“It’s time for us to not just fix the roads but make sure they lead somewhere,” Randi Dorman told a cheering crowd on Tuesday evening.

To kickoff her campaign for mayor of Tucson, Dorman laid out her priorities for office during a casual gathering at the Connect Coworking courtyard, complete with drinks and live music.

Originally from New York, Dorman worked in advertising with international brands such as Charmin, Crest and Old Spice for 15 years before moving to downtown Tucson in 2001 with her husband, Rob Paulus, an architect and developer. Together they formed R+R Develop, a local real estate development company.

In 2005 the couple worked to convert a closed ice factory into the residential Ice House Lofts on 17th Street. Now, R+R is in the process of developing mixed-use apartments, offices and retail spaces adjacent to the Trinity Presbyterian Church on Fourth Avenue and University Boulevard.

Dorman has served as the president of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tucson for over five years, and currently serves as the chairwoman of the Downtown Tucson Partnership. She hopes to bring her close relationship with the ongoing revitalization of downtown and knowledge of small business economics to the dais.

“We need to take the energy that we put into downtown and we need to start to bring that into the rest of the community,” she said.

Among Dorman’s interests is economic development, which includes supporting the growth of small and medium-sized businesses, making collaborations through job-training programs and creating a “robust annexation program” to bring in more state-shared revenues that are currently being given to the Phoenix area.

“Keeping our money in Tucson will enable us to pay for the things that create a better quality of life here,” she said. “And if we collaborate with the county, we can reduce redundancies in departments like Parks and Planning and Development Services and if we do that we free up money for our community.”

Dorman also had a hand in the DTP Connects program, which helped chronically homeless people living in the downtown area find housing opportunities and organizations that help with issues of poverty. She said her team was able to decrease chronic homelessness in the downtown area by 95 percent in a few months.

“In 2018 there were 300 chronically homeless in the City of Tucson, by the city’s count. There were 450 housing vouchers that went unused in 2018,” Dorman said. “We have to connect the people who are combating poverty with the great programs that already exist here as well as creating new ones to support the people really suffering in our community.”

Like other mayoral candidates, Dorman said climate change as an issue that demands attention. Her idea for an environment-friendly Tucson includes sustainable building practices.

“Urban infill, density in the core, where it belongs, and reusing old buildings are some of the greenest building practices you can do and I’m going to make them easier to do,” she said. “In addition, incentives for rainwater harvesting, solar installation, tree planting, energy-efficient home and building improvements—if we do those things we create jobs, improve the environment and improve our quality of life.”

If elected mayor, Dorman wants to start planning for long-term projects such as an expansion of the city’s public transit system and a high-speed rail to Mexico and the Arizona Sun Corridor.

“We have to make sure that we’re shovel-ready when funding opportunities arise, like they have in the past. We want to make sure that we’re going to be the first in line.”

Dorman sees the mayor’s position as the “glue that holds everything together.”

“Her greatest responsibility is to bring people together and lead with vision. She has to be the connector and the chief collaborator. And that’s what I do every single day in my normal business. Every single day I’m bringing people together, bringing ideas together, that’s what I love to do and that’s why I’ve wanted to be mayor for over a decade."

"I have spent an extraordinary amount of time sitting in city council meetings. There’s a wall of portraits of all of the men who have been mayors of Tucson in the past. All men. It is 2019 and it is time to make a change, it is time to think differently about what is possible for Tucson," Dorman said.

Ward 1 city council member Regina Romero is also in the race for the mayor’s seat, as well as former state legislator Steve Farley, advertising agency owner Ed Ackerley and a handful of fringe candidates. The primary election will take place in August.

Former Navy fighter pilot and retired astronaut Mark Kelly confirmed the rumors today: He’s running for U.S. Senate against Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to her seat after being the first Republican to lose a Senate race in Arizona in three decades.

