The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, in an action taken "in solidarity" with New Times, issued a press release stating that more than 40 weekly newspapers in North America "are providing links on their Web sites that direct readers to the many places on the Internet where the home address of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is listed."
In its Sunday, October 21 lead editorial, the Arizona Republic lambasted Thomas, Arpaio and Wilenchik, announcing that the Republic and Channel 12 (KPNX) had filed a motion to unseal all documents associated with the grand jury.
AP/Wide World
Andrew Thomas claims he was unaware of Wilenchik's actions against New Times.
Tony Blei
A throng of media greets New Times executive Michael Lacey as he's released from the Fourth Avenue Jail.
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"The public has a clear and compelling interest in seeing all of the records of this outrageous attempted prosecution and the arrests of two New Timesexecutives for one very clear reason: The prosecutors used their subpoenas to try to get a broad, intrusive look at the interests of the newspaper-reading public," the newspaper wrote. As mentioned above, Judge Baca has granted an expedited hearing on the matter.
There was a distinct minority of naysayers. KTAR 92.3-FM morning host Darrell Ankarlo called the original Dougherty column "irresponsible journalism," then proceeded to flub the County Attorney's name, calling him "Andrew Card."
Following Thomas' verbal dressing down of him, Dennis Wilenchik told Republic reporter Lynh Bui in an e-mail which was reported in a front-page story on October 21 that the case had been "hysterically and falsely reported" in the press.
While asserting that he respected the County Attorney's decisions, the pugnacious Wilenchik denied that he had mishandled the case, as Thomas has maintained. And he claimed that there was "absolutely no unethical contact or intent" in his attempt to establish private communications with Judge Baca, who was overseeing the grand jury looking into New Times.
Wilenchik also threatened in the e-mail to the daily newspaper, "Any further attempt to besmirch my reputation earned after 30 years will not be tolerated."
By any estimation, Wilenchik has turned into an albatross around Thomas' neck.
"Wilenchik is taking the spear and he should be taking the spear because it was just such an over-reach," said political insider Jason Rose of Rose & Allyn Public Relations in Scottsdale. He stated that he believed all contact between Thomas' office and Wilenchik should be severed, even in civil litigation.
"I thought the request Dennis made [in the subpoena] was outrageous and insane," observed Rose. "Whether it's Dennis or me or any aide to any politician at any point in time, you're not the show. Don't ever get confused that you are the show. Don't get caught up in one victory in court on behalf of Arpaio, or that you're Buster Badass because you're working for the County Attorney and the sheriff at the same time.
"Your job is to follow the law and represent your client and your cause with honor and dignity. Not with arrogance and imprudence. That's what took place here. And he absolutely should've been fired."
Rose, who has advised Republicans including Arpaio and Thomas, acknowledged that Thomas had been hurt by the controversy, but didn't believe it to be a fatal blow to his career.
"Look, politics is a lot like baseball," said Rose. "Sometimes there are foul balls. Sometimes there are errors. And in this case, I don't think there's any question there's a foul ball. And I think it's absolutely the case that the County Attorney will not only recover from this but will continue on as County Attorney and, perhaps, other things in the future."
However, Rose's analysis only holds if Thomas, as he's claimed, truly had no knowledge of the over-broad grand jury subpoena, the arrests, and Wilenchik's attempts at an ex parte communication with Judge Baca. It should be recalled that Thomas was working in concert with Wilenchik over the County Attorney Office's challenges to the county judiciary.
Former County Attorney Romley questioned how Thomas could fire Wilenchik as prosecutor if Wilenchik (whom some wags now call "Wilencheckbook" because of the nearly $2 million he's racked up in the county's employ) had truly been independent. Romley characterized the entire episode as "amateurish" and said he believed that its after-effects would dog Thomas.
"Somebody in the first year of law school would have identified the ramifications of that subpoena," insisted Romley, adding, "There are a lot of questions out there, and I hope this doesn't go away."
County Democrats certainly plan to make an issue of it a year from now when they challenge Thomas' re-election bid. Maricopa County Democratic Party chairman Mark Manoil seemed delighted, though not overconfident, at Thomas' fumble.
"We're glad to see that this is coming to light, because we think this is not the one and only instance of over-reaching and abuse of power that people in Maricopa County have been subject to by both Arpaio and Thomas," Manoil offered. "Wilenchik seems to have been a very willing surrogate for Thomas. We think there's a lot more investigation that needs to be done about their relationship."
Arpaio, for his part, is renowned for having the political longevity of a turtle. But he too may suffer a backlash because of the Lacey-Larkin arrests.
"He has a such a deep reservoir of political capital with the voters," said Rose of Arpaio, noting, "But there's no question it was drawn down this past week. Because if you're talking about . . . New Times, [Arpaio] starts looking petty."