Who's Telling The Truth Here: Former State Rep. John Kromko Or His Buddy Jerry Juliani? By Jim Nintzel TUCSONANS WHO supported former state Rep. John Kromko in the past recently opened their mailboxes to find an intriguing postcard from Jerry Juliani, urging them to call Kromko and encourage him to run for Pima County Supervisor Ed Moore's District 3 seat this year. The mailer got one hell of a reaction for Juliani, one of the leaders of last year's successful anti-CAP Prop 200. "That was like letting a fart in church," says Juliani. "It's got the whole town mad at me." Indeed, the little card has become an explosive mystery. Both Juliani and Kromko deny writing it--and both claim the other is the true author. The postcard affair is just another odd moment in what is sure to be the most spectacular political brawl this year: the race to defeat Moore, easily the Tucson area's most volatile politician. He's served two terms in the District 3 seat as a Democrat and one, his most recent, as a Republican. This time out, competition within the GOP has him weighing a run as an independent, so he can avoid a costly--and possibly fatal--primary. (Of course, an independent candidacy has its own inherent risks, so Moore may well end up on the Republican ticket.) Already, two Republican women have lined up to face him--and both campaigns have ties to Moore. Amphi School Board member Vicki Cox-Golder, a Realtor who has already raised more than $12,000 (nearly all from developers), was Moore's campaign treasurer during his last race. Ann Holden, who failed in her bid for a Tucson City Council seat in 1993, is working closely with one of Moore's old allies (and a frequent Weekly contributor), Emil Franzi, on her campaign. On the Democratic side, attorney Randy Thiel, a political neophyte, has announced he's running for the party's nomination. Longtime political strategist Sharon Bronson, who worked on Moore's first campaign, plans to formally announce her candidacy next month. And John Kromko? "I'm considering it," says Kromko, who lost the race to Moore four years ago after a string of television commercials depicted him as--literally--a clown. Which brings us back to the postcard signed by Juliani, which reads in part: Neighborhood and environmental activists have backed a lot of new political faces in recent years. With few exceptions these folks seem to end up lured by the siren song of big buck interests and once they're sworn in, they sell out the people of Tucson. Let's stop taking chances on pseudo Populists. Former State Representative John Kromko is a tried and true, level-headed Populist who always worked for and voted for the interests of the common citizens while being very frugal with taxpayer's money. Who wrote these words? Juliani, who signed the card, denies authorship. As he explains it, "John calls me and says, 'I'm thinking about running and I'm not sure if there's sufficient support from my backers. I'd like to send out 200 postcards and see if there's some support....And I want to use someone else's name on the card.' " Juliani says he felt he owed Kromko a favor because Kromko helped draft Prop 200 last year, so he agreed to let Kromko use his name. He says Kromko showed him the copy, they "tinkered" with it together and eventually arrived at a final version. "That's not totally accurate," Kromko says when told Juliani's version of events. Asked what would be accurate, he replies, "He wrote it, it's his language, and that's all I can say about it." Equally mysterious is the identity of the culprit who sent the cards. Juliani says Kromko put them in the mail, while Kromko denies it. "I'm not sure who mailed it out," Kromko says. "He says he didn't mail it out? I assume he mailed some, didn't he?" Kromko, who says he's gotten about 20 phone calls urging him to run and only two telling him to stay out of the race, admits he knew the card was being sent. "I do support, you know, I agree with the sending out of it," he says. "It's not like I opposed it or anything." The entire episode might not seem like such a big deal, except for the fact that the mailer could be considered campaigning, and thus could be a violation of Arizona's campaign finance laws, which Kromko himself helped pass when he was in the Legislature. Kromko's only explanation: He's the victim of a nefarious scheme. "Several people told me when they got these cards that they were surprised this was happening, because Juliani was so close to Ed Moore," Kromko says. "But I said Juliani wouldn't do anything like that, and I still don't think he would. I don't know what happened, I didn't send these out, I don't know who did....The whole thing sounds a little bit like some kind of set-up or something. I sure don't like the looks of this."

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