Kelly had a 25-year career in the U.S. Navy, but was drawn into politics when he married Gabby Giffords, whose own congressional career came to an end after surviving an assassination attempt during a Congress on Your Corner event in January 2011 that claimed the lives of six people.

After the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Kelly and Giffords established Americans for Responsible Solutions to lobby for new laws to prevent gun violence. The organization changed its name to Giffords last year.

In an announcement speech on YouTube, Kelly credited Gabby for showing him how government could improve people’s lives.

“You know, I learned a lot from being an astronaut, I learned a lot from being a pilot in the Navy. I learned a lot about solving problems from being an engineer,” Kelly said. “But what I learned from my wife is how you use policy to improve people's lives. Arizonans are facing incredibly challenging issues in the years to come. Access to affordable healthcare, the stagnation of wages, job growth, the economy. I care about people, I care about the state of Arizona, I care about this nation. So because of that, I’ve decided that I’m launching a campaign for the United States Senate.”

Kelly’s entry into the race is McSally’s worst nightmare. She’s already lost one Senate race and only has her seat because she cooked up an insurance plan with Jon Kyl and Gov. Doug Ducey. Kyl, who took a break from his lobbying career to accept an appointment to the late Sen. John McCain’s seat, stepped down at the end of last year so McSally could have a consolation prize after falling to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.

Team Kelly knows McSally inside and out. Many of his most trusted advisors are veterans of campaigns run by Giffords and Ron Barber, the former congressman who won the seat Giffords gave up in 2012 to focus on her recovery. Barber narrowly won a race against McSally in 2012 and lost one to her by a mere 167 votes in 2014.

McSally lost her Senate race because she went from Trump skeptic to Trump true believer in 2018. She hasn’t veered from that course, remaining a loyal foot soldier to Trump from her Senate perch. For example, while a handful of Republicans (including newly elected Utah Sen. Mitt Romney) voted alongside Democrats to end the government shutdown last month, McSally remained a team player, voting only for the GOP plan.

At this point, it’s gonna be hard for McSally to break up with Trump, who will remain at the top of the ticket in 2020. But even if she remains his loyal handmaiden, she’s still got problems with the Arizona Republican Party, which is now under the control of one of her political rivals, Kelli Ward, who lost to McSally in the 2018 GOP primary for Senate. And despite McSally’s allegiance to Trump, it’s entirely possible that she’ll have a primary challenge because many conservative Republicans still think she’s too lib.

Kelly does have to make it through a Democratic primary, though he’s the first one to announce a 2020 campaign. Sinema’s win had a lot of Democrats thinking about running in 2020. One dropped out last week: Newly minted Democrat Grant Woods, who served two terms as Arizona’s attorney general as a Republican in the 1990s. Woods, a close ally of John McCain who supported Sinema in 2018, has been dismayed by the direction of the GOP. He had hoped to follow Sinema’s moderate path to the U.S. Senate, but has been haunted by some of his not-exactly-woke comments he made about women when he hosted a talk-radio show in Phoenix after he left office.

Still considering the race is Congressman Ruben Gallego of Maricopa County, a rising star in the Democratic Party. Gallego is a veteran who would make a formidable candidate in the primary, but might not have the moderate appeal Sinema had in the 2018 general race against McSally.
And then there’s the matter of money. McSally knows how to bring in the dollars—so many dollars, in fact, that she can’t keep track of it all and is in regular trouble with the Federal Elections Commission. In her Senate race, McSally raised more than $20 million.

But Kelly can match that. He’s already has a fundraising base from his work with Giffords and will be considered one of the most competitive candidates in the country.

Stock up on popcorn. This is gonna be a race for the ages.

My next mission... #FullSpeedAhead #ForArizona pic.twitter.com/5E36z7aztH

— Mark Kelly (@ShuttleCDRKelly) February 12, 2019

This morning, retired astronaut and former Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly announced via Twitter than he plans to challenge Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate after losing last year's Senate race to Kyrsten Sinema. 

