Reveles: Questions for Pinal County Board of Supervisors

What’s going on with Arizona’s formerly Grand Old Party? Time for its genuine friends to organize a crisis intervention. Some concerning examples follow:

• Perpetuating the big lie that Donald Trump won Arizona’s presidential election, exemplified by submitting fake Electoral College documents.
• Declaring the traitorous Jan. 6 insurrection as “legitimate political discourse.” Sort of like calling the reputed crucifixion of Jesus a therapeutic body stretching exercise.
• Enacting extremist voter suppression laws that will effectively reduce participation by Arizona voters from all political parties.
• Unanimous Republican congressional voting against American Rescue Plan funds designed to help recovery from disastrous pandemic-caused economic losses suffered by Arizona consumers, businesses and government at all levels. Followed by Republican officeholders distributing those funds without noting the Democratic Party alone appropriated the critically needed funds over total opposition votes by Republican members of Congress.

Mr. Chairman, confusion and questions continue in today’s Board of Supervisors agenda:

• Seeking taxpayer funds to reduce impaired driving behaviors, funding county Narcotics Task Force and border drug smuggling interdiction.
• Seeking coronavirus emergency funding by the sheriff who publicly and cynically proclaimed he would not enforce public health protective policies within his own department’s personnel as they intermingle with vulnerable members of the public.
• Seeking approval of 14 unquestioned consent agenda items, that today alone total over $1 million in taxpayers’ funds for a sheriff whose far-ranging financial transactions raise realistic concerns of intermingled public funds with self-promoting political groups. The same sheriff whose activities have been under investigation by Arizona’s attorney general according to an AG public announcement.
• Seeking swift federal funding by Arizona’s congressional delegation for semiconductor manufacturing without asking Arizona’s Republican members of Congress to reconsider their documented opposition to the legislation that created this funding.

Many confusing questions but little opportunity thus far for taxpayers seeking accountability.

Mr. Chairman, it’s an embarrassing time for Pinal County’s Board of Supervisors to demand accountability by these self-aggrandizing Republican officeholders.

Finally, I remind you supervisors of the pending public request to schedule confidence-building county department accountability sessions with our taxpayers.

This was a request made in anticipation of learning how much our county is spending on unaudited questionable projects, including those listed above, and the as-yet unreported county expenses for the former president’s political rally in Pinal County promoted by the publicity-driven sheriff.

Members of the board, I support your efforts in seeking financial help for our county, but please demand explanations and accountability from those office holders whose actions raise fiduciary doubts about these seemingly vital programs.

Editor’s note: Gold Canyon resident Roberto Reveles made the above statement at the Feb. 23 meeting of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors.