The Maricopa County Attorney's Office will not pursue criminal charges against a Tucson political fundraiser investigated by Tempe police for a social-media comment.
The prosecutors turned down a case Tempe police pursued against Kathleen "Kadi" Tierney "due to no reasonable likelihood of conviction," a spokeswoman said.
Kathleen "Kadi" Tierney
Tierney made the comment, a gif of a Game of Thrones character overlooking a city bursting into flames, on the Facebook page of Tempe City Council member Randy Keating before the scheduled Aug. 28 meeting. She used that seconds-long repeating video because it showed a character, Cersei Lannister, who Keating had named his dog after, she said.
Keating called in other city officials when he saw the post, and after evaluating it, they called off that night's council meeting and evacuated the building. Later, Keating told police that if he had realized it was Tierney making the post, he would have considered it a "bad joke." She was posting under the name "Kadie Marie."
But Tempe police pursued the idea that it had been a threat vigorously, coming down to Tucson in late September to conduct surveillance of Tierney, then later calling in deputy U.S. Marshals to help arrest her.
After her arrest, she lost her job as public affairs director for Cox Communications in Southern Arizona.
In the course of the investigation, they searched Tierney's apartment and four devices, along with the social-media account of a longtime critic of the Tempe government who had been posting pseudonymously online sometimes in conversation with Tierney.
"I believe they were really hoping that my devices showed evidence of a conspiracy or a crime," Tierney said Wednesday.
"It’s terrible that I lost my job. It’s terrible that I lost my health insurance, but I had built a career on civic engagement at the local level. It has been heartbreaking for me to be framed as someone who would be threatening or violent toward this process," Tierney said.
She said her top priority is trying to restore her reputation and added "We are exploring all of our options, including a civil suit."
Valenzuela, de Blasio go public
You know how some places have sister-city relationships?
Well, South Tucson and New York City, an unlikely pair if there ever was one, are now in something more like a girlfriend-boyfriend relationship.
The mayor of South Tucson, Roxanna Valenzuela, and the last mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, had a sort of local coming-out as a couple Saturday. They attended a Saturday swearing-in ceremony for new Rep. Adelita Grijalva together.
In a short phone conversation Wednesday, de Blasio said "I'm in a relationship with Roxanna." At the time, he was on the road driving with her.
De Blasio is no stranger to Tucson, or to Tucsonans.
In a more elaborate comment made to the New York Post, he apologized to Nomiki Konst, a Tucson native with whom he was in a relationship when he got to know Valenzuela this fall.
"I fell in love with someone else and I should have told her sooner," de Blasio told the Post. "I’m now in a wonderful relationship with Roxanna Valenzuela that we will continue to nurture and keep private.”
In fact, de Blasio was in Tucson with Konst in May, when he spoke to the Pima County Democratic Party's annual Udall Dinner. He made a point of thanking Konst personally, calling her his "partner."
"I have to give from my heart honor to someone I have enjoyed being partners with," he said before blowing Konst a kiss.
Valenzuela was among the local Democratic officials at the dinner that night.
Konst detailed her side of the love triangle story, which has become tabloid fodder in New York, in a podcast interview posted this week.
Valenzuela won election to the South Tucson council in 2022 as part of a three-person team associated with the Casa Maria charity. She was chosen by the council to be mayor, a choice they make every two years under the city's system. Their terms run out in 2026.
Perhaps the biggest issue facing the cash-strapped city is the loss of the Food City supermarket. Valenzuela and the council are considering repealing or reducing a 1.5% grocery tax that may be discouraging to future replacements for the store.
Buckmaster back on
The announcement of Bill Buckmaster's retirement from his radio show was a bit premature, as it turns out.
Buckmaster, a longtime local radio and television host, will keep his Friday noon hour slot on KVOI, 1030 AM after the new year, he announced this week.
Bill Buckmaster
Buckmaster had announced the end of his five-day-a-week show in November, after 37 years on local airwaves.
The Friday show will continue to feature a newsmaker intervew with Buckmaster and a companion journalist, as well as a round of political discussion.
