If you are tuning in to the Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting this morning, you are going to be disappointed.
Today is the first day of their new schedule, which promptly starts at 1 p.m. for their study session, but the real fun starts at 5 p.m. rather than the old 9 a.m. start time.
It is still being held in the same place, it still will be on YouTube, and — carrying on with tradition — Joe will still be live-blogging.
Supervisors hope that moving the time slot will make it easier for working folks to show up and weigh in on issues impacting their neighborhoods and lives.
We’re not sold yet that the new schedule will actually result in better public attendance, but we’re hopeful that it at least brings out some new faces for the “call to the audience” portion of the meeting.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors meetings start at 5 p.m. now, instead of 9 a.m.
We told you yesterday about the big item on the the docket: the political drama surrounding Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. But it’s a packed agenda, so here are five other things we’re watching:
A new elections task force
The supervisors will be asked to appoint one of their own to the newly reestablishted Elections Oversight Task Force (not to be confused with the Election Integrity Commission). Among other responsibilities, the task force is tasked with:
Reviewing and ensuring that security plans for early voting, early drop of and Election Day polling take into account the steps necessary to ameliorate or deconflict any attempts to interfere with a free and fair election in Pima County;
Providing rapid responses for any controversies, protests, voter intimidation attempts and more at early voting sites, early drop off sites, polling places and either the County Recorder’s Office or the Election Department;
Develop a Rapid Response media and social media plan to quickly respond to and/or quash any early-voting or voting-day controversies, rumors, misinformation or disinformation
At least one resident is concerned about the new task force, which is entirely composed of county employees or citizens appointed by the supervisors. They suggested adding representatives from both major parties, a nonpartisan watchdog, and a member of the public. Not a bad idea, especially the nonpartisan watchdog part. (Joe will volunteer!)
Ajo side hustle
The county took over the Ajo Domestic Water Improvement District last December after saying it was no longer “sustainable” to run the district with just a volunteer board. The long-term plan is to sell the district to the Arizona Water Company, but the county will vote on an agreement to manage the district until the Arizona Corporation Commission approves the sale.
Christy’s beef about the RTA election
No, this has nothing to do with John Brakey’s legal threats. But Supervisor Steve Christy asked for a post-election review following the March 10 RTA Next election, including where Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly sent the Votemobile during the election.
The Votemobile
Her report includes a list of “challenges” with the election, including that her office received “many complaints about the lack of Election Day Vote Centers in this election” and her list of proposed resolutions to those challenges. You can read the report here.
Love for Rio Nuevo
After Republican lawmakers zeroed out the budget for the voter-approved Rio Nuevo two weeks ago, Supervisor Rex Scott put a non-binding resolution on the agenda supporting the sales-tax-funded improvement district.
“(C)ontinued State authorization and funding of the Rio Nuevo District are critical to sustaining momentum in economic development, supporting local businesses, attracting new investment, and maintaining Tucson’s competitiveness as a regional economic and cultural hub,” the resolution reads.
Proclaiming we have too many proclamations
When the supervisors packed a recent meeting with 17 proclamations — but forgot one for Earth Day — we wondered how long it would take for someone to propose a cap on proclamations. Now, they’re considering a policy that would limit supervisors to 24 proclamations a year.1 However, it also encourages individual supervisors to read as many proclamations as they want outside the county administration building.
Just a thought, but it’s not too late to spend one on World Press Freedom Day (which was on May 3) to honor all the journalists working here in the Old Pueblo!
The view from afar: The City of Tucson’s decision to block ICE agents from using city property wasn’t unique in Arizona, it was just like what Phoenix and Pima County did. But those ordinances were unique if you look at them from a nationwide perspective, the Guardian writes. Most cities that passed ordinances to block ICE agents were Democratic-run cities in Democratic-run states. And that has led to the current battle between Arizona’s GOP lawmakers and Democrats on city councils.
Controversy brewing: The University of Arizona will confer about 10,000 degrees to students at Friday’s commencement ceremony, per UA News. The ceremony will feature remarks from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, although student advocacy groups at the UA want to cancel his speech due to allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment, which his lawyer says are “false and defamatory,” the Arizona Daily Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports.
What a drag: Democratic U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva says she tried to get federal funding for repairs at the Copper Queen Library in Bisbee, but Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee blocked it, Mia Kortright reports for the Tucson Sentinel. Grijalva says GOP lawmakers objected to the library hosting two events that featured drag in 2019 and 2024. She says the Republican majority is “now using their power to dictate what is acceptable in those spaces and — punishing communities when they don’t agree.”
Betting on the long game: The November elections are still a ways off, but the race in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District is already the hottest political topic in Cochise County, the Herald/Review’s Matt Hickman writes. Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani was “way more forthright than I expected,” reporter Terri Jo Neff said after interviewing the two-term incumbent. Ciscomani’s Democratic rival, JoAnna Mendoza, remains largely unknown, Hickman writes, which could benefit her if the race boils down to a referendum on President Donald Trump.
“And yes, it is still early. Which means everyone gets to say ‘it’s still early’ right before reading polls, checking betting markets and pretending they are not already gaming out every television ad, debate answer and outside-money carpet bombing between now and November,” Hickman writes.
Before you donate to a political campaign, consider how much more you’d get with that money by supporting local journalism.
King Solomon would approve: After years of debate over 120 acres of undeveloped desert, the Oro Valley Town Council decided to preserve 88 acres and allow townhouses and commercial buildings on the rest, Arizona Public Media’s Nick Rommel reports. The acres are part of the Oro Valley Town Centre, but they also have a lot of history and scenic views of the Santa Catalina Mountains.
“It’s beautiful. You can’t replace this. It’s an amazing, sacred space and I think the plans that I have seen don’t do this justice,” resident Kurt Weirich said.
Wanted: Straight white man potentially named “Coffin.” Presumably lives in Scottsdale. Seemingly loves horses and Oregon. May have a wife who also answers to the name “Coffin.”
Yesterday, Republican Rep. Rachel Keshel and her husband Seth Keshel — two high-profile peddlers of election conspiracies — attempted to convince a Pima County Superior Court judge that a man named Geoff Coffin was actually the one behind a Twitter account called “William Coffin,” a pseudonym for an anonymous internet sleuth who is convinced the Tucson-area lawmaker does not live in her district, as required by law.2
Problem is, Geoff told the Republic’s Ray Stern that he has no idea what they’re talking about.3
“I decided that I better get a lawyer because I don’t know what the hell’s going on and I don’t really know how to defend myself,” Geoff said. “I’m just wondering if, that after this is all over, do I have any recourse to get any of my time and money back?”
The judge didn’t buy Keshel’s case, and he threw out the restraining order that the duo had obtained against Geoff for “harassment.”
The whole episode was pretty bonkers — from the fact that the duo believes tweeting about them constitutes harassment, to the fact that they pinned it on the wrong guy.
But perhaps the funniest part of yesterday’s hearing was the Keshel family’s “evidence” to prove that Geoff is actually the sleuth known as William.
In true Keshel fashion, the duo connected some pretty flimsy dots (like identifying rooftops from a photo of a sunset that “William Coffin” posted online and other tweets he has posted, including one about him petting horses).
“My husband is a military intelligence officer. That’s what they are trained to do, find the enemy,” Keshel said at the hearing.
Meanwhile, “William Coffin” is having a lot of fun.
1 County administration also puts proclamations on the agenda; it’s unclear whether they will hold County Administrator Jan Lesher to the same rules.
2 When “William Coffin” did an anonymous Q&A with the Arizona Agenda last month, he said “I am a Coffin,” but his online persona is drawn from an ancestor with the same last name who’s buried in Sleepy Hollow.
3 For what it’s worth, during the court hearing, we direct messaged “William Coffin” on Twitter. He responded, and Joe didn’t see George touch his phone. So, like the judge, we’re convinced the Keshel fam has the wrong guy.