As the write-in candidate in the No Labels Party, I would like to report that I have raised zero/nothing/nada and I have spent zilch/bupkis.
Even when I was the Democratic nominee for Wyoming’s only congressional district in 2014, the only money I spent was the $300 filing fee, which was more than any person who actually lived in the state. The US Senate candidate spent $50,000 of his own money and got 17% of the vote. I got 23% and carried Teton County, which he and the Democratic candidate for governor, Paul Gosar’s brother Pete, did not.
OK, back to Project Blue. There is still something fishy going on here. Will the release of the annexation agreement identify the ultimate end user? My guess is that whoever it is (or the front company) is afraid of bad local PR. Really? One would think that a company bringing jobs, money, and perhaps even national recognition to a community would want to blast that all over the place.
So, no data here, just deductive reasoning. My bet is that it is a Saudi Arabian firm or sovereign fund that wants in on the AI datacenter boom but doesn't have the natural resources to do it on their own land. The last time this happened in AZ was the fiasco up in La Paz County with Hay and Alfalfa. Water rights and excessive pumping led to the STATE terminating the leases - bad press, and the State stepped in over local government. Look for Fondomonte AZ as a front company.
The annexation agreement will identify the end user. It is a non-starter for the city council, they've been clear they won't rubber stamp any agreement that doesn't include the end user's name.
We are pretty sure it is one of the major data center companies, given the financing of the project. Blue Owl wouldn't likely get into an agreement with anyone that doesn't already have a track record in the field.
Joe, thank you again for the report. I guess this will come out in the wash. These kinds of issues are exactly why we need you and the Tucson Agenda team. Bravo!
I agree with everything you say. You can fill a warehouse with what we don't know about happy, shiny, Project Blue. I say dig deeper. Find out how much power...how much water...and what "Data" will be generated. Otherwise...no permit.
I hear the concerns and agree. As for the possibility of this being a foreign nation, I would say newly-passed SB 1082 would complicate or eliminate that possibility (I’d guess and hope the city and county attorneys are applying those limits to this project). Releasing the name and the long-term environmental implications seems promising. Props to councilwoman Lee for holding them accountable! Southeast Tucson has enough environmental impacts as it is!
I hope that before we approve any data centers in Pima County we pass some reasonable zoning regs specific to the concerns about them. Municipalities in the Phoenix metro are just getting around to it now and have learned a lot from their experiences that we can benefit from.
So I do believe in erroring on the side of inclusion and agree with the sentiment that Green Party candidates should be included in reports and articles about political candidates.
I hear you. But no one from the Green Party filed an FEC report. (They didn’t have to technically but still the brunt of today’s article was about those who filed, not those who didn’t.)
Criticism about whether the Green Party candidates deserve more coverage is valid in general, but one of the candidates hasn’t even bothered to update the website url to reflect they are running for the House and not the Senate (which he did lat year.)
As a frequent minor party candidate, I would say publicity is the last thing minor party candidates want. It doesn’t get you any more than the few votes you would otherwise get. Most people will vote for minor party candidates for stupid reasons. If I do win my primary and am on the ballot with three candidates with Spanish-origin names, I’ll get the votes of disgusting people who are racist and xenophobic—just the people I would not want voting for me.
There are 724 registered Green Party voters in CD 7, making them 0.16% of the voters. If you want information on the candidates, just email them or give them a call. As I said, I ran in a special election Green Party primary and both candidates got 13 votes. Would you have them cover third grade elections for class president at Sam Hughes Elementary, which probably has more voters?
I asked why there was no coverage of the Green Party's CD7 race. You replied that you were only covering contested races. Well, Gary Swing and Eduardo Quintana are running for Green Party 's CD7 nomination. It is a contested race. Your lack coverage is starting to look voter suppression.
I wasn't aware it had become a contested race, but I think it is a stretch to say that not covering two write-in candidates for the Green Party is somehow voter suppression.
Eduardo Quintana was the Green Party candidate for US Senate last fall. He ran as a write-in candidate in the primary and beat two candidates on the ballot, one someone who would endorse Harris and not campaign, the other someone who would endorse Trump and not campaign. He is the former chair of the Pima County Green Party.
Gary Swing has been the Green Party candidate in a number of elections. Like me, he ran in the Green Party presidential preference election in 2012. (I beat him, coming in tied for third, with 39 votes; Gary came in fifth, with 30 votes.) He is a friend, so I'll give you his complete record as a candidate: https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=867
I ran against Gary in another special Green Party primary election for Congress. We both got 13 votes. The law for new parties says a candidate needs "a plurality" of the vote, and since nobody got a plurality, the Secretary of State decided there wouldn't be a Green Party candidate in the special general.
As the write-in candidate in the No Labels Party, I would like to report that I have raised zero/nothing/nada and I have spent zilch/bupkis.
Even when I was the Democratic nominee for Wyoming’s only congressional district in 2014, the only money I spent was the $300 filing fee, which was more than any person who actually lived in the state. The US Senate candidate spent $50,000 of his own money and got 17% of the vote. I got 23% and carried Teton County, which he and the Democratic candidate for governor, Paul Gosar’s brother Pete, did not.
