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BISBEE - Talk of a movement to recall District 2 Cochise County Supervisor Paul Newman began Tuesday afternoon, following a special board meeting to deal with his alleged misuse of his county-provided car.
Nothing has actually started, but some citizens attending the meeting were not satisfied with the outcome.
Newman's fellow commissioners, Pat Call and Les Thompson, voted to revoke his county car privileges because of allegations that he had smoked marijuana in the car, which allegedly was discovered during a stop Sept. 15 at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.
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Newman denied the allegations, but accepted the action. He was unavailable for comment on Thursday.
Call said Thursday that for the county, the matter was closed.
The report
The Border Patrol report, which was not read at the meeting Tuesday, was prepared by Senior Agent Joe Navarro of the Naco station.
The report says Navarro and his department dog, Gerri, were working at the Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 90 north of Huachuca City on Sept. 15.
At approximately 1:30 p.m., Newman drove up to the checkpoint in his white 2002 Ford Crown Victoria. Agent Lori Esparza said "hello" to Newman, who did not respond but continued driving away, Navarro said.
As Newman drove past Navarro, the dog was alerted to the vehicle. Navarro said he yelled at Newman to stop, but he continued driving. Agent Roma J. Solidum then motioned for Newman to stop and he did. Navarro told Solidum of the dog's reaction to the car.
When Newman exited the vehicle, he "was visibly shaking, breathing rapidly and was obviously nervous," Navarro reported. Newman said he was late for a meeting.
The dog entered the car without a command and sniffed at the ashtray in the center dash area. Navarro then entered the vehicle and smelled marijuana. He found "ashes, small pieces of burnt rolling paper and some marijuana residue," Navarro said.
The agent told Newman of his findings, and Newman again said he was late for a meeting "and appeared anxious to leave the checkpoint," Navarro said. Newman added that he was driving a county vehicle and was a county supervisor. Navarro said he then advised his supervisor, Agent Michael E. Jordan, of the situation.
Newman reportedly admitted smoking "some marijuana" in the vehicle but did not state when.
"Newman admitted this in the presence of agents Jordan, Roma and myself," Navarro wrote.
"Agents Jordan and Roma also recognized the odor of marijuana in the vehicle," Navarro continued. "No seizable amount of narcotics or other contraband was found in the vehicle."
Newman was released from the checkpoint at approximately 1:40 p.m.
He was en route to a gathering of County Supervisors Association members scheduled for 2 p.m. at Kartchner Caverns State Park, County Administrator Jody Klein told the Herald/Review Thursday.
Asked by a Herald/Review reporter on Thursday why Newman was allowed to leave without being charged or the vehicle seized, Border Patrol spokeswoman Andrea Zortman said, "Those agents felt that the individual was not a threat," in terms of being under the influence of cannabis.
There also was not enough evidence to arrest Newman or seize the vehicle, she said.
Asked if Newman being a county supervisor had anything to do with being released, Zortman said, "No matter who they are, we're not going to bend the rules."
Zortman said the reason the Herald/Review was told last month that there was no report on the matter was because the agents who were contacted at the Naco station had not read the report and did not know of its existence. She added she had just received the report herself.
A citizens network
The special meeting Tuesday was attended by 13 citizens, who obviously knew of the agenda, and reporters from the Arizona Daily Star and the weekly Bisbee Observer. Unlike the Herald/Review, the two reporters normally do not cover the board's meetings, and citizens seldom attend unless they have business with the supervisors.
Both reporters said their papers had been notified of the meeting by someone and led to believe something important would occur at the meeting. The reporters, Ignacio Ibarra of the Star and Virginia Hodge of the Observer, told the Herald/Review that they heard rumors of the alleged marijuana incident but did not connect it at first with the special meeting.
Many of the citizens said they received e-mails Tuesday morning regarding the meeting and were urged to attend. The e-mails were sent by Rachael Thomas, who lives near Huachuca City.
