Early Ballots go out next week
for the City Elections. As we found out last November, elections
have huge consequences. Whatever you do, please get off
your butt and vote! Joe and Chris have wrote an important
column about the business community and how it needs to be
influential in the upcoming elections. Check it out.
Business is on notice:
Until they fear
us, they won't respect us
By Joe Higgins, Chris DeSimone, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Sunday, September 27, 2009
You've quietly mumbled under your breath while watching
the evening news. You've commiserated with colleagues at lunch. You may
have even taken the time to write an e-mail or call the office of one of
our elected officials. A handful of you may have even showed up at a city
council meeting, taken your three minutes of fame at the podium
delivering a speech that would make Jimmy Stewart proud. Or maybe you
rationalized that you're too busy. That someone else will carry the load.
You wrote a check to a business association or chamber of commerce so
your work is done.
What have your efforts accomplished?
Try higher property taxes, increased bed taxes, taxes on
tanning salons, ballooning utility costs, more regulations and red tape,
a rotting city core, larger pot holes, scarier streets, more graffiti,
less baseball and a whole lot more vacancies.
As business people, we want to believe Tucson welcomes our
entrepreneurial spirit. We tuck in each night dreaming of a community
that wants us to succeed. They appreciate the hard work and risks we
take. After all small business is the economic engine the politicians all
love to brag about. Dream's over - time to wake up!
Our current flock of elected officials seem to have little
interest in supporting you or making your road to riches any easier.
You're in this community to be taxed, regulated and demonized. If you've
made a business career here you've really done something special.
Want to know how we got here? Take a look around. How many
of our local politicos have ever owned their own business? How many have
built a successful career in the private sector? How many have spent
their careers in nonprofit or government jobs? Most have risen from the
ranks of the progressive party machines. Are there exceptions? We
guess so.
Let us share the real problem the business community has
in our region. Our politicians don't get us. They don't respect us. And
they certainly don't fear us.
Since the dawn of the democracy, when elections come
around politicians count votes. Environmental lobbies, neighborhood
associations, unions and university and government employees vote. When a
politician's primary goal is to get re-elected or move to a higher
office, catering to the groups that walk the streets, pick up the phones
and show up at rallies is perceived as essential to future success.
What are we as a business community to do? For starters,
we need to identify strong pro-business candidates then truly support
them. The heat will get turned up on you or your business but you must
take a stand. A trite chamber of commerce endorsement isn't going to cut
it.
We must ensure that our elected officials are true friends
of business. If they aren't, we must take them out of office in a strong
and swift show of force. When we do win a seat, the business community
needs to remind the other sitting officials that we have the power to
influence an election. Once they fear us, they will respect us. Once they
fear us, they will listen to us. Once they fear us, things will change.
Don't fall back on your indifference. Don't go back to
watching "Dancing With The Stars" or "The Biggest
Loser." Sure, we can continue to wait and hope someone else will
carry the load but how's that worked out for us so far?
Wake up, business community. Wake
up, Tucson.
-Early ballots will be arriving in mailboxes Oct. 8. If
you haven't requested an early ballot, call (520) 740-4330. Any registered
voter in the city of Tucson can vote for any of the six council
candidates running. This is a partisan
race - for now - and it's not limited to individual ward-only voting.
Inform your employees, family and friends of what is at stake in this
election. Research the candidates and measure results.-
