Heaping No Sense on Top of Nonsense

Don't be confused that these blog entries say "Posted by Dave Croteau." It's me, Dave Ewoldt, and I'm the one fully responsible for the following analysis and opinion.

I've heard that the local Democrats have started polling. In the context that this was related to me, it means that the Croteau campaign is not only being taken seriously, but that certain people who consider themselves to be power brokers are beginning to worry. Which is as it should be. This campaign is serious and is speaking to real values that people hold, not to the special interests the powers that be are beholden to.

This used to be considered tilting at windmills. But then a few inconvenient truths made themselves known in a manner that could no longer be easily spun. These include global warming, the energy crisis, the collapse of financial markets that were created from something less substantial than fairy dust, and the completely insane clinging to a growth paradigm at the expense of life itself.

In the Tucson metro area, this latter factor manifests as the continuation of approving trophy subdivisions in the foothills and big-box development incentives as the overall water table continues to drop and the Colorado River that we depend on for about a third of our water continues to dry up. Tucson Water states that if current trends continue, and there's no reason to doubt that they won't, we probably have less than five years of CAP water left. Meanwhile, the Rio Nuevo downtown master plan depends on 30% growth over this time frame.

Tucson City Councilwoman Shirley Scott's comments at the Sonora Progressives' Democratic candidate panel discussion last night could have almost been considered comical, if they weren't so sad as to be downright scary. The gist of her comments in reply to a question about constraining growth in light of diminishing water supplies were basically that we're helpless in the face of growth (the victim defense), we can't slam the door in the face of the people that we're enticing here at taxpayer expense, and besides, the City of Tucson has a piece of paper saying we have a 100 year assured water supply, which was written by "experts" paid to say what CoT wanted to hear, and anyone who disagrees based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence to the contrary is a mere philosopher, so we might as well get used to the fact that we're going to continue on a path of mutually supported suicide as we consume the few natural resources we have left. And the other officially anointed Democratic candidates just nodded their heads in agreement. Kinda like those little figures you see in the back windows of people's cars. Meanwhile, the progressive Democrats in the audience were left to shake their heads in both amazement and puzzlement.

Just move along folks; there's nothing to see here.

Another indication that the powers that be are getting worried was made apparent by another piece of nonsense that crossed my desk this morning. Someone whined to the Pima County Democratic Party that a few Dem Precinct Committeemen had exercised their rights to free expression and democratic values and publicly endorsed Croteau's candidacy for mayor on the Green Party ticket. Even typically loyal Dems were doing this in good conscience, as the Democratic Party in Pima County couldn't manage to rustle up a candidate to run against the Republican incumbent, citing Mayor Walkup's popularity in doing such a fine job of handing Tucson's future over to sprawl proponents in the development lobby, and to transnational corporate interests busily sucking the life out of the local economy.

Local Democratic Party leaders were so incensed over these endorsements for a Green Party candidate that they're threatening to excommunicate the unfaithful. The official justification for this edict is that a little known--and unsupported by the Democratic Party--resident of a homeless shelter had filed as a write-in candidate for mayor on the Democratic ballot line.

This provides a prime example of how the Democratic Party is eating itself from within. The Democratic party hierarchy in Pima County seems more intent on re-electing Republican Mayor Bob Walkup than Walkup's own campaign committee does. The rank & file, however, continue to flock to Croteau's campaign to offer support for the only candidate with both a viable vision and a realistic plan to relocalize our economy for a sustainable future based on ecological wisdom and social justice.

Dave Ewoldt
Campaign Manager
Dave Croteau for Mayor