Wednesday, May 7th, 2008...3:53 pm
Um, Not So Sure About That Mike
Michael Bryan is taking a bit of heat over at his blog for suggesting that Joe Higgins is a stalking horse for Al Melvin. I’m a bit leery of that one. The guy just doesn’t seem like Melvin’s cup of tea. I’ve been involved in disagreements with the man and never once did his veins pop out of his neck. I don’t think that his previous claim to fame in the political arena (forging a compromise on A-frame sign regulations) is the sort of thing that gets Melvin of his supporters particularly enthused.
The folks over at Sonoran Alliance have a rebuttal of Michael’s theories. This will be the first and last time that I link to Sonoran Alliance as the result of agreeing with them
I only have the vaguest notion of who Michael’s “deep throat” is, but the question really needs to be asked about who would benefit by trying to link Higgins with Melvin. Given who he runs with now, Higgins has a decent chance of peeling off some of Ann Day’s establishment support. The best way to prevent this is to have someone tell them that Melvin (who doesn’t even live in Pima County, much less Day’s district) is somehow behind Higgins’s candidacy, framing the whole thing as “Sensible Businessmen v The Looney Tunes.” Sounds to me like exactly the line I’d expect to hear from Ray Carroll and his allies, who’d rather not have to put out backfires while looking for Ray’s coveted third vote on the board.
6 Comments
May 7th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more, Tedski. I agree that Ray Carroll is trying to do anything he can to get “his third vote”. He’s already playing puppet-master of the local democratic party by getting them to find opponents for all the democrats on the board and not even attempting to find a challanger for Ray Carroll. I understand why they wouldn’t try to run a Dem in D1 but D4 could be a fight. There are a lot of Independents in D4 and Ray trys harder to cause trouble than he does to serve his constituents.
I am sick of the local dem party being controlled by a Republican. I’ve heard Ray say that DBG is his third vote and it makes me sick because if she wins it would be true.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:28 am
As a strong supporter of Donna Branch Gilby and someone who has known and worked with her for years, let me say how ridiculous it is to think Donna would be ruled by anyone, let alone Ray Carroll. Donna holds very strong beliefs, and while she is far from dogmatic and listens to everyone, she is not one to be swayed by anyone with political motives. She will be her own voice on the Board, and since I agree with her on most issues, most specifically water and election integrity, she will be a voice I want to see on the Board.
True, Carroll has been a strong supporter of election integrity, to his credit. It is a shame that Democratic Board members allowed him to steal this bipartisan issue which has been championed by local, state and national Democrats. If Carroll continues to support that issue, there is a good chance he and Donna will be on the same side when that comes up. I say, great! That means we’ll be that much closer to having fair, carefully monitored elections in Pima County. And if Carroll agrees with Donna on other issues, then they could vote similarly there as well. Donna supports the idea of bipartisan agreement. But believe me, she will not compromise her principles for anyone.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Wrong, Wally. Where did you get this fantasy tale? I would be very surprised if Ray Carroll actually said this to you. Because he expressly denied saying any such thing to me when I asked him at the recent State of Pima County event. I know Ray, I do not know you Wally, so I have to believe Ray.
I have had several conversations with Ray Carroll (he is my supervisor), and I know both Sharon Bronson and Donna Branch Gilby (whom I have known for several years). I can assure you that Ray Carroll did not recruit Donna Branch Gilby to run against Sharon Bronson. Donna made her decision to run on her own initiative, she did not have to be recruited by anyone, and certainly not by Ray Carroll. I know this to be fact. The only conversations Donna has had with Ray Carroll were public at several Board of Supervisors meetings (I was at those meetings and I can attest to this), and at political events at which Ray was also present. Is it a sin to be cordial?
There is a Democrat who is, or was recently, exploring a run against Ray Carroll. And the Democratic Party would welcome a strong candidate to run against Ann Day. I have personally spoken with two individuals who eventually declined to run against Ann Day. So when you say no one is trying to recruit candidates to run against the Republican supervisors, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
No Democrat is going to be elected in November who would give Ray Carroll and Ann Day a “third vote” for Republican control of the Board. Whoever is spreading this nonsense around town is delusional. Donna is a certain Democratic vote (she is the former Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party and First Vice Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, for godssake!) The Board will remain firmly in Democratic control.
So stop this nonsense Wally.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Donna Branch-Gilby speaks very clearly and straighforward about why she is running for Pima County Board of Supervisors. She has long exemplified Democratic principles and worked hard to get Democrats elected. Sharon Bronson’s failure to act on those principles and critical issues that concern so many of us is what prompted Donna to run for that position. The notion that she would have walked away from much greater opportunities to simply serve as a puppet on a local board is totally absurd. Any thinking person would be hard pressed to find a real motivation for Donna to vote for anything other than on it’s own merit. If it coincides with Ray Carroll’s position or anyone else’s, so be it.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I do know that as the Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party Donna Branch-Gilby was excellent and tough and fair. I expect no less from her to be independent minded on the Pima County Board of Supervisors should she prevail. She chose to challenge incumbent Bronson mainly due to the election integrity issue, which seems valid to me.
No voter in Pima County wants to hear that there has been tampering with the past election votes.
Supervisor Carroll was the only one on that board who wanted transparency and open access to the data, as far as I know.
As a former 3 year board member of the Friends of Agua Caliente (Park) I know Supervisor Carroll has done a lot of work for his constituents in District 4, where the park is located. So I wonder about the first commentator’s statement that “Ray trys harder to cause trouble than he does to serve his constituents.” Hasn’t he been re-elected a few times which must indicate his popularity and hard work?
I seriously doubt that Donna Branch-Gilby would be a “puppet” for the Republican Supervisors on that board. She has been too strong a Democratic leader in this county for that to happen.
May 8th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
As a Democratic volunteer, I worked directly for Donna Branch Gilby when she was Democratic Party Chair. She is an outstanding leader and tirelessly serves her country, state and county . There is no way any one who has ulterior motives will misguide this lady. She is too smart for such folly. She will support programs which are the best for the citizens of Pima County, regardless of which political party champions them.
All Pima county democrats are upset with the fact that two democrats on the Board did not listen to the election integrity committee findings.
Their failure to support election integrity is the major reason their seats are being challenged. We all admire Ray Carrol for his brave vote for election integrity, in spite of the Huckelberry line. We like people who vote for what is best for the public, regardless of party.