Over the past couple of months, LOVE has received information about three Oro Valley women who have received threats from Oro Valley Town Councilmember Steve Solomon. Part 1 will discuss the face-to-face threats that he made to two of these women. Part 2 will discuss the email threat that he made to a third woman.In order to protect the privacy of the two women who were physically approached and who are currently weighing their options for dealing with this situation, LOVE is only going to report on what happened and not release the names of the “victims” at this time.
Solomon vs. the First Amendment
In all three cases, Solomon launched completely uncalled for and out-of-control attacks on all three women due to these women commenting that they believe that wealthy special interest campaign contributions to the current Town Council are influencing Council decisions in favor of these special interest donors. The women have a First Amendment right to state their opinions.
The public incidents
Accounts of these incidents included Solomon acting like a maniac with his face contorted and twisted up as he yelled verbally abusive comments and threatened to sue each woman for slander. He asserted that their comments equated to accusing him of the felony act of bribery. Of note is that no one has accused him or any other council member of doing anything illegal…just unethical.
Hence, we think Solomon doth protest too much. He sure isn’t acting like an innocent person. He’s acting like an animal whose been cornered.
Evidence of developer influence
All one has to do is to look at the Campaign Finance Reports from council elections in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018 and compare it with Town Council meeting minutes to see that the wealthy developer donors have been getting all of their General Plan Amendments and rezoning requests approved despite vocal opposition from numerous well-organized residents who have repeatedly presented valid and well-researched arguments before this Council.
In every single instance, the Council sides with the developers and builders who have funded their campaigns. How can it be that the residents are wrong every. single. time? The law of averages does not support this notion.
What other conclusion can a person draw than to believe that there is a symbiotic relationship between developers and builders who need the Town Council to approve their development proposals and Town Council members who need those special interest donations in order to fund their campaigns.
Solomon puts the “mean” in demeanor
These three women are not the only Oro Valley residents who have made this observation. Numerous Oro Valley residents have made the same comments in Letters to the Editor and also when speaking at Town Council meetings over the past few years.
Not once has any Town Council member felt the need to retaliate by verbally accosting any of these residents or threatening them with lawsuits…until now…until Steve Solomon…and he has chosen to threaten only the women, despite numerous men having made the same observations. We’ll leave it up to our readers to determine why that might be.
LOVE has previously warned Oro Valley residents that Steve Solomon did not have the demeanor to be a council member as we had already witnessed his bullying behavior during his prior brief stint on council from 2010 to 2012. He hasn’t changed and his brutish and bullying behavior appears to have only gotten worse.
How have other Council members handled the same allegations?
As stated above, no other Town Council member has felt the need to retaliate by verbally accosting any of these residents or threatening them with lawsuits. Whenever the topic of special interest donations has come up in the past, the incumbents brush it off by simply stating that the accusations are not true. The only Council member who attempted to defend himself, was Councilmember Joe Hornat who stated with civility that there is nothing in it for him to cater to these special interests. While we appreciate his civility in addressing the topic, we disagree with his conclusions.
An inter-dependent relationship
LOVE will now explain exactly what’s in it for the council members.
Example: Bruce the Builder donates $10,000 to your 2014 campaign because he believes that he can count on you to represent him and his financial interests. If he’s right, Bruce the Builder will recoup that $10,000 donation many times over.
The well-financed councilmembers then vote to approve every development proposal, General Plan Amendment, and rezoning that Bruce the Builder requests over the next four years, allowing him to spread his cookie-cutter homes all over the land. Bruce the Builder’s $10,000 donation served him so well that he will now donate another $10,000 to each of the incumbents 2018 re-election campaigns. Wash, rinse, repeat.
That’s what’s in it for the council members. If they do the bidding of the wealthy special interests who funded their first campaign, those wealthy special interests will continue to fund every campaign. It’s an inter-dependent relationship.
This would explain why it’s the same wealthy members of the development community who donate substantial sums to the incumbents every election season. It’s not rocket science.
We just wonder why Steve Solomon is the only one who was so threatened by these comments that he felt it necessary to verbally assault and threaten two women (one of whom is elderly).
This is what he does best?
LOVE would like to remind our readers of some of the assertions that Steve Solomon made when he was running for Town Council in 2016.
• I am running for Town Council to bring civility, professionalism, collaboration, and positive forward momentum back to our community and Town Government. [Explorer Newspaper, June 8, 2016]
• Practicing civility and finding common ground are what I do best. [Facebook page, Solomon for Oro Valley Town Council, July 29, 2016]
We’d say that Solomon needs more practice. Does verbally assaulting people and threatening them with lawsuits for engaging in their First Amendment rights sound like the actions of someone who practices civility?
Part 2 will be published later this week and will discuss the threat that Steve Solomon made in an email to another Oro Valley resident.
