Oro Valley incumbents Mayor Satish Hiremath, and Council members Hornat, Snider and Waters are relying heavily on developers, land owners and special interest donors in their re-election bids, according to campaign finance reports.
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Recently filed reports show that Hiremath, Hornat, Snider and Waters collected over $56,000 in the first filing period from parties who have business dealings or expect to conduct business with Oro Valley in the future.
Top contributors include the Kai family, Humberto Lopez’s HSL employees, and Jeff Grobstein, president Meritage Homes.
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“Special Interest influence on Oro Valley land use decisions is the major complaint I hear from voters,” said mayoral candidate, Joe Winfield. “I thought the incumbents would reconsider relying on Special Interest money in this election in light of allegations of ‘Pay to Play’ by residence of the town. But, in further review, it looks as though the incumbent mayor and town council were forced to take special interest contributions because small $50 or less campaign contributions from town residents to Mayor Hiremath amounted to less than $100.” After further review of Hiremath’s filing, it was discovered that less than 3% of his contributions came from supporters who reside in Oro Valley.
Winfield says that he and his fellow challengers, Joyce Jones-Ivey, Josh Nicolson and Melanie Barrett “will not seek nor accept contributions from special interests but will represent Oro Valley residents in our Council decisions.”
