Tucson's 9/11 event

There's another 9/11 event that has become extremely urgent, and I implore you all to take action on it. Please send this message to all the contacts you have here in Tucson, especially if you care about Tucson's future, and would like to see it develop in a sustainable manner.

I'm talking about the primary election this coming Tuesday. It is imperative that voters who are registered as Independent, Libertarian, Socialist, Communist, or as No Party Affiliation request a Green Party ballot at your polling place and vote with the Green Party for Dave Croteau for Mayor. This is our chance to take our future into our own hands.

The reason that this has suddenly become a pressing matter of extreme urgency is because John Kromko is still an official write-in candidate on the Green Party ballot line. Even though John said in an e-mail to the Pima County Green Party co-chairs (which I have a copy of) that he does not intend to run and would be withdrawing from the mayor's race, and publicly stated in his interview on Arizona Illustrated last week that he wasn't running, he hasn't officially withdrawn his name from the mayor's race. And recently a totally unexpected turn of events has come to light.

At least one of John's supporters (that we're aware of) for his water initiative sent out a letter to 500 Independents urging them to request a Green Party ballot for the primary and to write-in John Kromko in the mayor's race. The reason given to the Green Party by the person responsible for the mailing was, "just to show that people would vote for Kromko." To further complicate matters, the mailing was supposedly randomly generated from voter lists, so the Croteau campaign can't send a followup mailing to clarify the situation. While this mailing may have violated campaign laws (the responsible party is not registered as a PAC), that's not the issue of concern here.

And, I really don't think John is behind this, but his unwillingness to do anything about it I find more than a little puzzling.

Because of Kromko's statements, the Croteau campaign has not been focusing on the primary election with any type of get out the vote effort on its own behalf, and has been designing its strategy toward November's general election. We've been urging people to write-in Beryl Baker for the City Council Ward 1 spot, but weren't concerned about the mayor's race during the primary cycle. However, with 7,000 Independents requesting mail-in ballots, combined with the constant urging by Jim Nintzel in the Weekly's Skinny column--for what seems to be nothing more than his own amusement--for Independents to write-in Kromko, we could be blindsided by what appears, for all intents and purposes, to be a stealth campaign. If not by John, by his dedicated supporters, or more deviously (for all you conspiracy theorists), by those who are starting to worry about the growing support for Croteau because he is dealing honestly with issues that are of major concern to the voters of Tucson. The status quo has a serious challenge.

This write-in effort could completely derail the Croteau campaign and the growing groundswell of support it is gathering from across the political spectrum, and would basically ensure that Tucson suffers through another four years of business as usual under Mayor Walkup. Not that we don't think Kromko could beat Walkup (most pundits admit he's vulnerable on the issues) if Kromko were actually running a serious campaign, but he's not running a campaign at all for mayor, and has stated he has no intention of doing so. His time and energy is dedicated to Prop. 200.

I would also like to make it perfectly clear that I don't mean to disparage John Kromko in any way. The Croteau campaign fully supports Prop. 200, the Water Users' Bill of Rights, we're thrilled that Kromko displayed the good sense to switch to the Green Party, and I personally like John. His record, and the positive things he's done for the citizens of Tucson and Southern Arizona, stands for itself.

However, the fact remains that Dave Croteau is the only candidate running in this years election who fully understands sustainability, and more importantly, the plans and policies that must be enacted and undertaken on a systemic basis to ensure that Tucson has a sustainable future. Or, more accurately considering current global crises and their local impacts, any future.

So, while this post is probably way too long, I thought it was important to give you the full back-story. As Jefferson said, the people can be counted on to do the right thing, as long as they have full information.

I urge all of you who can do so to request a Green Party ballot and vote for Dave Croteau this coming Tuesday in Tucson's primary election. We're building steam, and we're fully qualified and ready to take on Walkup in the November general election.

Together, we can build the future we all know is just waiting for us.

Dave Ewoldt
Campaign Manager
Dave Croteau for Mayor