Election update!
David Lujan conceded to Felecia Rotellini in the Democratic primary for AG.
Rotellini will face either Andrew Thomas or Tom Horne in November, after the votes are counted on the GOP side, which was even closer than the Dems'.
From the Republic:
Lujan, leader of the Democratic minority in the state House, conceded to Rotellini on Twitter.
“It was a good fight,” Lujan wrote on his Twitter account. “Now, I am going to work as hard as I can to elect Felecia Rotellini as our next attorney general! Congrats Felecia!”
On the GOP side, the news is relatively promising. As Stephen Lemons puts it:
It’s not looking good for former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. As of the end of today’s count of the remaining ballots, state Schools Superintendent Tom Horne had expanded his lead of about 400 votes from yesterday to 1,073.
The margin needs to be much narrower—only 200 votes—to warrant a recount.
There are conflicting accounts of how many ballots are outstanding—one paper said 40,000, another more than 50,000—but there are more than enough to swing the election ether way.
7:24 AM
Andrew Thomas Agonistes
From the Republic, reporting that Tom Horne how has a 373-vote lead over Andrew Thomas, enough to avoid a recount:
First, Thomas delivered an all-but-victory speech at Republican Party headquarters, while a dejected Horne told TV crews that low turnout had likely cost him the election.
Then Horne roared back, erasing a deficit of some 9,000 votes as ballots were counted in Pima County and elsewhere. Thomas' spokesman, Jason Rose, appeared to concede the race to Horne in a series of tweets, urging Republicans to come together behind their new standard bearer.
Wednesday morning, in a statement released through Rose, Thomas appeared to pedal back from those words.
“The time for debating and tough words in the Republican primary is over,” Thomas said. “The time for vote counting is upon us. I appreciated Tom Horne’s words earlier in the campaign and just last night when things were not looking his way that he would support me were I to be the nominee. Likewise, if Tom prevails I don’t want there to be any doubt that I will support him against the Democrat. Let’s see where the vote counting takes us.”
Read more here.
10:46 AM
Rick Romley: Unleash the documents!
Maricopa County prosecutor Rick Romley released a ton of documents about the crazy investigations Joe Arpaio’s office and Romley’s predecessor, Andrew Thomas, waged against their political enemies.
The pair kept pursuing the investigation, even though each venue they took it to—independent prosecutor, grand jury, and then prosecutor in another county—all rejected the pair’s claims.
The Republic lays out just how pathetic the case was, and how to this day Thomas fudges the truth:
After weeks of meeting, the [grand] jury decided to end the inquiry.
Both Thomas' prosecutor and officials in Romley’s office described an “end the inquiry” as rare.
On Thursday, Thomas said … [h]is office asked the grand jury to end the investigation.
Had the grand jury wanted to exonerate those under investigation, Thomas said, it could have issued a “no bill,” which means there was not enough evidence to indict.
However, one of Thomas' own prosecutors had explained to the jury during orientation that to “end the inquiry” meant “the case is so bad, there’s no further evidence that could be brought to you folks,” according to the transcripts.
“Frankly, I have been doing this a long time, and I have had three in my whole career,” deputy county attorney William Moore had said.
Robert Robb piles on here.
The paper’s editorial page is scathing:
It reflects most harshly on Thomas, who now is running for the Republican nomination for attorney general.
Thomas told The Republic’s Craig Harris on Thursday that Romley “has falsely claimed the grand jury found no evidence of wrongdoing” and that the release “vindicates” his office and proves his claims of county corruption.
Against the stark contrast of the grand jurors' own words, Thomas' arguments seem strikingly self-serving.
Citizens who supposedly could be persuaded by Thomas' prosecutors to indict a ham sandwich instead have eaten his lunch.
Despite it all, Sheriff Arpaio clings tenaciously to these now-thoroughly discredited charges. It is time he paid attention to the people and ended this contemptible inquiry once and for all.
8:11 AM
Espresso Pundit: Andrew Thomas is unfit to serve
Greg Patterson, a hard-right Republican, starts with a cheap-shot campaign sign the Thomas forces put up against Tom Horne and then runs through a litany of Thomas' greatest hits as an abuser of his office’s power as Maricopa County’s AG.
Thomas hand picked a fellow Republican prosecutor—Yavapai County prosecutor Sheila Polk—to look into his [contentious cases against other political figures in town]. Here’s what she concluded.
I am conservative and passionately believe in limited government, not the totalitarianism that is spreading before my eyes.
Totalitarian? Wow that’s a little harsh. It’s not like he’s been indicting his political enemies, publicly humiliating them and forcing them to go through show trials that cost them millions of dollars and ruin their careers…oh, well, never mind.
