Streaming yesterday's Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting, we witnessed a confused Steve Christy conflating two different gun-control issues, then insisting on reading a prepared statement that had nothing to do with the question on the floor. Even after Chair Richard ElÃas warned Christy, repeatedly, that the two agenda items were entirely distinct, still Christy plowed ahead. He gave the impression he was damn well going to read his anti-gun-control rant into the record, come hell or high water.
After the Supervisors voted unanimously to waive attorney-client privilege on Attorney Andy Flagg's opinion about the County's inability to regulate gun shows (in other words, to release the opinion to the public), Christy used Flagg's points to argue against passing a non-binding resolution calling for the U.S. Senate and President Trump to approve a U.S. House of Representatives Bill requiring background checks of private firearms sales, including at gun shows and over the internet.
That resolution, which passed 3-2 over Christy's objections, simply expresses the Board's position on pending federal legislation. It doesn't try to do anything that Flagg views as potentially violating Arizona law. Apples and oranges. Yet Christy somehow leapt to the conclusion that limits on the county's authority relate to the federal government's authority to regulate gun sales.
Not so. Christy's statement was irrelevant. ElÃas gave him enough rope to hang himself, and Christy went right ahead and obliged. He didn't seem to grasp what was happening.
All of which helps to explain why we're thrilled to see that Christy will face a formidable barrier to re-election next year. For the first time in more than 20 years, a Democrat is running for the district 4 seat. Republicans have held the seat, largely unopposed, since before popular former Supervisor Ray Carroll was appointed to the position in 1997.
Steve Diamond is the Democratic candidate for 2020. Diamond is a well respected community leader who enjoys broad support within the Democratic Party, with organized labor, and with social justice groups.
If you, like us, would like to see Christy off the Board, consider supporting Diamond's campaign with a donation and/or by volunteering. His campaign website is here: https://votestevediamond.com/.