Subject: Max Wilson

• Day of Outrage: The Supes' Lockdown, MCSA's Walkout, and Guadalupe's Shame

  September 17, 2008

• Good Sports, Bad Religion

  Letters from the week of October 17, 2002

  October 17, 2002

• Meet the New County, Same as the Old County

  November 4, 2008

• The Bird Claws at State Democrats and Likens the GOP's SCA-gate to the Granddaddy of Political Scandals

  November 13, 2008

• Hot Links: Protesters Welcome New Chairman of County Supervisors; Harry Mitchell Says No to Pay Raises; Buckeye Cop Fired After Speaking Out on Safety Issues

  Protesters against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio welcomed the new chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Max Wilson, in the hopes of getting some quality time with the board at a public meeting. Harry Mitchell doesn't need no stinkin' raise, and he doesn't want others in Congress to have one, either. Buckeye fires a cop who complained publicly about safety lapses -- she claims she had to patrol the whole town one night by herself, five hours after her previous shift. The may

  January 6, 2009

• Maricopa County Supervisors Slam County Attorney Aide Over Andrew Thomas No-Show; Arpaio's Inmate Segregation at Issue

  Call it an unexcused absence. Maricopa County Andrew Thomas skipped a county Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday despite having been pointedly -- and publicly -- asked to show up and give advice on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's plan to segregate illegal immigrant jail inmates. The diss of the supervisors by Thomas served only to ramp up the public feud between the five-member panel and the county's chief prosecutor. Still, it's hard to see how Thomas could

  February 9, 2009

• County Supervisors Want Input From Andrew Thomas on Sheriff Arpaio's Segregation of Undocumented Inmates

  First, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors strips County Attorney Andrew Thomas of the right to handle civil litigation for the county, causing Thomas to sue the board. Now, the five-member board wants to bring Thomas in to a special meeting on Monday to get his advice on -- you guessed it -- potential civil litigation. The issue at hand is the possible risk of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's latest publicity stunt -- the segregation of illegal immigrant jail inmates. Max Wilson,

  February 6, 2009

• Maricopa County Employees' Use of Vehicles to be Studied for Possible Cuts

  A Maricopa County employee welfare program known as the "take-home vehicle" may be coming to an end.Due to the economic crisis, the county is ordering the use of its 2,500 vehicles to be scrutinized with an eye toward saving money. One of the first things officials want to look at is whether to keep allowing some employees to drive their taxpayer-owned cars home overnight, according to a news release put out today by the county. (Click here for an MS Word copy of the release).

  February 11, 2009

• Maricopa County Supervisors Spend $14,600 Sweeping for Bugs

  Max Wilson, Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of SupervisorsIt seems like the very definition of paranoia: Spending thousands of dollars sweeping for hidden electronic devices -- and finding none.But that's what Maricopa County Supervisors are doing -- with your money.The county has now spent $14,600 sweeping for bugs on the 10th floor of the county building at 301 West Jefferson Street, and no bugs have been discovered. We first heard about the bugs in a March 10 Arizona Republic

  March 16, 2009

• County Creates New Civil Litigation Department With Money Taken From County Attorney Andrew Thomas

  The Maricopa County Board Supervisors today sealed the deal on their transfer of power over civil litigation matters out of the office of County Attorney Andrew Thomas (pictured). With a vote in their informal meeting this morning, the supervisors created a new department to handle civil lawsuits and funded it with $528,000 taken from Thomas' office. The meeting agenda claims the move will cause litigation costs to "decline over time." Here's the agenda item in full bureaucratese: &nbs

  March 16, 2009

• Maricopa County Makes $33 Million in Fresh Budget Cuts; Phone Waits to Lengthen, Clinic to Close

  Maricopa County will close a family planning clinic, put off non-crucial building maintenance, reduce cleaning services and make other changes because of a $32.6 million budget cut. Revenues are coming in even slower than expected, forcing the Board of Supervisors to approve the latest cuts and eliciting hard-nosed promises by officials that more cuts are coming. One of the areas being cut you're likely to notice: The county's already poor telephone service. In a news release

  March 17, 2009

• County's New Civil Litigation Department Approved by Court; Andrew Thomas Thwarted

