Critics of Arizona’s Open Meeting laws have long argued that they merely force politicians, like the members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors to be more secretive in their questionable dealings. Unless, one of the members of a Board, involved in a secret deal, admits to collusion, or there is an email trail, there is little chance that a complaint will result in a finding that the law has been violated.
That was the case last week, when the Arizona Attorney General’s Office determined that, based on the evidence before it, no determination could be made that four of the Pima County supervisors colluded when they swept road repair funds out of Supervisor Ally Miller’s District into Supervisor Ray Carroll’s District.
The finding was made despite the fact that Carroll admitted in video of the February meeting, that neighbors in his District had been advised that the road repair fund sweep and a subsequent vote on the matter would take place at that meeting, the Attorney General’s Office could not prove that the other supervisors colluded prior to that meeting.
The board voted 4-1 to sweep $872,000 away from Miller’s District in retaliation for her exposure of the Board’s continuing abuse of the County taxpayers and businesses. Miller also had the gall to suggest that the County use monies intended for the County administrator’s pet projects on road repairs instead.
“After reviewing your complaint and the attached materials, video recordings of the board meeting and sworn statements from other members of the board and county administrator, I cannot substantiate a violation of the OML,” read the letter from Christopher A. Munns, with the Attorney General’s Office. “Accordingly, this office will take no further action regarding the complaints.”
Miller said she accepted the findings on this matter.
According to sources, there are other Open Meeting Law complaints against the Board of Supervisors still being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office.
Earlier this month, two Marana town council members were found to have violated the law by a Phoenix law firm hired by the town to investigate allegations.
In that case, Tucsonnewsnow.com reported that one violation stemmed “from a number of one-on-one discussions Councilman David Bowen had with Mayor Ed Honea, and fellow council members Roxanne Ziegler, John Post, and Herb Kai after a July 1 council meeting regarding Heritage Farm Park.”
Attorneys with the Law Offices of Curtis, Goodwin, Sullivan, Udall & Schwab concluded, “This violated the open meeting law because they serially involved a quorum of the Council and were related to a matter reasonably foreseeable to come before the council,” according to Tucsonnewsnow.com.
Tucsonnewsnow.com reported that the law firm “concluded a second open meeting law violation occurred when Councilwoman Roxanne Ziegler sent an e-mail to three other council members constituting a quorum, “The e-mail was a violation of the open meeting law because it proposed certain actions on matters reasonably foreseeable to come before the council.”
In the case of the Marana violations, the officials were quick to accept blame, according to Tucsonnewsnow.com: “Both Councilmembers take full responsibility.” Roxanne Ziegler said, “it was a mistake and I’ve lost sleep over this. I’m a third term council member. I know better. I was in a hurry. Instead of hitting two keys, I hit three keys.” In her e-mail to three other council members Ziegler wrote, “it looks like we all agree the Heritage Farm discussions need to stop for now. And we can do that with our votes at 8/5/14 meeting.” Councilman David Bowen was also quick to own up to his mistake, “it was an inappropriate thing to do but I didn’t know it at the time.” Bowen says he never intended for his conversations with other members following a council meeting to influence a vote, “As a Councilman for Marana, I have a responsibility to uphold not only the law but also its spirit. In some recent one-on-one discussions with other council members I did in fact violate the law with regard to open meetings, although I was not aware at the time that I was doing so. I accept full responsibility for my actions. Marana’s citizens deserve transparency in their elected leaders.”
In the case of this Pima County complaint, clearly the neighbors, who showed up to the meeting at the invitation of Carroll, must have known that the matter was “reasonably foreseeable” to come before the Board, however no evidence was secured to show that Carroll acted in concert with supervisors Elias, Bronson, and Valadez.
Reportedly, several complaints have been filed with the Attorney General’s Office since the beginning of February. Three, including Miller’s complaint, are below:
Complaint 1
Complaint 2
Complaint 3
