Political Notebook: 5 file to serve out Tucson City Council term

Candidates for Tuesday’s appointment, left open by longtime Councilman Richard Fimbres, had to have their completed documentation into the city clerk’s office by 9 a.m. Thursday.

Fimbres, who has represented Ward 5 since 2009, announced April 11 he would resign effective Thursday.

The Tucson City Council will be appointing one of the five candidates during a special meeting on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Whoever is tapped to fill Fimbres’ seat will serve through the end of the year. A separate set of candidates is running in the November election to serve a four-year term on the council.

The applicants are:

John Alan Adkisson is a founding member of Tucson Homebrew Club and opened Iron John’s Brewing Co. with John Markley in 2014, at its original location on Plumer Avenue. Adkisson said in his statement of interest he does not have “ambitions for political office beyond this role” and that his past political involvement “has been limited to researching issues only enough to make informed voting decisions as a citizen.”

David Garcia is the founder and CEO of Barrio Restoration, which began offering landscaping services to Tucson’s south and west sides in 2022, “with a mission to do good for the hood,” he said in his resume. Garcia, through Barrio Restoration, also organizes and hosts community events for families on the city’s south side, he said. His long-term goal through this work “is to develop a job skills program for youth and unhoused residents… to both revitalize neighborhoods and foster local pride in community ownership,” he said.

Gabriel Holguin was a Council Aide for Fimbres, from November 2019 through March 2022, and again from February 2024 until now. In his statement of interest, Holguin pointed to his educational foundation in business along with his experience in the Ward 5 office, which together makes him “confident in my ability to engage thoughtfully with city budget processes and to work closely with staff and stakeholders to ensure Ward 5’s needs are met with both responsibility and long-term vision,” he said.

Roberto Jaramillo has been a Ward 5 resident for over 65 years who served over three decades combined in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Navy Reserves and in the Arizona National Guard, according to his statement of interest. Jaramillo previously served as a member of the Sunnyside Unified School District governing board, a member of the Citizens Water Advisory Committee (CWAC), a member of the Unified Community Advisory Board (UCAB) and as a member of the Las Aguas Community-Based Organization, according to his resume.

Roque Anthony Perez II serves as the executive director of the Metro Education Commission, which advises the governing bodies on areas affecting educational welfare in the city and county. Perez also serves as a commissioner on the city’s LGBTQ+ Commission, and experiences on both commissions “have strengthened my ability to navigate complex systems while remaining rooted in the lived experiences of the people they are meant to serve,” he said. Jaramillo was part of the 2023 class of Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s 40 Under 40 awards.

Signature challenges too late in CD 7

If things had gone as planned, Daniel Butierez would be running without challengers for the Republican nomination in the special Congressional District 7 election.

But they didn’t go as planned.

Earlier this month, Butierez and two other Republican candidates filed signatures to run in the special election to replace longtime congressman Raul Grijalva. Grijalva, a Democrat, died March 13.

Butierez’s wife, Paula, filed complaints in Maricopa County Superior Court April 22, challenging the petition signatures filed by Republican candidates Jorge Rivas and Jimmy Rodriguez.

Each candidate needed 568 valid signatures from Republican voters registered in the district. But Paula Butierez alleged that most of the signatures filed by both Rivas and Rodriguez were invalid, coming from non-registered people, non-residents of the district or non-Republicans.

She filed suit within the normal period of 10 days required for signature challenges. But as it turned out, the challenge period is shorter, five days, for special elections.

As a result, Daniel Butierez, Rivas and Rodriguez will all be on the Republican primary ballot.

“Are there any signatures that didn’t meet the criteria? Maybe,” Rivas said Thursday. “But for that reason we got much more than was required.”

Rodriguez did not return a call seeking comment.

The primary election ends July 15, and the general election ends Sept. 23.

On the Democratic side, the candidates are: Deja Foxx, Adelita Grijalva, Patrick Harris Sr., Daniel Hernandez, and Jose Malvido Jr.

PAG/RTA conflict continues

The effort to oust Pima Association of Governments director Farhad Moghimi remained at a stalemate Thursday as the chief antagonists fired letters to each other about how the process should move forward.

On Wednesday, Oro Valley Mayor Joe Winfield, the chair of the Regional Transportation Authority board, outlined a proposed process for hiring new legal counsel, which would take place before any consideration of Moghimi’s job status. The process he proposed would be directed by Moghimi himself, who is being targeted for dismissal by some other board members.

On Thursday, the leader of that group, Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz, a new member of the Pima Association of Governments and Regional Transportation boards, objected in a letter to Winfield.

“Legal counsel serves the Board, not the administration, and it is entirely inappropriate for the Executive Director to hand-pick attorneys who may be advising the Board on sensitive or potentially contentious matters,” Heinz wrote.

The Pima Association of Governments and Regional Transportation Authority have overlapping boards with different leaders. After a contentious meeting on April 21, the two entities’ longtime counsel, Thomas Benavidez, resigned as legal counsel.

In order to consider dismissal or other employment action against Moghimi, the boards must first hire someone to give them legal advice on the decision.