    Just got word that the cease-and-desist motion filed by Maricopa County Andrew Thomas to stop the county from taking over civil litigation matters has failed. Superior Court Judge Donald Daughton rejected the motion. As we were the first to report on Monday, the county Board of Supervisors voted to take $528,000 from the county attorney's office and use it to help fund the creation of a new department to deal with civil lawsuits. The move by the supervisors could be perceived as retaliat

  March 19, 2009

• "Appearance of Evil" Requires Personal Sanctions Against County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Say County Supervisors

  A conflict of interest between Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and the county Board of Supervisors over the investigation of a planned court tower creates the "appearance of evil," a judge has ruled.  Judge Gary Donahoe The background: In the midst of a feud with the County Supervisors, Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio began investigating alleged crimes by county officials related to the planning of the proposed $340 million court tower. Neither politician has said publicly what

  March 31, 2009

• Don Stapley Case Bombshell: Andrew Thomas Refers Prosecution to Yavapai County; Offers Olive Branch to County Leaders

  Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is waving the white flag. He's transferring the investigation of Don Stapley and the planned Superior Court building to Yavapai County. And he's offering to resolve through a mediator his legal dispute about the county's civil litigation work. The actions seem to bring this county civil war movie to climax. But careful observers could have guessed this ending: Thomas recently lost a series of important battles. The wanna-be state At

  April 6, 2009

• Don Stapley Conflict Erases Trust, Despite Smarmy Surrender by "Backstabbing" Andy Thomas, Says County

    Maricopa County leaders had little but cyncism for  the surprising announcement by County Attorney Andrew Thomas this morning to hand off the Don Stapley prosecution. Trusting Thomas will be difficult despite his call for peace, says County Manager David Smith, who somehow wound up under criminal investigation during the fight. Smith says the county attorney is only caving now because he's already lost. Thomas "is waving the white flag of surrender because his con

  April 6, 2009

• Money Shot

  If Maricopa County supervisors wanted to go after Sheriff Joe Arpaio, they could. They could focus on his office's finances

  December 27, 2007

• County Supervisors Slash Senior Services and Their Own Office Budgets in Latest Round of Cuts

  A county program that transports senior citizens to medical appointments will end July 1 as part of a fresh round of budget cuts.The Board of Supervisors announced today that belt-tightening and will occur in several departments, including transportation, environmental services and in the Supervisors' own offices. Job vacancies will go unfilled and new "operating efficiences" will take root. Plus, another $282,000 will come out of the county's general budget. All told, the new cuts total about

  April 13, 2009

• Thomas Names Suggested Mediators in Dispute with County Board of Supervisors

  Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas today suggested three lawyers as possible mediators in his legal dispute with the county Board of Supervisors:Timothy Casey, of Schmitt Schneck Smyth & HerrodLee Miller, of Miller La Sota & PetersChristopher Skelly, of Scott & Skelly

  April 14, 2009

• Gutless Wonders

  January 13, 2005

• In the Crosshairs

  June 24, 2004

• County Connivers

  May 20, 2004

• County Supervisors Vote to Force Treasurer to Document How Missing Funds Were Spent

  Charles "Hos" HoskinsThe Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted today to file a special court action to force the county's treasurer to open his accounting books and explain a mysterious transfer of funds. The Supervisors say (see full text of news release below) that nearly $900,000 in a state account managed by the treasurer had been spent without a clear reason, "of which $411,000 is a transfer to an outside bank account, leaving a balance of $23,000." Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox s

  April 16, 2009

• Dust Up in Sun City

  Is mining causing cancer in the West Valley?

  January 30, 2003

• Garden Parties

  Campaign funds from the big house, tales from the greenhouse

  April 4, 2002

• Maricopa County Supervisor Again Invites County Attorney to Call Him

  Max Wilson Another day, another diss. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors can't seem to communicate with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. In a letter to County Attorney Andrew Thomas (see below), Max Wilson, the chairman of the board, repeats his earlier offer to have Thomas call him to discuss mediation of the lawsuit Thomas filed against the county. Wilson says it's not true, as has been reported, that some legal barrier exists that prevents the county leaders from chatting. Wilson

  April 28, 2009

• County's Lawyer Ordered County Attorney Not to Contact Board of Supervisors Directly

  Barnett LotsteinIt seems there's a good reason for why Maricopa County Andrew Thomas won't return County Supervisor Max Wilson's phone call: Wilson's attorney ordered him not to. As we reported yesterday, Wilson wrote to Thomas yesterday that he was surprised greatly to read an explanation by Barnett Lotstein, one of Thomas' special assistants, for the unreturned calls. Lotstein had told the Board of Supervisors that its attorney had banned direct contact between the parti

