🎭 An Open Letter to Pima County Board of Supervisors Chair Rex Scott: When Democracy Becomes Theater
Supervisor admits ignoring "vast majority" of constituents while serving corporate interests
Supervisor Scott Rex Democracy: How Pima County's Chair Admitted Ignoring Voters
Dear Supervisor Scott,
Your actions on June 17, 2025, regarding Project Blue, have provided a master class in how representative democracy dies—not through dramatic coups or constitutional crises, but through the quiet betrayal of elected officials who openly admit they're ignoring the very people they swore to represent.
The Three-Act Tragedy of Democratic Betrayal
Act I: The Pre-Determined Vote
Before you even walked into the Board of Supervisors meeting, your staff had already prepared a press release announcing your support for Project Blue, ready to release after your vote. This wasn't governance—it was theater.
While your constituents flooded your office with calls opposing the project and organized and prepared testimony, you had already decided their voices didn't matter. The "public hearing" became nothing more than performative democracy, a hollow ritual designed to create the illusion of public input while serving corporate interests.
Act II: The Admission of Democratic Contempt
Your own press release, distributed immediately after the vote, contains perhaps the most damning confession in recent Pima County political history:
"The VAST MAJORITY of Pima Countians who have contacted our office about Project Blue have encouraged me to VOTE AGAINST IT."
Let that sink in.
You literally admitted that your constituents overwhelmingly opposed this corporate giveaway, and you voted for it anyway. When over 30 community members testified against the project—including Katie Bolger, a city council aide who took time off work to speak—you ignored them all. When environmental scientists, families, and local business owners presented detailed concerns about water scarcity during the worst drought in 126 years, you dismissed their expertise in favor of corporate talking points.
This wasn't a difficult decision that reasonable people could disagree with. This was a clear choice between serving the people who elected you and serving the corporations that lobby you.
You, Rex Scott, chose the corporations.
Act III: The Hypocrisy Exposed
Hours after ignoring your own constituents' overwhelming opposition to Project Blue, you had the audacity to appear at the Tucson City Council meeting to oppose water rate increases, speaking on behalf of the very same people whose voices you had just dismissed.
The irony was not lost on Councilman Paul Cunningham, who called out your performance for what it was: rank hypocrisy.
You demanded that the city council listen to community input and consider the impacts on residents, while having just demonstrated that afternoon that you believe elected officials should ignore community input when there is money to be made.
Why should the city council listen to you or your constituents when you have just shown, by example, that public officials don't need to listen to the people they represent? Your appearance at that podium wasn't advocacy—it was a masterpiece of unintentional self-parody.
The Immediate Corporate Betrayal
Your press release promised accountability, stating: "There can be no excuses for failure, or faltering... To do otherwise will not only diminish any economic benefits this project may bring; it will cause people to lose trust in government."
The trust was broken within hours.
Immediately after securing your vote for Project Blue, TEP announced it will seek a 14% rate increase for residential customers, exactly what community members had warned would happen.
These massive data centers not only consume millions of gallons of water daily to cool their servers but also require enormous amounts of electricity that TEP would have to produce for them, straining the grid and driving up costs for everyone else.
The corporations you sided with betrayed the community before the ink was dry on your press release. The very concerns your constituents raised about both water scarcity and energy costs were validated in real-time, while you were still patting yourself on the back for "economic development."
A Pattern of Betraying Public Trust
Project Blue isn't an isolated incident. Your vote to raid library tax reserves for the PEEPS program—diverting $44 million meant for libraries to fund preschools with no long-term sustainability plan—follows the same pattern: ignore community input, serve special interests, and mortgage the future for short-term political gain.
Whether it's library funds or reclaimed water reserves, your approach is consistent: raid public resources while you can, regardless of long-term consequences or community opposition.
The Death of Democratic Legitimacy
What makes your betrayal particularly devastating is that you're a Democrat—a member of the party that supposedly believes in responsive government and community engagement.
When Democrats like you openly admit to ignoring overwhelming constituent opposition, you don't just betray your voters—you undermine the entire premise of democratic participation.
Why should anyone call their elected officials if you've demonstrated that constituent calls don't matter? Why should anyone attend public hearings if you've shown that community testimony is just political theater? Why should anyone vote if you've proven that corporate lobbyists have more influence than thousands of constituent voices?
The Logical Precision of Your Hypocrisy
Your actions on June 17th create a perfect logical chain:
You ignored overwhelming constituent opposition to Project Blue, proving that public input doesn't influence your votes
You then demanded that the city council listen to constituent input on water rates, contradicting your own demonstrated principles
The city council followed your example and ignored the call to the audience, just as you had done hours earlier
TEP immediately validated community concerns by announcing rate increases, proving your constituents were right to oppose the project
You cannot credibly demand that other elected officials listen to the people while simultaneously demonstrating that you don't believe elected officials should listen to the people. The city council simply followed the precedent you set: when corporations want something, public input becomes irrelevant.
The Challenge to Democratic Participation
Your actions pose a fundamental question for Pima County residents: If overwhelming constituent opposition, expert testimony, and organized community engagement can't influence your vote, what can?
If you'll side with corporations even when they immediately betray the community, what would it take for you to side with the people who elected you?
The answer appears to be nothing.
You've demonstrated that in Rex Scott's Pima County, democracy is theater, public hearings are performance art, and constituent services exist only when they align with corporate interests.
A Call for Accountability
Representative democracy requires representatives who actually represent their constituents. Your own words prove that you've abandoned this fundamental responsibility. When you admit that the "vast majority" of your constituents opposed your vote and you voted against them anyway, you've broken the basic social contract of democratic governance.
Pima County deserves better than performative democracy.
We deserve representatives who listen when we call, who consider our testimony when we speak, and who vote based on the needs of their community rather than corporate demands.
Your betrayal of democratic principles on Project Blue wasn't just a policy disagreement—it was a rejection of the very concept of representative government. TEP's immediate rate increase proves that the community you ignored was right all along.
The people of Pima County will remember that when it mattered most, Rex Scott chose corporations over constituents, profits over people, and political theater over democratic representation.
The trust you wrote about losing? You were right—it's gone. And you're the one who broke it.
This letter reflects the views of Pima County residents who still believe that representative democracy should be, in fact, representative.
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