The Pima Animal Care Center accepts homeless, stray, abandoned, surrendered and neglected cats and dogs from all over the county. An enormous undertaking, PACC cares for about 17,000 animals every year. That's an average of 61 pets arriving per day, according to their 2018 annual report.

This year was the first that PACC operated out of their brand new facility on Silverbell Road. The building was funded in 2014 by voter-approved bonds and features a new veterinarian clinic, pet housing areas, indoor and outdoor kennels, improved ventilation and separate lobbies for adoptions, pet support services and medical help.

The report states there were 10,893 animals adopted this year, which is a 15 percent increase from last year. 2,000 Pima County families fostered 5,080 cats and dogs as well. 90 percent of the animals that came to the shelter were placed in a home. Almost 2,000 lifesaving surgeries were performed by PACC's veterinarians and almost 9,000 spay and neuter surgeries were performed, which helps decrease the population of stray and feral animals. A record-breaking 90,584 hours of service were provided by 1,122 volunteers, which County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said is equal to 39 full-time staff positions.

In his Friday memo to the Board of Supervisors, Huckelberry wrote that the new facility has contributed to zero disease outbreaks within the care center this year. Sick animals are now housed in separate medical rooms, preventing the spread of illnesses. Healthy animals have also seen an increased quality of life while staying in the center.

"Group housing rooms, play yards and indoor/outdoor housing for cats and dogs meant this year PACC pets were exposed to fresh air and natural light during their stay, and were able to interact with members of their own species, keeping them happier and healthier," Huckelberry wrote.

14 patrol officers and the animal protection and enforcement program cover the entirety of Pima County, responding to dog bites, cruelty and neglect complaints and licensure and leash compliance, according to PACC's report. This past year more than 26,000 calls were answered, regarding reports of animal cruelty, neglect, leash law violations and sightings of stray animals.

"In 2018 PACC had its most successful year yet by every measure," Huckelberry wrote. "This is clearly due to the investment of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, and the continued support of volunteers, staff, foster caregivers, the Friends of PACC, advocates, rescue partners and adopters."

The full 2018 annual report can be viewed here.

Newly minted Democrat Grant Woods, who served as Arizona's attorney general as a Republican in the 1990s, announced today that he won't be seeking a U.S. Senate seat. Woods posted on Facebook:

Letting everyone know today that I will not be announcing for US Senate this year. My interest has been in getting Trump out of office along with his enablers. It is clear now that several Democrats will run for Senate. I have no interest in spending the next 18 months running against Democrats. They are not the problem.

Thank you to the people across the state who signed on to help me. The support was amazing and I will always cherish it.

University of Arizona assistant men's basketball coach Mark Phelps has been suspended by the school, with the intent of firing him, according to a statement released on Wednesday night.

The University's statement read in part:

The University of Arizona has initiated the process to terminate Assistant Men's Basketball Coach Mark Phelps' employment with the University. During this process, Phelps has been placed on suspension with pay in accordance with University policy. This personnel action is not related to the federal criminal proceedings in New York or the NCAA's review of the facts underlying the allegations of unlawful conduct.

Phelp's suspension comes days after ESPN reporter Mark Schlabach reported that Phelps is accused of altering former commit and current UCLA player Shareef O'Neal's academic transcript.

Arizona Director of Athletics Dave Heeke released a statement on Wednesday, calling Phelps' conduct unfit for his position within the program.

“The University of Arizona is committed to the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct and our commitment to those principles is unwavering," Heeke said. "The decision to remove Coach Phelps immediately is a direct result of that commitment. We strive to compete within the rules of the NCAA and the PAC-12 Conference, and we will continue to cooperate fully with the NCAA. Coach Miller fully supports this decision, which we agree is in the best interests of our men’s basketball program and the University.”

Southern Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva was unimpressed with President Donald Trump's State of the Union.

SB 1394, a bill intended to bring more oversight and regulation to charter schools, hasn't gone anywhere yet. Like lots of other bills, it's waiting to be considered, amended or ignored to death.

