BALLPARK FIGURE: So it turns out Pima County's baseball stadium is going to cost about $10 million more than the original estimate of $25 million. No big deal, right? What's a 40 percent jump among friends? Does anyone else around here think we were hoodwinked on this deal? The original $25-million estimate came from the Southern Arizona Sports Development Corp., which was the same outfit that was negotiating with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox. We're not surprised those guys would keep the estimate low to build support for the teams. Hey, they were lying to us, but it was for our own good. But we do wonder why no one--from County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry to the previous Board of Supervisors--didn't bother to question the figures. We can only assume they were stupid, conniving or both. Even stranger than the jump in cost, however, is Huckelberry's contention that, even though the ballfield's going to cost an additional $10 million, the project still won't require any subsidy from the general fund. We smell more funny numbers in the latest projections, from the $200,000 Huckelberry expects to pull in from "concerts, community art shows, and car shows" to the anticipated crowds at ballgames. But we do like the concept of putting juvenile criminals to work cleaning up the ballpark. While we're at it, why don't we really make it a multi-use facility and house the little offenders in the stadium's clubhouses during the off-season? CITIZEN PAIN: It's always so delightful to read the afternoon daily. As you may recall, the Tucson Citizen worked very hard to convince the voters to elect GOP supe candidate Vicki Cox-Golder, who lost to Democrat Sharon Bronson. Now, in its wisdom, the editorial staff of the Citizen wants us to believe that any deviation from running Pima County government as it would have been run under a second GOP majority would be calamitous. Let's leave aside, for now, that newly emerging budget figures suggest the first GOP majority was calamitous in its own fiscally irresponsible way, and examine the Citizen's incessant drumbeat of support to retain County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. Citizen editorial writer Jill Blondin recently compared Huckelberry to former Chief Deputy County Manager Bruce Postil, the top choice of Demo supes Sharon Bronson and Dan Eckstrom. Blondin tried but couldn't find anybody to badmouth Postil. She obviously didn't try as hard to illustrate Huckelberry's shortcomings as she did Postil's, and the predetermined (by prior Citizen editorials) conclusion of her article was that the supes should leave Huckelberry alone or face looking like Ed Moore and the rest of the GOP gang did four years ago when they canned then-County Manager Enrique Serna and a bunch of others, including Postil. It's obvious the situations are hardly analogous. What the Citizen wants is to keep Huckelberry around and deny the new Democratic majority the prerogative of picking their own leadership, which might be less friendly to the Growth Lobby's agenda. Regardless of the respective merits of Postil and Huckelberry--even Blondin concedes both are capable of doing the job--the choice is clearly up to that new board majority. We don't buy into the belief that changing county executives is a "bloodbath." Since when did bureaucrats earn life tenure? At any rate, the "don't-make-waves" approach touted by the Citizen has spooked Board Chairman Raul Grijalva into hanging in with Huckelberry--even against his better judgment. AND SPEAKING OF BLOODBATHS: While the Citizen worries the Democrats might actually replace somebody at the county level, no one seems to mind the housecleaning going on at the Arizona Corporation Commission since the Republicans took over that body. New Chairman Carl Kunasek and his faithful companion, the newly elected Jim Irwin, have already forced the resignation of the commission's executive director and at least five other top officials. The complaints of the lone Democrat survivor, Renz Jennings, have been met with little excitement from the editorial staff of any newspaper. Apparently partisan house cleaning and patronage pay-offs are considered routine at the Corporation Commission. Shouldn't the Citizen be concerned? FIXING THE GAME: We all know that Gov. J. Fife Deadbeat III has been a consistent opponent of Indian gaming. That in itself isn't sufficient to brand him a bad guy--lots of people oppose expanded gaming as adding one more socially negative addiction to the problems of booze, drugs and high-level financing. But we have to wonder if that's really motivating our bankrupt, indicted governor. Recent reports in the Phoenix New Times indicate legendary land speculator Don Diamond has been traveling with the Guv throughout Mexico, often at taxpayer expense. Diamond is one of the biggest contributors to Slymington's defense fund, and the Guv is taking care of Diamond's Mexican interests by bringing him to meetings with the Governor of Sonora and the President of Mexico. Sleazy enough, right? But hang on--what's one of Diamond's biggest proposals in Mexico? Casino construction in Rocky Point, just 70 miles below the border--and only three-and-half hours from Tucson and Phoenix. We're betting that's the real reason the Guv is so opposed to those reservation slothouses--he wants to make sure those Indians are out of the competition for that gambling dollar. TRASHED: First we discover the county budget is going to be a million short because those wonderful folks at Waste Management, Inc. are using that transfer station the county gave then at Ina and I-10 to send all the garbage they pick up around here up the road to their own landfill in Mobile. That means they won't be paying the tipping fees Pima County had budgeted for the balance of the year. And if that didn't stink like the dumpsters behind the Outback, then WMI subscribers were told they had to cough up another three bucks for December to cover the extra trash generated by Christmas--and never mind if they weren't celebrating the holiday. The manner of notifying customers displays the kind of chutzpah this outfit has shown from the beginning: "Your next invoice will be arriving shortly. We have calculated a $3 per household recommendation to offset these additional costs incurred during the holidays. With your help, we can keep our cost of operations steady, which helps control our monthly rates. Your contribution is greatly appreciated and should be submitted along with your remittance on your next invoice." Contribution? That's a new spin. This is like Ma Bell jacking up your May phone bill because she just discovered more people call out for Mother's Day. And the final insult is the January 15 letter WMI sent all its commercial customers, pointing out that because of the increased costs the company's incurring, it will be raising rates. And what's causing those higher costs? Trucking that trash to Mobile instead of using the local landfill! Pardon us, but the Pima County Board of Supervisors licenses and has some control over this kind of arrogant garbage. Perhaps this board will quit being WMI stooges and try turning a few screws.

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