Thomas said Thursday that she regularly monitors events of interest to a network of friends and acquaintances and saw the Tuesday afternoon special meeting agenda on the county's Web site. She said she thought the matter might be related to Newman's misuse of the car for campaign purposes in the Bisbee and Douglas Fourth of July parades this year. She had not heard rumors of the Border Patrol incident, she said.
Now that the matter is in the open, "All I want is all the facts out," she said.
Another recall?
Betty Senesac, of Hereford, wants more.
"It's not going to stop here, and it's not just this one issue. He's behaved badly," said Senesac, who ran against Newman as an independent write-in candidate in the Nov. 2 general election.
Senesac said some of the citizens attending the meeting immediately began discussing a recall. Asked if she would be a candidate again, Senesac said, "It is possible."
In addition to the e-mail from Thomas, Senesac said she heard of the meeting from two other sources. She said she did not know that the Border Patrol stop would be brought up, but was glad it was.
"I don't think taking the vehicle away is going to take care of the county's liability issue," Senesac said. "Has he gone to meetings like this?"
A recall attempt against Newman failed in January 2003 when the county Elections Office and the Recorder's Office determined there were not enough valid signatures to call an election.
Walter Cleveland of Douglas initiated the recall and, with help from others, collected 2,172 signatures. To force a recall, 2,092 valid signatures had to be presented. After reviewing the signatures, the Recorder's Office determined that 1,684 signatures were from qualified voters and 280 were from people registered at different addresses than where they currently live. All of those signatures were considered valid, leaving the recall effort with signatures from 1,964 qualified voters. During the review, 204 signatures were thrown out for not being from qualified, registered voters.
With the signatures declared invalid, the recall effort fell 128 signatures short of forcing an election.
At the time he initiated the recall, Cleveland said he had several concerns. His primary concern was that Newman was siding with the Center for Biological Diversity against county cattle ranchers when the ranchers asked the county for financial assistance in a possible lawsuit.
Cleveland did not attend the meeting.
"I wouldn't lead a recall, but if someone starts one, I'll lend a hand," he said Thursday.
Several of the residents attending Tuesday's meeting were ranchers, including Dr. Charles Behney, who raises horses. He is a veterinarian practicing in Bisbee.
Behney said he saw the meeting posted on the county Web site and called Fred Houston Davis, who ran for Newman's seat in the Sept. 7 Democratic primary election. Davis, a rancher near Tombstone, also attended the Tuesday meeting.
Behney, who said, "I've never been an admirer of Paul Newman," heard the marijuana rumor some time earlier.
During the meeting, Behney told another citizen near a Herald/Review reporter that he thought the other two supervisors would remove Newman from the board.
He was not satisfied with the outcome of the meeting.
"I don't think anybody was," Behney said. "A recall may be in order. Š Newman's opinions about farmers and ranchers make no sense at all."
Davis said he didn't know exactly what to expect, although he, too, had heard the marijuana rumor.
"I was hoping this would come up," Davis said.
Davis also was dissatisfied with the board's action, saying Newman was being held to a different standard that county employees.
"I find it amazing that they (county government) just fired some employees (for smoking marijuana) and don't hold themselves to the same standard. Š What do you have to do to get thrown out of office?" Davis said Wednesday.
Behney, a supporter of Davis in his campaign to unseat Newman, thinks Davis would do well in the District 2 seat.
The recall idea was discussed after the meeting with Call, said Mary Ella Cowan of Tombstone, who also received an e-mail Tuesday morning.
"I think this is very, very wrong," Cowan said.
Call said Thursday that somebody mentioned recall to him after the meeting, but he said he wasn't interested.
"It was none of my business and none of my concern," he said.
The board did all that it could, under state and county law, Call said.
"There was a concerted effort not to politicize this," Call said. "We were backed into a corner. We tried to settle this in other ways."
Klein agreed.
"I think we've done whatever we're going to do," Klein said Thursday.
Newman has turned in his county car and will be reimbursed for mileage driving his own vehicle.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Michael Sullivan can be reached at 515-4682 or by e-mail at michael.sullivan@svherald.com.
Ezai I. Martinez wrote on Jun 24, 2009 7:58 PM: