On Tuesday, the Pima County supervisors, in a 2-3 vote, blocked the public’s view of a memo from the County Attorney’s Office on the failed American Airlines’ deal. Supervisor Ally Miller had hoped the document would be released in order to give the public a look at the public’s bad business investment.
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Huckelberry submitted the American Airlines funding request to the Board of Supervisors with the following material: |
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Memorandum from Chuck Huckelberry indicating he had earmarked $100K in the Board Contingency fund for this bailout in the county budget. Agreement between Tucson Metro Chamber and American Airlines. Memorandum dated Dec. 22, 2016 from David Hatfield, Senior Director of Business Development and Marketing for the Tucson Airport Authority to Bill Assenmacher, identified as the Chair for the Air Service Task Force for the Tucson Metro Chamber. |
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has worked to keep the memo, dated June 17, private through a claim of attorney/client privileged. The supervisors could have waived that claim, but it was widely known that the memo would have proved to be very damaging.
A similar memo dated June 18 was released earlier this year. Given Huckelberry’s past performance, it is believed that Deputy Pima County Attorney Regina Nassen was instructed to modify the June 17 memo to his liking.
The memos centered on the $100,000 payment to American Airlines in order to secure direct flights from Tucson to New York. Not long after the $100,000 payment was made, American Airlines suspended the flights.
The ADI reported in August that Huckelberry failed to share that vital information with all members of the Board of Supervisors regarding the deal before it was approved in a 4-1 vote on April 18, 2017.
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