Guest View-Jack Stinnett: Who’s Behind the Keep OV Strong PAC?

It's election season in Oro Valley. We’ve seen numerous political attacks on Next Door by Keep Oro Valley Strong (KOVS), unsolicited emails, postcards and even a tacky four page tabloid decrying the ethics and honesty of our current Mayor and Council.

So I ask the question – who’s behind this? Political Action Committees must report expenses and donations.  I checked the Town clerks' website.

Here are the "founding father” donors to the KOVA as reported in their 4th Quarter 2020 initial campaign finance report (pages 5 and 6):

1. Dr. Harry “Mo” Greene - Current councilmember 
2. Don Cox – Chairman 2018 KOVS; a Sharp advocate on Next Door and in Explorer letters to the Editor 
3. James Prunty - Former OVPD volunteer training coordinator; author of Next Door attacks on our "inferior" council members 
4. Terry Wolf - 2022 President Carmel Pointe HOA Board of Directors ( in Canada Hills) 
5. Phillip Wheeler – 2022 KOVS treasurer and 2022 Treasurer Carmel Pointe HOA Board of Directors ( in Canada Hills )
6. Joe Hornat - Former Town Councilmember; Voted off Council in 2018 
7. Bill Rodman - Former Town Councilmember; Voted off Council in 2020 and Current council candidate 
8. Thomas Plantz – Current Chairman of KOVS and Chairman of failed 2019 recall of Mayor Winfield and Vice Mayor Barrett 
9. Dick Johnson - Former Town Councilmember 
10. Mike Schoeppach - Former Men’s Golf Association President 

Since the initial filing, additional donations were reported in the KOVS 1st Quarter 2021 report. Dr. Harry “Mo” Greene kicked in another $100 and current Councilmember Steve Solomon contributed $250.

The majority of Keep OV Strong contributors are located in Carmel Pointe and other Canada Hills neighborhoods.

So what is the common denominator? This is only my opinion, but:

First and foremost, KOVS consists of current and replaced “pro-growth” politicians and Hiremath supporters. They were unhappy that the Hiremath council was ousted in 2018 and that they no longer run the town. They oppose Winfield’s responsible growth vision and support 75’ high and 800’ long apartments at the Oro Valley Marketplace.

The second issue is that many former country club members resent sharing their golf courses and tennis courts with the rest of us. Remember, they had exclusive access to a 18 hole course every week before the Winfield Council hired Indigo Golf and changed the town courses from a country club to a public course model.

The final straw was when the Winfield Council voted to expand "their" half percent sales tax revenue from dedicated to golf and the Community Center to support all town parks. This enabled the town to use golf savings to fund the expansion of Naranja Park, fix the golf irrigation on both courses and rebuild the tennis courts.

I fully support town residents being involved and politically active. But this group’s slime ball attacks belong in Chicago, not Oro Valley. When you are barraged with biased opinions and false information, it helps to know the source.