GAS ATTACK: The state Attorney General's Office is looking into serious allegations about the City of Tucson's handling of the methane gas problems at the Harrison Road landfill last year, and the investigation is starting to cost local taxpayers money. The private attorney hired by the city to represent the three primarily involved employees has submitted bills in excess of $8,000 for his work on the case through the end of May. More bills are expected, with the distinct possibility of a grand jury inquiry. The grand jury would be looking into what was done--or not done--to keep the leaking-gas issue from the public, especially those people who live right next to the landfill. FOP FOLLIES: Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is facing two challengers this year: In the September Democratic primary, Dupnik is facing retired PCSO Lieutenant Thad Curtis. If he survives that--as he probably will--he'll take on Republican Ron Ochs, a retired PCSO sergeant, in the November general election. The Fraternal Order of Police, Pima Lodge No. 20, and the Pima Corrections Association recently asked the League of Women Voters to join them in presenting a candidate forum featuring all three men, which was scheduled for June 24. But there was one problem: They set it up without asking Dupnik, who'd already committed to another event. Some in the Dupnik camp think dissident FOP members, knowing Dupnik wouldn't be able to attend, set up the forum to bang on Dupnik. And one other detail was a little troubling--the forum was not open to the public, just media and FOP members. Dupnik responded on June 5 that he wouldn't be there, but as late as June 20, some FOP types were still telling the media he would be present. We're inclined to chalk this up to ineptitude as opposed to conspiracy. A little advice for the FOP: When you want to have a forum, pick a time when all the candidates can make it. It may be fun just telling your boss instead of asking him, but it's counter-productive and makes you look Mickey Mouse. And try inviting the public--they're the people you and the candidates are supposed to serve. Self-imposed cultural isolation is one of the biggest problems with law enforcement--this is just another stupid example. MASSIVE SCREW-UP, ONLY 35 CENTS: Top of Page One, Tucson Citizen, Tuesday, June 18: "Slain cop's car searched." Sub-head: "Handcuffs similar to those used in 3 robberies, duct tape, plastic gloves, dark clothes and a hood are found in the detective's Jaguar." The article, by Norman Peckham, was a follow-up on officer Gabriel Abendano, shot and killed under bizarre circumstances. Oooops. Next day came the front-page correction. According to the several-paragraph retraction, it seems that Peckham (unnamed in the correction) knew little about how search warrants worked and believed that the stuff they were looking for was, in fact, what they had found, so he reported it as such. Peckham shouldn't be the only goat here, even though his ignorance of Reporting 101 basics is a tad frightening. This was a high-profile story--where the hell were his editors, his copy desk, and--need we remind you?--his overpaid publisher, Don Hatfield? Apparently they don't read copy or check basic documents even for the big stories. Or maybe they just don't grasp the basics of a search warrant, either. This shoddy journalism indicates just how low chain papers like Gannett's Citizen have slid. The national Gannett rag USA Today was having a similar--if less dramatic--problem at the same time. They had to print four corrections on an article concerning the Republican Party in the South. Seems they got two governors and two congressional delegations wrong--out of 12 states. What causes these glaring errors? We suspect it's Gannett's need to boost its bottom line, which the mega-corporation accomplishes by continually reducing the quality of the product--kind of like manufactured goods produced in countries that are losing a war. If Gannett were a coffee company, not only would they have reduced the one-pound can to 10 ounces, but they would've added lots of sawdust and cheap grain. LAID-BACK ROSZAK: Oro Valley Town Councilman Rudy Roszak still hasn't delivered on his promise to resign. And he isn't delivering on his commitment to the people of Oro Valley to do his job either. Roszak once again missed a town council meeting. The reason he gave Skinny sources: "I'd just be out-voted anyway." From the beginning, Roszak has been clueless about his responsibilities. Here's a basic part of it--the most basic: Show up for council meetings. When you don't, that's called "nonfeasance." Not liking your colleagues is not only not an excuse, but childish and craven. Roszak should have the integrity to quit and allow someone else to do the job he refuses to do. TUMOR-CAUSING, TEETH-STAINING, SMELLY, PUKING PANDERING: Last week, Arizona Democratic Party chairman Sam Coppersmith fired off a press release praising Attorney General Grant Woods for deciding to join national lawsuits against tobacco companies. Then Coppersmith upped the ante, writing that Woods, who is chairman of the Arizona Dole for President campaign, "should refuse to allow contributions from the tobacco industry to be used in Arizona for the presidential campaign of Sen. Bob Dole." Dole has accepted somewhere in the neighborhood of $383,000 from tobacco companies. Coppersmith's suggestion piqued our curiosity. Since all campaign contributions go into a single pot, how exactly would the Dole campaign separate the contributions from tobacco companies from the contributions of, say, the Corporate Subsidy League or the Young Gun Owners of America? Reached by phone, Coppersmith told us he really meant Woods should tell Dole to return his contributions from the tobacco folks. And while he's at it, Woods should tell GOP national chairman Haley Barbour to stop trying to lobby state legislators on behalf of the tobacco industry. But Coppersmith wasn't as concerned about the contributions recieved by the lone Democrat in our state's U.S. House delegation, Rep. Ed Pastor. According to Federal Election Commission records, during the 1993-1994 reporting cycle, Pastor picked up a smokin' $5,000 from tobacco interests. Coppersmith stopped short of proposing Pastor return that money. He suggested it was okay for Pastor to accept the contributions because GOP Rep. J.D. Hayworth had accepted more money from the tobacco industry since his 1994 election. GLENDALE GRANNY STRIKES AGAIN: Regular Skinny readers will surely recall our favorite member of the Arizona House Of Representatives is Rep. Jean McGrath, the Glendale Granny who fought to ensure all Arizonans would have a supply of Freon, no matter what the tyrannical feds said or international treaty prescribed. Well, here's some good news: It appears Jean will have no primary opposition this year, which means she walks to re-election in District 17. And, we hear, she's going to head up the House environment committee next year! McGrath is so confident of her leadership position, she sent a threatening letter to every agency director, including the entire Board of Regents and elected folks like Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Graham Keegan and Attorney General Grant Woods, informing them she would reduce their budgets if any employees attended national legislative conferences on the public dime. Kudos to Jean for protecting us from those evil foreign or new ideas. Last month, McGrath berated the Arizona Game and Fish Department for letting elk run wild. It seems the wildlife have the audacity to eat grasses outdoors, a crime punishable by death according to McGrath, who believes the grass belongs to subsidized cows. SMOKE GETS IN OUR GUYS? We hear from the local barflies that people thought to be close to the Tucson Police Department have been handing out what they claim are Cuban cigars. Odd, considering it's illegal to posses Fidel's favorite stogies without approval of the U.S. Treasury Department. Odder still, when we recall there was a June 10 bust, and one more recently, in which the Caribbean cuties were seized--thousands of 'em. And wasn't there an article in Sunday's paper quoting someone saying Cuban cigars are more valuable than Marijuana in the U.S.? We certainly hope the TPD guys stick to donuts, and that contraband isn't sticking to them. Or is that duct tape? REVELATIONS: Did you catch Howie Fischer's story earlier this week in The Arizona Daily Star about how Gov. J. Fife Deadbeat III stiffed the widow of former friend Mike Toll? Seems Fife owed his pal some money, but after Toll was killed in a plane crash, Fife decided paying back the loan was a "low priority," according to a recent deposition. That's just standard behavior for Fife, and barely worth a mention here, except for one little thing: Fischer wrote: "The revelation comes with the release yesterday of transcripts of the Governor's latest deposition in his Bankruptcy case." Well, not really, Howie--If you'd bothered to read the Phoenix New Times, you would have seen that Mike Lacey broke the story last week. Sorry, but you've been scooped by the alternative press again.

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