Political Notebook: At utility hearing, Marquez Peterson faces accusation of aspirations

A long meeting of the Arizona Corporation Commission came to an awkward pause Wednesday night when commissioner Anna Tovar asked a loaded question.

They were discussing when the commission would be considering clean-energy rules later this year, and Tovar said, “With that I would like to ask ... who will be on the commission at that time?”

Tovar, a Democrat, went on, “I would just like to ask commissioners, is there a commitment to stay on the commission and vote on the rules then, or is there an aspiration to run for an office, and you won’t be around then to vote on what was changed today?”

Commission Chair Lea Marquez Peterson, who is from Tucson, seemed taken aback.

“I’m contemplating the appropriateness of the question, because we’re all still elected commissioners through the end of this year,” she said. “Having to determine political aspirations here in this vote doesn’t seem like it’s appropriate.”

Tovar’s pointed inquiry appeared to be directed at Marquez Peterson and fellow Republican Justin Olson. Her implication: Either of them might be leaving to run for another office, and that might influence how the commission ends up acting on clean-energy rules, or why, in Marquez Peterson's case, she changed her vote on clean-energy mandates from support in November to opposition on Wednesday. 

“Let’s just say there is a commissioner who decides to run for Congress or state treasurer, that is no longer here to vote on these this fall,” Tovar said, none-too-subtly citing offices commissioners have been rumored to be considering. “I think that’s important information voters should have.”

Asked about it on Thursday, Tovar declined to go into any greater detail about the rumors she was citing. But she did continue to level criticism at Marquez Peterson, who in November voted to mandate that Arizona utilities get all of their energy from clean sources, but changed that to a “goal” on Wednesday.

Marquez Peterson defended her position as not much of a change and one that defended the interests of customers.

“To me, changing it from a mandate to a goal made sense in light of the information we had,” she said. “I still fully support clean energy goals and zero-carbon emissions, but I’m not willing to mandate this on the people of Arizona through the utilities without having a thorough understanding of the affordability for families.”

Marquez Peterson, who lost the 2018 election to the U.S. House in Congressional District 2, was appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey to the corporation commission in 2019. She won a full term in office in the November 2020 general election.

Asked about her political aspiration, Marquez Peterson said she plans to continue as chair of the commission.

“Am I running for CD2 now? No. I’m focused on the commission.”

As she spoke, she was driving home from a speaking engagement with a Republican club in Sierra Vista, the GOP heartland of CD2.

— Tim Steller

Brakey breaks out at audit

A well-known Tucson election activist became a break-out star this week during the ballot investigation at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

John Brakey has been working at the so-called audit alongside Ken Bennett, who is the liaison between the state Senate Republicans and Cyber Ninjas, the firm running the ballot operation. What he told pool reporter Dennis Welch, of KPHO Channel 5 in Phoenix, on Tuesday made national news — for its absurdity.

“There’s accusations that 40,000 ballots were flown in to Arizona and it was stuffed into the (ballot) box. It came from the southeast part of the world, Asia. And what they’re doing is to find out if there’s bamboo in the paper.”

Later, Brakey told Welch, “I don’t believe any of that. I’m just saying that is part of the mystery that we want to ungaslight people about.”

Brakey, who identifies himself as a progressive Democrat, has been involved in election lawsuits around the country. In Tucson, he’s most famous, or notorious, for challenging the results of the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority election, contending vote totals were switched and the proposition actually lost.

Even after the attorney general’s office did a hand count of the ballots in 2009, and it confirmed the original results, Brakey did not believe it. He called the hand count a “fraud.”

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He said he thinks the post-election review going on in Phoenix is a good thing, even if many view it as a partisan farce run by pro-Trump conspiracists.

“For the eagle to fly, it does need a right wing, it does need a left wing,” he said. “The libertarians are the tail feathers who keep the eagle flying right.”

— Tim Steller

Kozachik sticks with zoo plan

As public opinion shifted this year over the Reid Park Zoo’s planned expansion into a valued section of the park, one thing remained constant.

Steve Kozachik, who represents Ward 6 on the Tucson City Council, remained adamant about sticking with the original plan for expansion, honoring the contract the city already signed with Lloyd Construction to take over Barnum Hill and the south duck pond. He was the only council member to vote against steering the expansion another direction at the council meeting Tuesday.

Mayor Regina Romero and the rest of the council gradually reacted to public outcry against the planned expansion by accommodating alternatives. Even the Reid Park Zoo, which originally reacted with hostility to the late objections to their plans, took a more flexible position this week to new plans offered by architect Bob Vint and others.

“If one of these options is selected, we will work with the design team contracted by the City and the City staff to resolve any issues in a timely manner,” the zoo said in a press release. “We look forward to Mayor and Council’s decision on Tuesday and to working cooperatively with the City of Tucson to carry out that decision.”

Kozachik, though, stuck to his guns, questioning the staff’s cost estimates to redesign and build the expansion, which the council capped at $5.5 million.

It will give material for the two opponents, Andrés Portela and Miranda Schubert, who are challenging Kozachik in the August Democratic primary. Both put out statements celebrating the council's decision and criticizing the process that led to the community conflict over land use in the park. 

After congratulating the activists who forced the change, Schubert wrote: "The fight to save the heart of Reid Park, no matter the outcome, has been exhausting and eroded the sense of trust and optimism many residents should have for their city and its future. If preserving access to public spaces had been a guiding priority from the beginning, this fight would not have been necessary."

Said Portela: From the beginning, I have stated my displeasure because lack of clarity created distrust within our community. I believe it is imperative that when the city intends to contract for a service and community engagement is a requirement; there needs to be a set of parameters on what good and bad engagement looks like.

— Nicole Ludden and Tim Steller

Legislator beating COVID-19 infection

Rep. Alma Hernandez, who has been suffering from a breakout COVID-19 infection, ended up at the emergency room this week.

“Last night I went to the ER due to my fever coming back & unbearable migraine,” she said via Twitter Tuesday. “My body has reacted differently so I needed help,” she said.

But after treatment there, she was released and has been practically symptom-free for the last two days, Hernandez said Thursday. She’s one of around 1,000 Arizona residents known to have gotten COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated — a rate of around 1 in every 2,500.

The Tucson Democrat said she’s thankful for the vaccination, or she suspects her case would have been much worse.

— Tim Steller