The bill has some good stuff in it, but it also has a loophole big enough to drive an eighteen wheeler through packed tight with all the state's Charter Management Organizations. That means lots of charter schools, including the entire BASIS chain, won't be bound by the new regulations.

There are charter schools, and then there are Charter Management Organizations.

Everyone knows about charter schools. They're buildings filled with teachers and students, just like other schools. (Online charters are the exception, where students work at home sitting in front of their computers [or that's the plan anyway. Whether they're actually sitting and working is another matter]). Like school districts, charters are supported by taxpayer dollars, but with fewer regulations and restrictions.

But not everyone knows about Charter Management Organizations. CMOs work with one or more charters. In some cases, they're outside management companies hired by the schools to take care of things like administrative and accounting duties. In other cases, the CMOs run the whole shebang. They're like school districts in charge of their schools, overseeing everything from curriculum to purchasing to the hiring and firing of administrators and teachers.

Not all charters use CMOs, but lots do, including well known Arizona-based charter chains like BASIS and Great Hearts. Arizona also has charters that belong to national chains, like Imagine Schools with 12 Arizona campuses and online schools like Arizona Virtual Academy, which is part of the publicly traded corporation, K12 Inc.

Charters with CMOs get money from the state based on how many students are enrolled just like everyone else, but they send a portion of their money upstairs to the CMO, where it disappears from sight. In the case of the charter chains I mentioned above, the schools send nearly everything upstairs.

Is there any chance we could seal them all in Biosphere 2 for the next hundred years? Politico reports the Trump gang may be descending upon Tucson:

In what amounted to a kind of #MAGA field trip, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, baseball legend Curt Schilling, and former Sheriff David Clarke convened to discuss a new plan for building a wall along the southern U.S. border. Blackwater founder Erik Prince phoned in from South Africa.

With Congress refusing to pony up the $5.7 billion Trump has demanded for the project, his allies now are plotting to kick things off with private money and private land.

The idea, which began in December as a Florida man’s quixotic online crowdfunding campaign, is becoming something more, well, concrete. Big name Trump supporters like Bannon, a former Trump campaign and White House strategist, have flocked to the project. And they have initiated talks with the Israeli firm that constructed that country’s border fence with Gaza, the group told POLITICO. They expect to hold a town hall in Tucson, Arizona, as soon as Friday and to visit the border in Laredo, Texas, next week.

Randi Dorman, a developer, downtown advocate and patron of the arts, plans to announce her mayoral run next week.

The release from Team Dorman:

Local businesswoman and Chairwoman of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, Randi Dorman will be holding an event for the public to announce and celebrate her campaign for Mayor of Tucson.

“I’m Randi Dorman, I’m a mom, I’m a businesswoman, I’m the Chairwoman of the Downtown Tucson Partnership and I am pleased to announce I am running to be the next Mayor of Tucson.

Nearly two decades ago I made the life-changing decision to leave a successful career in New York City to join my husband in downtown Tucson. I fell in love with the natural beauty, the culture and especially the people of Tucson and knew that this was the right place to settle and start a family.

In 2002 we and our partners found an old ice factory on the edge of downtown and converted it into Tucson’s first residential loft development. People told us we were crazy, that no one would live downtown. But we could see it so clearly.

And at the end, we saw our vision become reality - giving a piece of Tucson’s rich history new life for the next generation. That philosophy has guided me in everything I’ve done in business, downtown and the arts.

Just like our vision for the ice factory, we must work together to create a vision for Tucson. A vision that includes jobs that provide Tucsonans with the opportunities we all need; that encourages our children to stay and raise their families, that empowers small businesses to grow and new businesses to come here so that we can build the vibrant, thriving economy we deserve and a better quality of life.

It won’t be easy. Nothing worth doing ever is. But “good enough” is no longer good enough.

It’s time we create a vision for what Tucson can be for the next 20 years and beyond. Let’s do it together.”