OK, back to Project Blue. There is still something fishy going on here. Will the release of the annexation agreement identify the ultimate end user? My guess is that whoever it is (or the front company) is afraid of bad local PR. Really? One would think that a company bringing jobs, money, and perhaps even national recognition to a community would want to blast that all over the place.
So, no data here, just deductive reasoning. My bet is that it is a Saudi Arabian firm or sovereign fund that wants in on the AI datacenter boom but doesn't have the natural resources to do it on their own land. The last time this happened in AZ was the fiasco up in La Paz County with Hay and Alfalfa. Water rights and excessive pumping led to the STATE terminating the leases - bad press, and the State stepped in over local government. Look for Fondomonte AZ as a front company.
Other comments, or do I just need more coffee?
The annexation agreement will identify the end user. It is a non-starter for the city council, they've been clear they won't rubber stamp any agreement that doesn't include the end user's name.
We are pretty sure it is one of the major data center companies, given the financing of the project. Blue Owl wouldn't likely get into an agreement with anyone that doesn't already have a track record in the field.
Joe, thank you again for the report. I guess this will come out in the wash. These kinds of issues are exactly why we need you and the Tucson Agenda team. Bravo!
I agree with everything you say. You can fill a warehouse with what we don't know about happy, shiny, Project Blue. I say dig deeper. Find out how much power...how much water...and what "Data" will be generated. Otherwise...no permit.
I hear the concerns and agree. As for the possibility of this being a foreign nation, I would say newly-passed SB 1082 would complicate or eliminate that possibility (I’d guess and hope the city and county attorneys are applying those limits to this project). Releasing the name and the long-term environmental implications seems promising. Props to councilwoman Lee for holding them accountable! Southeast Tucson has enough environmental impacts as it is!
And here is a link to the AI-enabled queriable transcript of the discussion: https://otter.ai/u/SGTZA5pHNRsbmrEpvhpqDJrU2ag?utm_source=copy_url
Here is a video from TheDGT.org with Supervisor Jen Allen and Tucson Councilor Nikki Lee discussing Project Blue, for those who might be interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=febxPjNMTo0
I hope that before we approve any data centers in Pima County we pass some reasonable zoning regs specific to the concerns about them. Municipalities in the Phoenix metro are just getting around to it now and have learned a lot from their experiences that we can benefit from.
I am 100% going to vote for a driver mileage tax, precisely because "Jake Hoffman drives
a Tesla Cybertruck — (because of course he does)."
So I do believe in erroring on the side of inclusion and agree with the sentiment that Green Party candidates should be included in reports and articles about political candidates.
I hear you. But no one from the Green Party filed an FEC report. (They didn’t have to technically but still the brunt of today’s article was about those who filed, not those who didn’t.)
Criticism about whether the Green Party candidates deserve more coverage is valid in general, but one of the candidates hasn’t even bothered to update the website url to reflect they are running for the House and not the Senate (which he did lat year.)
As a frequent minor party candidate, I would say publicity is the last thing minor party candidates want. It doesn’t get you any more than the few votes you would otherwise get. Most people will vote for minor party candidates for stupid reasons. If I do win my primary and am on the ballot with three candidates with Spanish-origin names, I’ll get the votes of disgusting people who are racist and xenophobic—just the people I would not want voting for me.
There are 724 registered Green Party voters in CD 7, making them 0.16% of the voters. If you want information on the candidates, just email them or give them a call. As I said, I ran in a special election Green Party primary and both candidates got 13 votes. Would you have them cover third grade elections for class president at Sam Hughes Elementary, which probably has more voters?
I asked why there was no coverage of the Green Party's CD7 race. You replied that you were only covering contested races. Well, Gary Swing and Eduardo Quintana are running for Green Party 's CD7 nomination. It is a contested race. Your lack coverage is starting to look voter suppression.
I wasn't aware it had become a contested race, but I think it is a stretch to say that not covering two write-in candidates for the Green Party is somehow voter suppression.
Eduardo Quintana was the Green Party candidate for US Senate last fall. He ran as a write-in candidate in the primary and beat two candidates on the ballot, one someone who would endorse Harris and not campaign, the other someone who would endorse Trump and not campaign. He is the former chair of the Pima County Green Party.
Gary Swing has been the Green Party candidate in a number of elections. Like me, he ran in the Green Party presidential preference election in 2012. (I beat him, coming in tied for third, with 39 votes; Gary came in fifth, with 30 votes.) He is a friend, so I'll give you his complete record as a candidate: https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=867
And to be fair, here's Eduardo's record:
https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=658382
I ran against Gary in another special Green Party primary election for Congress. We both got 13 votes. The law for new parties says a candidate needs "a plurality" of the vote, and since nobody got a plurality, the Secretary of State decided there wouldn't be a Green Party candidate in the special general.
https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=859442
I am curious to see how much of the vote that candidate Quintana can pull! His policies remind me of the ethos of Grijalva, minus the DC impact :)!
I have heard of "I Am Curious (Yellow)" and even saw it, but until today I have never before heard of "I am Curious (Green)."