Thursday, November 12th, 2009...10:11 am
What Now?
It’s been official for a few days, and it looks like Steve Kozachik is already putting a staff together for his council office. I’m curious about what he is going to be able to accomplish.
First off, he needs three other votes. On paper, this would be Bob Walkup plus the two moderate Democrats, Shirley Scott and Rodney Glassman. There is a problem here: Kozachik went out of his way in the last days of the campaign to call out Walkup for refusing to endorse him. How deep is the trouble between them? As for the two Democrats, Glassman will likely be leaving soon for his Senate campaign and his replacement will not necessarily be as moderate (especially given that Karin Uhlich and Regina Romero will have a big part in picking the replacement) and Scott can be mercurial, especially now that she has mayoral ambitions.
One big concern I have is the attitude Kozachik expressed about Downtown during the race. He painted a picture of a crime-ridden, impoverished wasteland that would be unrecognizable to people that live and work there. This may have just been campaign hyperbole to keep East Siders happy, but it was especially worrysome coming from someone who was looking to represent and advocate for the area. Kozachik has talked about “transparency” for Rio Nuevo, which could earn the support of Uhlich and Romero, but given who was backing his campaign, the jury is out as to whether that was campaign rhetoric.
6 Comments
November 12th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
I know he has an exploratory committee, but I am not so sure Glassman will take the plunge against McCain…
November 13th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Have you looked at the results of the voting and given it any thought? You appear to be in denial, the voters just told you the City Council is broken. You can’t spin this and be honest to yourself or your readers.
November 15th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Nina lost because the no votes were personal. She lost her base because we found out we weren’t her base after all. What goes around, comes around.
November 16th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Walt, if Nina lost because the voters believe the city council is broken, then why did they re-elect every other democrat, and defeat the republican’s pet initiative?
November 16th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Elisabeth gets it right on Trasoff. Run as a friend of downtown neighborhood dwellers and then turn you back: nope. It was going to be close in any event; with the general personal indifference or even animosity in the heavy voting Dem. inner-city precincts — where she didn’t even bother to campaign — she was done for.
November 16th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Mr. Stephenson,
Tucson is the same town that it was a few weeks ago. The incumbent did some things that made folks angry enough to vote for someone else. If Kozachik interprets the election results as some sort of mandate to carry out the Tea Party agenda, then he will meet the same fate as Trasoff in four years.
Consider that the same electorate gave Democrat Richard Fimbres a solid win, despite the fact that the Republican establishment spent tens of thousands of dollars in the last week of the campaign in an effort to smear him.