Check out Currents, where Jim Nintzel and Taylor Avey detail last week's Legislative District 27 Democratic primary debate. At that debate, Kromko--a Democrat-turned-Green-turned-Democrat who is running against the two House incumbents--claimed as a fact that the Regional Transportation Authority election in 2006 was flipped by the Pima County Elections Division.
We've dedicated a lot of ink in these pages to the election-integrity matter, which was spurred on by a public-records request and subsequent lawsuit by the Pima County Democratic Party. Overall, the request/lawsuit has been a great blessing, by revealing irregularities and poor procedures in the Elections Division, and by forcing the Board of Supervisors to be more transparent regarding all sorts of matters. (You can read more about that in this week's cover story.)
However, one thing the request/lawsuit has thus far not turned up is a single shred of credible evidence that the RTA election was anything but legitimate.
Is it possible the election was flipped? Yes, it's possible, but given all of the available evidence, it seems highly doubtful. (The fact that the conspiracy theorists' best evidence comes from a barroom-conversation claim by a fired county worker with a bone to pick and a possible drinking problem--and who refuses to speak to the media--only weakens the theorists' case.) The ballots should definitely be recounted just to make sure--but I doubt even that would convince some conspiracy theorists.
In any case, it's insane for Kromko to make these claims in the absence of any real evidence. Kromko and everybody who would consider voting for him should get their heads examined.
