Kunisch end in June 2010.
We look forward to endorsing candidates that we believe will serve the citizens of Oro Valley WITHOUT any obligations to support ANY special interest group.
When we hear the list of candidates, we will endorse ONLY those we believe will follow that credo.
In the 2008 election we saw fit fit to endorse Bill Garner & Salette Latas. Bill & Salette were the only two candidate to ever win a seat in a primary election.
Here is The Explorer article on Mary Snider.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/13/news/doc4a09fa6e26644789058875.txt
19 comments:
Note that Mary Snider is a licensed real estate agent.
Personally I don't favor having realtors on council nor on boards and commissions. Plenty of possible conflict of interest issues.
Just my two cents.
But she might be a wonderful person.
I think the fact that the Explorer is lavishing all this attention on Hiremath and Snider when they ignored Latas and Garner tells you everything you need to know about where they're coming from.
OV Mom, I hate to jump to conclusions but newspapers rely on advertising so I do think the paper looks out for their own financial interest first.
There was another guy who had expressed interest in running for council and supposedly was fiscally conservative can't think of the name.
Oh good. A real estate agent who's endorsed by the president of the Oro Valley Fraternal Order of Police. I don't need a crystal ball to see where that will lead us.
I agree that real estate agents should not be on the council due to conflict of interest issues. Won't they tend to side with developers since developers are their bread and butter?
And don't even get me started on the FOP angle.
Three points are worth noting at this time.
1) If KC runs for reelection, he will have our support, and should have the support of most citizens of Oro Valley.
2) If a candidate we are talking to decides to run, that candidate will have a 100% endorsement from us. We believe most citizens would agree with our assessment.
3) To date, we do not know of any candidates worthy of serving the PEOPLE OF ORO VALLEY.
Would someone (or all of you) please take a few moments and clearly why you believe a conflict exists between a person with a real estate license and serving on the Town Council?
Real estate agents serve as an agent for a home buyer or a home seller. How does that create a conflict?
I left out the word "explain" after clearly in the first paragraph.
Being I didn't make the original connection, I won't answer Objective Thinker.
However, there must be something about SOME real estate agents that make them unelectable.
I'm sure Mr. Cox can relate to that.
As usual Art, you refuse to participate other than to attack. Your inability to put forth anything that is remotely intelligent is duly noted.
Wow! Are you serious? Excluding realtors from serving on the city council?? Who's next on your unfit list--attorneys? Newspaper reporters? I think this waterdog is going to find another pond to swim in.
P.S.
I'm not a realtor nor am I married to one.
Oh, please!
When we start to limit public service based on professions, we approach a totalitarian state.
It doesn't matter one whit to me what someone's profession is, as long as that person is qualified for the job and recognizes any conflicts of interest as they arise. Many people involved in land development/sales have served honorably on the Planning and Zoning Commission, or on the Design Review Board.
We should allow Mary and Satish to lay out their platforms and plans, and--only then--decide if they are worthy of our votes.
And, Art, if you are talking about 100% endorsement "from us," does that mean that you are registering the blog as a political action committee? Be careful of the legalities here, as you well know.
Thinker,
You asked, "Would someone please take a few moments and clearly explain why you believe a conflict exists between a person with a real estate license and serving on the Town Council?"
I already answered this when I said, "Won't they tend to side with developers since developers are their bread and butter?"
Allow me to elaborate on that statement.
When we moved from the East Coast to Arizona, we hired a real estate agent to sell our two condos back east. She was supposed to be working for US, the sellers. She had a fiduciary responsibility to act in OUR BEST INTEREST. However, shortly before the closings on the two condos, we discovered that she had been acting on behalf of the SELLERS all along. The things she did are too numerous to list here but suffice it to say there were MANY instances in which she failed to protect us, she protected the buyers instead, which ended up costing us a lot of extra money.
Why did she choose to represent the buyers instead of us? Because we were moving to Arizona and she knew that she would not be getting any more listings from us. However, if she could make the BUYERS happy, then she would stand to get future listings from them. They would call her to list their condos when they were ready to sell.
I did some investigating after we moved here and sure enough, both of those condos were resold just 2 years later and she was the listing agent for both of them! See? Both of those previous buyers were so happy with her work on THEIR behalf that they hired her when they were ready to sell.
She knew that those two buyers were her future "bread and butter" and that's why she "catered" to them instead of representing us.
And since that experience, I now distrust real estate agents. I think most of them are just parasites clinging to their next meal.
My apologies to any real estate agents who are reading this who do not subscribe to the above method of doing business.
