Jonathan Hoffman: What I like about Tucson City Council candidate Val Romero

If, while driving around town, you have seen his signs and wondered, "Who is this Val Romero guy?" I'm here to help. By the way, you may have noted that the signs made mention of the Tucson City Council. That is because Val is a candidate for Tucson City Council in the upcoming election.

Val is a 51-year-old native Tucsonan. He is a graduate of Salpointe High School and dabbled with college for a year at the University of Arizona. He then began working in the local broadcast industry, eventually starting his own DJ business.

The DJ business is fun when you are young, but eventually Val chose to seek his fortune elsewhere. He made a living as a worker in a variety of roles until 2005 when he opened Arizona Grill and Hearth, a small business that sells and installs residential and commercial barbecue grills and fireplaces. He also has a line of his own sauces.

So, why does a happy, healthy, successful, well-rounded man with a wide breadth of life experience choose to enter the world of politics - as a candidate for elected office no less!

Actually, this is not Val's first go-round with running for office. He ran against Jose Ibarra for Ward I back in 1999. The experience led him to abandon party politics altogether, he became an independent, remains an independent, and is running as an independent today.

It is refreshing to see a man who is a real independent and not a party guy who lost his primary but is determined to run anyway; or, for whatever reason, wants to downplay his party affiliation.

A genuine independent, such as Val, need not worry about "securing his base." Everyone in the city is his base (Tucson City Council elections are citywide, not by ward). He doesn't have to pay homage to the notion that "Trump is the Devil!" or "Biden is an idiot!"; rather, he can focus his attention on the day to day issues facing his fellow Tucsonans.

I recently had an opportunity to sit down with Val and talk about some of those issues.

Public safety is high on his list. He said, "Right now we don't have enough police officers to handle the number of crimes that occur in a city of our size. Increasing the number of police officers will be a high priority." He went on to say that the recent raise in pay is nice, but will not solve the retention problem.

Val believes in supporting local businesses. "When we support a Tucson local business, the money stays in our community. It helps other people in our community keep their jobs and pay their bills", he said, though he agreed that there is a place for big box stores.

Val is also concerned with the divisiveness he believes is fostered by mayor and council, citing the recent controversy over the Black Lives Matter (BLM) banner/street decoration and the proposed blue line street decoration honoring Tucson Police Department (TPD) as an example. 

Val pointed out that the Tucson City Charter puts the People of Tucson over the Mayor and Council in its hierarchy of authority, thereby requiring the mayor and council to serve all Tucsonans, not just those on their side of the aisle.

Without being asked directly, Val gave what I think is the bottom line as to why he is running, stating, "I'm not doing this because it's easy, I'm not doing this to make friends, I'm doing this to address a situation, to attempt to save our city."

I'm inclined to believe him. He has not received any out-of-state political action committee (PAC) money (so far) which suggests that an elected office in Tucson is not a mere stepping stone to something greater. Neither does he seem to be an ideologue who views Tucson as a battlefield on which to continue a crusade. He can criticize some of the actions of the mayor and council without condemning them as bad people.

Interestingly, Val believes that ward only elections make much more sense than the current system of primaries by ward with the general citywide. Working within the current reality, he built his campaign with a citywide orientation. "

It is possible for a candidate to win a Tucson City Council election while losing in the ward. As I recall, that was the case when Steve Kozachik won the City Council election, while losing in Ward 6, when he ran as a Republican in 2009. Did I mention that Val is running in Ward 6?