Maricopa County District 2 Supervisor, newly elected Board Chairman, and Rose Law Group partner and attorney Thomas Galvin grew up in New York as a Mets baseball fan, attended Notre Dame and roots for “Fighting Irish” football, and enjoys kickin’ it musically with Tupac, Biggie and Pearl Jam.
Those topics just scratch the surface of his 35-minute chat with Dennis Welch, as the AZFamily political editor and host of Politics Unplugged Podcast inquires about big agenda items for Galvin and the Board of Supervisors, including…
NHL’s possible return to the Valley. Galvin tells Welch that “it’s not just about” the fun and cheering for a team; rather, “professional sports is a huge economic driver.” When the Coyotes left, Gavin’s reaction was, “Well what can I do about it? I can’t just complain. So I co-called NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman,” who was supportive about the idea.
Diamondbacks & Chase Field: The D-backs want a big remodel of Chase Field, which the county owns but the ball club runs. Galvin views keeping the team in town as another issue that falls under economic development. He tells Welch his goal is finding a way to keep the team here via a “taxpayer-friendly resolution.”
Public safety: Galvin explains that even though the county has “maintained” its “investment in public safety,” the “federal oversight that we have hanging over our head,” combined with a “pay structure” that “is the lowest,” has resulted in the “morale” at the Sheriff’s Office being “very low” and “vacancies… high.” What would help? Supervisor Galvin says the Jail Excise Tax (one-fifth of a penny) needs to be extended.
Election reforms: “I do believe that we have a good system but you always should be looking to way make a good system better,” Galvin says. “First of all, I think Maricopa County should find ways to do its system better, but also I have found and identified state laws that I think are problematic. I’m going to start there.” Among Galvin’s proposals: Shortening the length of time it always seems to take to count votes.
