Michael Hustoncolumnist

City Councilman Steve Leal is ripping off the people of Tucson.

The soon-to-be fifth term Democrat who represents much of the South Side is seeking re-election this year and is taking advantage of a provision in Tucson's charter designed to keep elections as fair as possible.

A 20-year-old part of Tucson law, the provision allows candidates for city offices to sign a contract with the city, agreeing to only raise funds up to a certain point.

These funds are then matched by the city, dollar for dollar, and the money comes out of the same "general fund" that is used by the city to pay for police and fire services, as well as many other publicly funded projects.

This year the fundraising limit is about $42,000, and the Arizona Daily Star reports that "Leal will soon be receiving a handsome chunk of change from Tucson's public matching-fund program," to match the approximately $42,000 he himself raised, apparently in order to run a vigorous re-election campaign.

The problem is, Leal has no opponent.

The deadline to declare candidacy has long expired, and Leal's only challenger dropped out of the race weeks ago. This means that unless he dies or gives up before Nov. 8, Leal is guaranteed to win another term on the City Council.

Leal, though, is not planning on giving his matching funds back to the people of the city.

When asked why he was still planning on spending city money on a race he is guaranteed to win, Leal provided three reasons:

"I first want to help shape the debate," he said. "Second, I want to increase voter turnout, and third, I feel I have the right to defend myself from the attacks of independent special interest groups during the campaign."

While listening to Leal rattle off the first two points of his three-fold justification for hijacking city funds, I found myself asking, "How dumb does this guy think I am?"

It should be clear to anyone with a basic knowledge of political campaigning that it doesn't take more than Leal's own $42,000 to participate in debate about the issues and increase voter turnout in a Tucson city council election.

Actually, all it takes is a couple dozen volunteers to hand out leaflets and some dedicated hours of phone banking.

Leal's first two points are not so much well-reasoned justifications as they are the rhetoric of a veteran politician.

But you don't have to talk to Leal long to realize that he cares a whole lot more about what the interest groups say about him than he does about increasing voter turnout.

Leal expressed his position by saying, "This is about preventing independent groups from exercising undue influence on the democratic process," and he went on to say, "this is not just about me, this is about defending democracy."

At this point, I simply shook my head in disbelief.

First of all, although there will always be interest groups spending money to attack politicians at any level of government, it's not exactly in the best interest of such a group to pour out ridiculous amounts of money to oppose a candidate without an opponent.

Secondly, I wonder if Leal himself even believes that this is about anything more than getting back at those pesky interest groups that said those mean things about him.

It should also be said that this is not a partisan issue; this is about common sense. Democrats and Republicans alike should be outraged that Steve Leal thinks the City of Tucson should spend $42,000 so that he can "defend himself" from independent groups that oppose him in a campaign where his re-election is assured.

Not to mention the fact that that money could easily be returned to the city and spent on Tucson's fire services, police department or even better yet, on its roads.

At a recent City Council meeting, Leal was confronted by several audience members, including some UA students, regarding his refusal to return the unneeded matching funds to the city.

But with an air of arrogance that is typical only of people with a deep superiority complex, Leal refused his opportunity to respond to the concerns of his constituents at the meeting.

But then again, why should he? They're bound to re-elect him come November.

Michael Huston is a sophomore majoring in political science and philosophy. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.