The Daily Agenda: Don’t sleep on the constable races

Who pays attention to constable races? ... But you really should ... New dress code at TUSD.

Let’s talk about the elections few people really pay attention to, or even understand what the offices do.

We’re talking about the elections for Pima County constables. You know, the races at the bottom of the ballot that by the time you get to them you’re so sick of filling in bubbles you just blow right through.

But it’s worth taking a moment to think about them. They’re the court officers who otherwise law-abiding Pima County residents are most likely to encounter. They serve eviction notices, restraining orders, court summons, and subpoenas, as well as seizing property when the court orders it. 

The political history of local constables has been tumultuous, to say the least, in recent years. The pandemic pushed them into the spotlight as they navigated the changing rules for evictions. Colorful personalities shaped the job, leading some to see themselves as social workers trying to avoid kicking people out of their homes and others to stick closely to the letter of the law. 

As you’re about to see, there’s been no shortage of scandals, from bullying a woman in the constable’s office to candidates threatening each other. 

And there have been numerous vacancies. At one point two years ago, the county had just three constables on duty when they should have had nine. That problem got worse after Constable Deborah Martinez was shot and killed, along with three other people, while serving an eviction notice in August 2022. 

As a result, the Pima County Board of Supervisors has appointed many of the current constables. Seven constable positions will be on the ballot this year, but voters will only have so much power to choose. Just three of the races have more than one candidate.

Constable Daniel Rowland, a Republican who was appointed last year to fill a vacancy in Precinct 1, is not running for re-election, so Democrat Mark Roosevelt is running unopposed. Rowland was appointed when Constable John Dorer retired after Dorer was attacked while serving an eviction notice. 

Incumbents Bennett Bernal in Precinct 6, Thomas Schenek in Precinct 7, and George Camacho in Precinct 9 also are running unopposed. 

Camacho may not have an opponent, but he does have his share of scandals. A Pima County commissioner prohibited Camacho from carrying a firearm in 2020 after he was accused of harassing a woman in his office.

So unless challengers emerge over the next few months, Bernal, Schenek, and Camacho will keep their jobs and Roosevelt will get a new one. 

Justice of the Peace (constable) precinct map

That leaves the races in Precincts 4, 8, and 10.

In Precinct 4, two-term incumbent Oscar Vasquez is running against Tracy Ethridge-Nielsen, a former chief of the Pascua Yaqui Police Department who also served on the Three Points Fire District board. Both are Democrats.

Vasquez got in hot water in 2021 when he delayed an eviction of a woman and her kids due to the pandemic. It wasn’t his first time getting into trouble. He has faced seven formal complaints as a constable and previously was suspended for four months. An ethics board recommended he resign after the 2021 incident and the Pima County Board of Supervisors suspended him for six months without pay.

The race in Precinct 8 is the only one where both major political parties have a candidate. Incumbent Constable Bill Lake, a Republican who was appointed in 2021, is running against Democrat Christopher Toth. 

Lake, a former Air Force pilot, has led the charge to get body armor for constables in the wake of Martinez’s death. Toth is a South Tucson police officer.

Toth ran for constable a few years ago, but dropped out during a spat with Martinez, who accused Toth of stalking her. That accusation appears to have been flimsy, similar to the one she made against another candidate, Sami Hamed, who is legally blind. 

Both candidates in Precinct 10 are Republican. Incumbent Anton Chism, who was appointed in 2022, is running against John Cammarano.

Like Lake, Chism appears to have stayed scandal-free so far. He’s an Army veteran and small business owner in Marana. Cammarano had a long career with the Tucson police department.

In a few months, you’re going to see these names with a little bubble next them. Maybe take a few seconds to think about them. You never know when one of them might knock on your door.

Fashion forward: Tucson Unified School District is getting a new dress code, after staff said the previous one unfairly resulted in disproportionate enforcement against female students and those who identify as female, the Arizona Daily Star reports. The changes were approved by a vote of 3-2, with those in the majority pleased with the replacement of gender-neutral language in rules that were previously gender-specific. The goal of the revisions is equitable enforcement for all students across campuses.

About that dress code: A TUSD principal cautioned board members that “buttocks and full torsos will be showing” with the revised dress code, the Star’s Jessica Votipka writes. Tucson Magnet High School Principal Elizabeth Rivera wrote in a letter to the board that removing the language requiring that clothing cover the chest, torso and buttocks would be problematic and that students were previously wearing bikini tops and shorts that “only covered private areas.” TUSD received feedback from more than 1,800 TUSD students from every high school and select middle schools when drafting the new dress code.

Feds stepping in:Tucson officials say they welcome the Department of Defense’s plan to investigate Tucson sites found to have been contaminated by PFAS, a group of widely-used, human-made chemicals linked to health issues including cancer, KJZZ’s Alisa Reznick reports. The investigation will streamline and fast-track contamination investigations and mitigation plans at sites including Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and the Morris Air National Guard facility. Both sites previously used a firefighting foam that contained PFAS, which water officials say have leached into groundwater.

A safer trip to the park:The Arizona Department of Transportation and Town of Oro Valley are planning pedestrian and bicycle improvements to the north side of Naranja Drive between La Cañada Drive and First Avenue, KOLD’s Alex Valdez reports. The two-mile-long, 10-foot-wide multi-use path will give pedestrians and bicyclists a safer path to Naranja Park by connecting multi-use paths on First and La Cañada to the town’s new park expansion. 

Property problems: A new report says that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials continue to confiscate and destroy personal items, including medications, medical records and turbans belonging to Sikh men, the Tucson Sentinel’s Paul Ingram writes. The 42-page report, authored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, the Nogales-based Kino Border Initiative, the Sikh Coalition and Protect AZ Health, said “inhumane and ineffective policies” allow the agency to continue “widespread confiscation and trashing of migrants’” belongings. 

Contract terminated: The former head of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington who was accused of misidentifying herself as Black has lost her job with the Catalina Foothills School District, KVOA’s Eric Fink reports. Rachel Dolezal, who now goes by Nkechi Diallo, was teaching kids as an after school instructor until district officials learned of an OnlyFans page featuring explicit photos that appears to be operated by her.

$67,000: The salary of the majority of constables in Pima County. Their salaries depend on the population of their precinct.