But the fact remains that people who work in sales (ANY type of sales, not just real estate) have just one goal and that is to make their NEXT sale and they will kiss up to whomever they think is going to make that happen.
So the council member who is also a real estate agent is going to kiss up to the developer who wants to build the next master planned "community" because the sooner it gets built, the sooner he/she can start selling them!
This is my opinion based on prior observations.
I must agree that profession should not disqualify a person from serving on a council, board, or any other municipal or governmental entity unless there exists a GENERAL AND OVERALL clear and present conflict of interest in such instance. If, even a hint of 'conflict of interest' should come up in a given circumstance, there are defined provisions that would necessitate the removal of said person from taking part in the discussion and outcome of the particular matter relevant to the 'conflict'. Reading about Ms. Snider and her affiliations past and present, and looking at the actions of the TOV past and present, I can understand that there are those who might be jittery about this person. As for me, though I have lot of questions, as I would with any candidate that I have not had the opportunity to review, I, personally, will refrain from an automatic reflex judgment.
As to Mr. Hiremath, once again I cannot make a complete assessment at this time and won't. I can say however that his service on GOVAC must be scrutinized as that fact of the matter IS, in my opinion, questionable. I have stated my appraisal of GOVAC in past postings and, in short, I feel that it has been less than exemplary. It remains to be determined if Mr. Hiremath shall be tarnished by his past presidency of this seemingly slipshod organization.
I should have added that while I don't think realtors (or any particular profession) should be disqualified from serving on town councils or boards, I would personally choose not to elect a realtor to one of those positions for the reasons I have already stated.
VC....
What you describe may be violation of the Code of Ethics established by the Nnational Association of Realtors. But you did not, nor should you provide sufficient information and this is not the forum for that. I will say that in the state of Arizona, Realtors are allowed to represent both sellers and buyers and it can be done successfully. Even when they are not representing both each side has duties and responsibilities to the other side.
"And since that experience, I now distrust real estate agents. I think most of them are just parasites clinging to their next meal." I will chose to believe in the bottom of your heart you are not putting me in that same category.
You go on to make negative comments about all sales people. Are you saying that any person involved in sales should not be allowed to hold office? Does the sales clerk at Dillard's have a realtionship with the dress designer or the company that manufactures the dress? Should we disallow Walgreens Managers to serve on the Town Council because they may face a decision on whether Abbott Laboratories may want to mve to Oro Valley.
The obvious answer is no.
VC...your argument is based on your personal experience with one person. Maybe we should ban liberals from running for Council because they can't tell the truth. :-)!!
The sales people I'm referring to are the ones who make all or most of their money from commissions.
As you said, this blog is not the place to discuss this stuff, so I'll be brief. I have had other bad experiences with people in commission sales. You know, they're soooo nice and accommodating to you while their MAKING the sale, but AFTER the sale, their whole demeanor changes.
Since this thread is about Mary Snider who is a real estate agent, I'll add this little tidbit. About 15 years ago I was friends with a real estate agent. I was appalled at the stories she would tell me about her "methods" in making a sale. She even described herself as being, "just one step above a used car salesman." I ended my friendship with her rather quickly.
I'm sure not all sales people are like this, but there is a definite pattern here.
We did file complaints against our agent with the Board of Realtors and the Dept. of Business Regulation. Unfortunately, both entities bungled the case worse than Inspector Clousseau. After 3 years of trying to get a resolution, we walked away from it. It was too difficult to fight it from 2,000 miles away. And I'm sure our realtor was counting on that fact to help her wiggle out of the mess.
If memory serves me correctly, Rich Feinberg was a realtor and he ran for Council. He was on the Development Review Board-pro development?
About Mary Snider, Project Grad is a wonderful event and I do not in any way want to take away the credit Ms. Snider deserves.
My concern is what appears to be a lack of any real interest or involvement in the town except for Project Grad.
What experience would she bring to the Council? Making the tough decisions requires individuals who have taken the time to explore the challenges we face. I haven't seen her involved in Town issues.
I hope Ms. Snider and Dr. Hiremath begin to communicate their ideas and solutions. Then the voters will decide if either of them have earned a vote.
Lamb Chop--Although not pertinent, Richy Feinberg did serve on the DRB and did run for council. As to being "pro development," that is as incorrect as he being a real estate person. Richy was a retired graphic artist.
Your take on Ms. Snider does seem to be totally correct, and as a candidate, she is the person we should be concerned about.
Artmath-Another lesson in 'don't believe everything you read'!!
I thought I had read RF had retired and joined his daughter in Real Estate several years ago.
It'll be very interesting to see the candidates that announce their intentions for the next election.
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