Tim Steller's column: The Speedo incident is not the reason Supervisor Heinz merits criticism

You may have noticed clamor building around Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz lately.

It's not just over the Speedo. 

Heinz gained international notoriety when, during the Jan. 10 supervisors meeting, a young man wearing what looked like a Speedo swimsuit and a tank top appeared in the background of his video feed. At the time, Heinz was attending the meeting remotely during a Caribbean cruise, he said. Heinz is gay but the man in question is a friend, not a romantic partner, he told me. 

The brief incident has garnered millions of views online and is funny in a way that became common during the pandemic. Odd or embarrassing things sometimes happen on camera during video calls: Children toddle in chattering, cats pounce on the keyboard, and, yes, people walk by unaware in their underwear. 

Rather than being important itself, the Speedo incident helped bring back to a boil conflicts that have long been simmering around Heinz.

Some conservatives and anti-vax activists despise Heinz because of his strong support for mask and vaccine mandates; some are angry with him because of how he has interrupted citizens as they spoke during call-to-the-public sessions at meetings; and some don't like how he often appears remotely even now that in-person board meetings have resumed.

In short, during his first two years as a supervisor, after his surprise defeat of incumbent and fellow Democrat Ramon Valadez in 2020, Heinz has become a lightning rod for criticism. It's coming not just from citizens who oppose his positions, but also from two colleagues on the board.

"I never want to speak ill of my colleagues, but Matt has not been in attendance (in person), and I find that disappointing," said Supervisor Sharon Bronson, a fellow Democrat and the former chair.

"When he is present, is he present? That’s what you wonder," she said. "Do I love him? Do I hate him? I just want him to do his job."

I counted up the appearances, and of the 20 in-person board meetings since virtual meetings ended in March 2022, Heinz has attended via video feed half the time. That was much more than any of his colleagues. 

Then there's the issue of call to the public. At Tuesday's meeting, Supervisor Steve Christy, the only Republican on the five-member board, gave Heinz responsibility for conflicts at these sessions that allow citizens to speak for three minutes each early in every meeting. 

"The blame for all of this mess and controversy over call to the public is the sole responsibility and fault of Matt Heinz," Christy said at Tuesday's meeting. "It was Supervisor Heinz who ignited this flame."

Christy and others point back to a meeting in 2021, when Heinz repeatedly interrupted Stephanie Kirk. She is a local resident who lashes out regularly at the board, criticizing them over vaccines, immigration policies, election performance and other issues of the moment. 

Heinz interrupted her and would not initially stop, even when told by then-chair Bronson that he was out of order. The next meeting, he held up a sign while another speaker denounced pandemic policies, drawing another rebuke. And he has interrupted Kirk as recently as Nov. 1, demanding three minutes to respond to what he considers her vaccine misinformation. 

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On Jan. 24, Kirk amped up her frenetic attacks. Riffing on African-American history month, she demanded of Heinz, "Matt can you please look at me," before being interrupted by Supervisor Adelita Grijalva. Then Kirk went after her: "You are literally nobody, Adelita — keep your mouth shut." That set off a long delay in the meeting as Kirk refused to stop or leave the meeting.

Heinz, for his part, noted that he has a 100% attendance rate — even when he is on vacation or visiting his aging father in Michigan. Those visits, he told me, are one of the reasons he has attended meetings remotely so often. 

And he disputed Bronson's contention about the attention he's paying. 

"I completely disagree with the idea that because I’m attending remotely, I’m disengaged," he said. "In 2020, all of 2021, we were mostly remote. When we were remote, I’ve had some of my most lengthy discussions or debates."

The new board chair, Grijalva, also told me that she doesn't view Heinz as disengaged, saying "he's usually very up to speed."

As to occasionally interrupting speakers during their three minutes before the board, Heinz, who is a M.D. working overnight shifts as a hospitalist, put it this way: "I was watching people die by the dozen, sometimes in one shift, then had to listen to these asinine people who have no idea what they’re talking about mansplaining the pandemic to me."

The call to the public has been particularly vicious since the Speedo video came out. One attendee has twice referred to Heinz as a pedophile. 

It is perhaps not surprising, then, that at Tuesday's meeting, Heinz never appeared at the dais during call to the public. Someone took a picture of him eating a bagel in the back room — Heinz blames Christy aide Beth Borozan, who declined to comment — and passed the photo to conservative shock-talk radio host Garret Lewis, who posted it on Twitter.

I don't blame Heinz for taking a stroll during a call to the public when people are applying the worst criminal labels to him. Nobody should have to put up with that. And it is nothing new for supervisors to come and go — current and past board members have disappeared during the call to the public before.

But it is worth questioning whether Heinz's busy schedule as a doctor working overnight shifts is compatible with the job of being a Pima County supervisor. Most supervisors have treated the $76,600-per-year job as a full-time occupation. 

And it's not surprising that after antagonizing members of the public, he is getting harsh criticism.

The best response to speakers you think are nuts is to ignore them and do your job.