The nomination petitions of Oro Valley Town Council candidates Doug Burke and Joe Winfield are being challenged in court due to irregulaities. Oro Valley resident Don Bristow filed Pima County Superior Court Friday, September 18.
The cases will be heard in Pima County Superior Court on Wednesday, September 23 at 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
The Oro Valley Mayor Satish Hiremath, Vice-Mayor Lou Waters and Councimembers Joe Hornat and Mary Snider are facing recall due to their decision to invest Town resources this year in a golf course at a time when golf is losing popularity. The golf course purchase appeared to many to be a sweetheart deal between Hiremath and controversial developer Humberto Lopez.
Burke had filed to run for a Council seat, and would have faced popular political newcomer Shirl Lamonna or Snider. Winfield filed to run for the mayoral seat against Hiremath and challenger Pat Straney.
According to multiple sources, Burke’s petitions were left blank on one side, omitting the certification by the petition circulator. As a result, all of Burke’s petitions are being challenged. Only a portion of Winfield’s petitions that lack the certification, and some individual signatures of people who are not registered voters in Oro Valley, are being challenged.
There has been considerable speculation, fueled by their late entrance into the race, that Burke and Winfield were running merely to split the vote in order to protect Hiremath and Snider.
Attorney Bill Risner discusses the candidates: