Tuesday’s (Sept. 2) primary election could be a lesson for anyone interested in the 2009 Tucson city primary.

Aug. 13 financial reports for the three contested Pima County supervisors seats show Republican challenger Joe Higgins out-raised District 1 incumbent Ann Day during the latest reporting period, $36,781 to $14,630. Day still had $39,291 on hand, however, while Higgins had only $1,764.

Contributions to incumbent Democratic Supervisors Sharon Bronson in District 3 and Ramón Valadez in District 2 were about double the donations to their opponents, Donna Branch-Gilby and Robert Robuck.

Republican Ray Carroll and Democrat Richard Elías have no opponents Tuesday or in November, so they’ll undoubtedly be back.

Not everyone is thrilled by the prospect of the same five county supervisors for another four years.

Higgins, Robuck and Branch-Gilby could score upsets if the turnout is heavy, but a light vote will probably reassure the renominations of Day, Valadez and Bronson.

Higgins has noted that Pima residents pay much more in county property taxes than residents of Maricopa and most other Arizona counties.

Day says Pima County needs a higher tax rate because a larger percentage of our residents live in unincorporated areas, while Maricopa County has many more incorporated cities and towns than we do.

True. But our supervisors and County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry have opposed most attempts by Tucson, Sahuarita, Marana and Oro Valley to annex unincorporated areas. They’ve also fought bids by unincorporated residents to form their own towns.

Branch-Gilby, who attended many board meetings before deciding to run for supervisor, notes the board majority held only one study session in the past four years and effectively killed a citizens’ budget review committee by failing to appoint people to sit on it.

Bronson defends those decisions. She also rejects Branch-Gilby’s criticisms the board too often follows Huckelberry’s recommendations without discussing them on their own.

Robuck has criticized Valadez for holding an outside job and spending little time in his county office, leaving that to his top aide, South Tucson Mayor Jennifer Eckstrom. He also suggested the county has overpaid South Tucson for a social service program and a park.

The challengers’ points weren’t mentioned much in local news media until many voters had already cast early ballots.

The victor in the primary between Branch-Gilby and Bronson will face Republican businessman Barney Brenner in the Nov. 4 general. He narrowly lost to Bronson in 2000 and has followed county government closely since then.

The general election will also see Democratic Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a 50-year figure in local law enforcement, facing Republican Harry Shaw, and Democratic County Attorney Barbara LaWall vying against Brad Roach, a former prosecutor in the office.

County Assessor Bill Staples and Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez, both Democrats, are both unopposed in their bids for another four-year term. So are two Republicans, County School Superintendent Linda Arzoumanian and Treasurer Beth Ford.

With this background, here are two lessons for Tucsonans who have issues with their mayor and council:

1. If you don’t find and back candidates to oppose officials you don’t like, most of them will be re-elected easily every four years.

2. To beat incumbents, you must identify challengers, start raising money, and insist your candidates learn about every possible issue while also introducing themselves to local news media and their potential constituents.

Most critics of county officials didn’t do those things very well this year.

Finally, realize that now is the time to find challengers for three incumbents in next year’s City Council elections.

If you don’t already know whose terms will be up, you may just be part of the problem.

Contact Steve Emerine or e-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Emerine, a Tucson resident since 1960, has run Steve Emerine Strategic Public Relations since 1994. He is a former local newspaper reporter, editor and columnist and served as Pima County Assessor from 1973 to 1980. He is a regular Monday guest on the John C. Scott radio talk show, which airs from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to noon weekdays on The Voice KVOI 690-AM. This column appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.