WHY THE GOP STILL MISSES LINDA BARBER: Republican County Chairman Rex Waite's two latest gambits once again demonstrate his lack of political savvy. District 11 state Senate candidate Dave Morales recently complained in a speech at the Pima County Republican Club that the party doesn't do much for its candidates. Waite hopped up and proceeded to give a fiery speech cajoling the crowd to write checks there and then to Morales' campaign--and Waite promised he'd personally match whatever was raised. There must have been some real marks in the audience, because they actually donated several hundred dollars to a guy who doesn't stand a chance in a heavily Democratic district. The donations, however, left Waite with a few questions to answer. Since state law prohibits individuals from contributing more than $270 to a single candidate, how does Rex plan to match any amount higher than that? And does he plan to do the same trick for all the other Republican candidates, some of whom might actually have a chance of winning in November? Waite is also back in the Pima County Assessor's race. He recently mailed, at county GOP expense, his nominating petitions to Republican leaders. Included in the mailing, probably for cover, were the nominating petitions of incumbent County Treasurer Jim Kirk. Missing were the petitions of other county-wide GOP candidates like School Superintendent Anita Lohr and the GOP hopefuls for sheriff and county attorney. Clearly, Waite believes in selective support as a party leader. And he's probably the only Republican who can't give Democrat Assessor Rick Lyons a race. KROMKO FOR CORPORATION COMMISSIONER: After attempting to start a phony draft movement to run--again--for the Pima County Board of Supes District 3 seat held by Special Ed Moore, former state Rep. John Kromko is now the recipient of a genuine draft for a higher office--corporation commissioner. It seems there's no Democrat running for the seat of retiring member Marcia Weeks and control of that seat means control of the commission, since the two remaining members are one each GOP and Dem. The corporation commission has a number a vital functions, including setting utility rates. We're amazed the Dems are so inept statewide that they couldn't find a candidate to enter the race against probable Republican candidate Jim Irwin, who has plenty of his own dough to finance his race. Irwin was last seen running for secretary of state, a primary race he lost to current incumbent Jane Dee Hull. Kromko would make a strong candidate for this office and we wish him well. But with only about three weeks to go, we hope somebody does a good job of collecting his petition signatures, since Kromko himself has a bad habit of playing fast and loose in that area. ARKANSAS JUSTICE: We all know Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker was just convicted of a couple of felonies. He proceeded to announce he was resigning from office on July 15. Question for all the genius national media heads who reported this with a straight face: Is Arkansas law so bad that a convicted felon gets to stay in office until he decides to leave, or is the law so poorly enforced that this crook can hang around in spite of it? Inquiring minds want to know. Meantime, it's nice to know there are states even more corrupt than Arizona. MARICOPA MESS: Phoenix continues to have those growth-threatening, nasty brown pollution clouds and Gov. J. Fife Whiteguy III has taken time away from those Bankruptcy proceedings to try to do something about it. He's advocating mandatory four-day work weeks, car-pooling and other similar measures designed to make existing residents suffer to make room for new people. Republican legislative leaders are on record as saying the real problem is all those older, polluting vehicles. They're ready to screw everybody from retired folks to poor people to those who collect antique cars. The GOP leadership is also now seriously talking about throwing a bunch of money at improved mass transit to service ever-sprawling Maricopa County. All this does little to ease the real problem, which is all those new cars brought in by all those folks who keep buying all those tract homes. It's the unrestrained growth, stupid. One more time: The policies of our current pols at the state and local levels are designed to tax, screw over and otherwise inconvenience current residents to take care of future residents, so a small group of land speculators and developers can make more money.

		© 1995-97 Tucson Weekly . Info Booth