Harry "Mo" Greene is a candidate for Oro Valley Town Council. He brings extensive and commendable credentials in the medical community. He brings credentials in the art community through the Southern Arizona Arts Council and through his own artwork.
Greene has very limited involvement in the governance of Oro Valley. He claims he was on a Naranja Park focus group at an unidentified time. He spoke at the town council special session of July 24, 2019 at the Church of the Nazarene (time stamp is at 2:09) in favor of keeping 36-holes of golf. To our knowledge he has not participated in the town's community academy.
Greene has based his candidacy on three unsupported assertions; and on one questionable decision.
According to Greene's Explorer candidate profile, he is running because "...the most recent council decided to declare war on golf at the community golf courses." (Explorer) He asserts that the council leaders elected in 2018 declared a war on golf. The history of the past two years refute his assertion.
There is no "war on golf"
 |
Sponsored by "Greene for Oro Valley" |
Unsupported assertion 2: The Town Manager Knows Best
Greene does not plan to dig into matters. He is going to leave it to the town manager, who, according to Greene, is "far more knowledgeable" than anyone on council.
"We have a council and town manager form of government but the elected officials want to do their job and the job of the town manager, who is far more knowledgeable than they." (source)Greene's approach contrasts sharply to the approach taken by most council members and by two candidates for council, Bill Garner and Tim Bohen. These people are prepared for meetings. They do their homework.
Greene's approach is the same as that of prior council member Lou Waters. Waters, with some other council members of the Hiremath majority council, assumed that any questioning of town staff was "meddling." That council let municipal golf limp along, lose money. It took a new council and a community involvement approach to set a winning course. To do that, the new council had to "get into the weeds."
Questionable decision
The "Greene-Rodman-Solomon" slate is a reality. Does Greene know with whom he has cast his lot?
Harry Greene is an Oro Valley political novice. Perhaps he feels that he can not win on his own. Right from the start, Greene cast his lot with Solomon and Rodman. Greene cast his lot with Solomon and Rodman from the beginning, soliciting signatures for them at the same time he was soliciting signatures for his own candidacy
 |
| Courtesy of a LOVE reader |
Unsupported assertion 3: Residents are trying to "destroy each other"
"So, why not retire?" Greene, 78, asks during Horn's Town Hall (time stamp 17:57). "I thought that my experience would balance out my age and perhaps I could work to try to bring the community together and have us stop trying to destroy each other and put something together that would be great for the town."
This is the third unsupported assertion Greene has made. Oro Valley residents are not trying to destroy each other. Many Oro Valley residents are active in the community. They often express disagreements on matters. Our tradition of open hearings and board involvement helps the community reach agreement. Yes. It is a messy process. Yes. It is uncomfortable. Yes. It takes time. But it does work. Look at the agreement reached on municipal golf.
Oro Valley residents are not trying to destroy each other. We're are just trying to make it a better place.
---
On several occasions we requested to interview Greene. He told us that he was "not ready." So, we left it up to him to contact us. We've heard nothing from him. We relied on the following sources to prepare this article:
- “Heathers Corner" Greene Interview published on March 25, 2014
- Candidate profile of June 24 the Explorer published on June 24, 2020
- Jim Horn's Town Hall of June 25, time stamp (13:45 to 18:24)
- Mo4OroValley
