Judicial Watch is planning to appeal a November 4 decision by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Rea that allows Gordon to keep secret two years' worth of his security-detail logs.
Jim Peterson, an attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank, tells New Times that they are waiting for the judge to file a final judgment in the case, and then they will file their appeal.
Just what is Judicial Watch after?
The case involves a log of unscheduled events maintained by Gordon's
security team to document for their bosses how they spend their time
with the mayor. Think of it as a second set of books.
New Times, Judicial Watch and other local media outlets want to examine the info on those books to see whether Gordon was appropriately using his publicly-funded security detail.
See, Gordon's staff kept a public calendar with
events and meetings the mayor was scheduled to attend during those two years.
But where were
Gordon and his security officers during those hours long gaps between
events? Or where did the security officers take him if an event was
canceled? How often did Gordon use his publicly-funded security detail
as a private shuttle for Elissa Mullany, the political fundraiser who he
started dating?
Thanks to Jason Rose, a former Gordon flak, we know that Mullany
was picked up and driven home from the airport by Gordon's security
detail on at least one occasion. That is the type of information one would no doubt find in those security-detail records. The security detail -- made up of sworn police officers -- is there to protect the mayor, not shuttle around his love-interests.
And that is why those records are at the center of this lawsuit.
Read more about the judge's decision.
