NINA TRASOFF STATEMENTS CONTRADICTED
BY STATE REP. FRANK ANTENORI
OCTOBER 23, 2009 (TUCSON, AZ) Why is Nina Trasoff lying to voters?
On February 23, 2009 the City Council voted to conduct an outside audit of Rio Nuevo and require quarterly public hearings to let the voters know where over $160 million was wasted. As of today the Council has REFUSED to perform an audit or have public hearings.
What doesn’t Nina Trasoff want you to know? How far will she go to cover up her $160 million dollar mistakes? So far as to openly lie about her transparency?
In several recent forums, Nina Trasoff has alleged that she and the rest of the council have not followed through on their commitment to conduct a thorough public audit of Rio Nuevo because they "were enjoined from doing so by the Republican led legislature." The truth is that no such enjoinment was ever in place and that as the head of the Rio Nuevo subcommittee, Ms.Trasoff has violated her own commitment to operate under an umbrella of transparency in refusing to open the books and show the taxpayers how she has spent their money. Below is a statement by State Representative Frank Antenori that supports this fact.
CLARIFICATION FROM STATE REP.FRANK ANTENORI:
State Legislature Did Not Prohibit Audit
Over the past few days it has come to my attention that current members of the Tucson City Council, particularly Ms. Trasoff and Ms. Uhlich, are claiming that their failure to perform a financial audit of Rio Nuevo was due to a directive from the State Legislature. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Arizona State Legislature made no such directive, passed no legislation or made statements that would prohibit the City of Tucson from conducting an audit.
The Legislature did inform the city that continuing to spend Tax Increment Financing (TIF) dollars on non-revenue generating projects, such as the Mission Gardens, would result in the legislature sweeping funds from the Tucson TIF District. We strongly advised that the city of Tucson focus on revenue generating projects such as the Tucson Convention Center expansion and associated infrastructure for a downtown hotel. This strong recommendation was made for two reasons. First, it would reduce the likelihood of the legislature sweeping TIF money for reasons of possible misuse of funds and second, in an effort to save the Gem and Mineral Show.
It would not be in the best interests of Arizona taxpayers to suspend the audit process for Rio Nuevo and the legislature would never consider removing such a vital tool used to maintain oversight of taxpayer dollars.
I can be reached at the phone number and email addresses below for additional clarification and comment.
State Representative Frank R. Antenori, District 30
Capitol phone: 602-926-5683