Naturally, none of the trials came to anything. All the charges against Jones, Stapley and Wilcox have been dismissed and the ridiculous “case” against the judges has fallen apart. Most of the victims have filed suits for malicious prosecution…and Thomas has said that as Attorney General he would consider using his authority to prosecute his previous victims if they receive compensation for his previous acts. So the madness continues.
6:38 AM
Brahm Resnik shows how it's done
In stark contrast to the bad job Bill Buckmaster did with the senate candidates last night in Tuscon, 12 News' Brahm Resnik took on Andrew Thomas this a.m. on “Sunday Showdown” with a great deal of toughness.
Thomas took the questions with equanimity, but it’s hard to see what more Resnik could have done.
Check it out:
1:28 PM
Another legal salvo from Andrew Thomas against the county supervisors
The Arizona Republic says he’s indicting Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox on separate charges:
A grand jury indicted Wilcox on allegations that include perjury, forgery and conflict of interest related to votes she made as a supervisor to fund the Hispanic non-profit group Chicanos Por La Causa, Thomas said.
Stapley’s counts include fraud, theft, perjury and forgery largely related to the use of funds Stapley received in his effort to become president of the National Association of Counties. Stapley also obtained mortgage loans under false pretenses, Thomas said.
[…]
Thomas said the counts were based on Wilcox obtaining five different loans through Prestamos, the lending arm of Chicanos Por La Causa, and continuing to approve funds for the organization in her role as supervisor without filing any type of conflict notice.
Farther down, the paper notes:
The indictments from a Maricopa County grand jury are the latest allegations Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio have leveled against county elected officials and administrators, many of which have been dismissed. Despite the history of Thomas and Arpaio’s allegations against other county officials petering out as they work through the justice system, the sheriff maintained confidence in his investigations.
“Let’s wait to see what the criminal justice system does before you start criticizing my investigations,” Arpaio said.
7:00 AM
Did the Dimmer Twins (accidentally) hit pay dirt with Wilcox?
Reading the two Republic stories on the matter today—here and here—one feels that the charges filed against Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Anne Wilcox aren’t entirely spurious.
That isn’t often the feeling one gets when reading about most of Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas’s brutal use of their police powers.
Wilcox hasn’t as yet given her side of the story, and there are I’m sure all sorts of ways the acts could be benign. But here’s a precis from the paper:
Elected county officials must file the financial-disclosure forms with the clerk’s office by Jan. 31 each year, said Fran McCarroll, clerk of the board. The forms are required by law to help avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of one.
A Republic review showed that Wilcox did not disclose the loans from Chicanos Por La Causa. A spokeswoman with the non-profit said Wilcox and her husband, Earl, received a $7,500 loan in November 2000, a $50,000 loan in July 2005 and $120,000 in October 2008.
According to Thomas—and the paper—she didn’t file conflict-of-interest disclosures either.
9:58 PM
"I have been framed," he said, using a turn of phrase that equates a wooden adornment around a picture with a manufactured criminal charge.
From a 12 News report on the AZ Central web site:
One day after his arrest, Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley tells 12 News he is the victim of an “inquisition” by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, making a reference to a medieval tactic to scrutinize an individual without regard to his rights.
6:00 AM
Don Stapley arrested again
Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies arrested County Supervisor Don Stapley Monday morning at a county building, three days after a prosecutor moved to dismiss charges against Stapley in a forgery and fraud case.
A sheriff’s official said Stapley was arrested on a “different case” but could not elaborate on the nature of the new charges.
6:00 AM
Another legal salvo from Andrew Thomas against county supervisors
The Arizona Republic says he’s indicting Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox on separate charges:
A grand jury indicted Wilcox on allegations that include perjury, forgery and conflict of interest related to votes she made as a supervisor to fund the Hispanic non-profit group Chicanos Por La Causa, Thomas said.Stapley’s counts include fraud, theft, perjury and forgery largely related to the use of funds Stapley received in his effort to become president of the National Association of Counties. Stapley also obtained mortgage loans under false pretenses, Thomas said.
[…]
Thomas said the counts were based on Wilcox obtaining five different loans through Prestamos, the lending arm of Chicanos Por La Causa, and continuing to approve funds for the organization in her role as supervisor without filing any type of conflict notice.
Farther down, the paper notes:
The indictments from a Maricopa County grand jury are the latest allegations Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio have leveled against county elected officials and administrators, many of which have been dismissed. Despite the history of Thomas and Arpaio’s allegations against other county officials petering out as they work through the justice system, the sheriff maintained confidence in his investigations.“Let’s wait to see what the criminal justice system does before you start criticizing my investigations,” Arpaio said.
5:02 AM