  April 29, 2009

• Joe Arpaio Threatens BOS Chairman Max Wilson, Brags About Relationship with Arizona Republic's Phil Boas

  Joe brags about the $1.6 million, and threatens BOS Chairman Max Wilson Here are two YouTube videos that've made their way to me, covering Joe Arpaio's recent appearance before the College Republicans at ASU West. The first was shot by someone using their cell phone camera, so the quality is not great. Still, it captures Joe making threatening statements toward Maricopa County Board of Supervisor Chairman Max Wilson, specifically toward any efforts to cut the MCSO's budget. "I tell ya one thing,

  May 6, 2009

• Supervisors Cave to Joe Arpaio, OK $1.6 Million for Harassing Mexicans in Maricopa County

  Supervisors Kunasek, Brock and Wilson kowtow before the Great and Mighty King Arpaio, in a satire performed by activists outside the BOS auditoriumIt all played out like political kabuki today at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. At issue was the $1.6 million the legislature, at the behest of neo-Nazi-hugger extraordinaire and state Senator Russell Pearce, granted Sheriff Joe Arpaio to hunt Hispanics as a part of the MCSO's spendthrift racial profiling sweeps. This was meant to replace t

  May 20, 2009

• More County Squabbling: Treasurer Sues County Leaders, Claiming His Office is Being Stripped of Money (and Therefore, Power)

  "Hos," the Maricopa County Treasurer​ Maricopa County Treasurer Charles "Hos" Hoskins has finally carried through on a threat he made back in December to sue the county again. Hoskins already has a lawsuit pending against the county regarding the alleged swiping of his office's IT equipment. Hoskins believes drastic budget cuts imposed by the county are making it impossible to conduct his legislated duties as an elected official. The claims of the treasurer, who won a four-year term in N

  August 24, 2009

• Joe Arpaio's 287(g) Stalled: Board of Supervisors Says It'll Sign After Feds Sign

  courtesy of Dennis Gilman/HumanLeague002 Supervisor Don Stapley, who backed Wilcox's move to table the sheriff's new MOA today The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors passed the buck back to the feds on Sheriff Joe's new 287(g) jails agreement this morning, authorizing Supes Chair Max Wilson to sign the document once Immigrations and Customs Enforcement honcho John Morton autographs it. Currently, only Arpaio and a deputy County Attorney have signed the authorization, which would allo

  October 7, 2009

• Sheriff's Posse Vehicles May Retain Official Insignia; County Rescinds Order After Hail of E-Mails

  Image: www.jeepposse.orgOfficial or private vehicle? In some cases, it may be difficult to tell.​ You don't mess with the posse.Maricopa County leaders learned that Wild-West lesson this week when they were forced to rescind a demand to the sheriff's office that posse vehicles could no longer sport official markings.In what appears to be another exchange of fire in the feud between county officials, county equipment services director fired off an October 5 e-mail to the sheriff's office ab

  October 15, 2009

• County Attorney's Office Flubs Response to County on Special Prosecutors Sought in Stapley Case

  Image: www.thomasforagexploratory.com Andrew Thomas​ You don't have to be a lawyer to see that the Maricopa County Attorney's Office messed up part of its response to county management over the issue of hiring special prosecutors in the case against Don Stapley. The technical flub, which we'll detail below, seems especially embarrassing for County Attorney Andrew Thomas because of the cocky rhetoric he and his staff used to insult county barristers. First, some background: La

  October 26, 2009

• Thomas Trying Again to Get County Supervisors to Approve Special Prosecutors -- Whose Job Will be to Investigate Supervisors

  Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas didn't suceed at first, so he's trying again -- this time threatening the county Board of Supervisors with legal action unless they consider appointing special prosecutors to conduct an "investigation" of those same Supervisors. In a letter sent to the Supervisors last night, Thomas demands the Supervisors put the question of hiring the three prosecutors -- two of whom are from Washington D.C. -- on the Board's November 4 agenda. The Sup

  October 28, 2009

• County Supervisors Approve $20 Photo-Radar Fee For Ignored Tickets; However, They Still Have to Find You First

  www.yfred.com​The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors thinks it may have solved its photo-radar problem. Sorry, they're not getting rid of the damn things, they're just going to charge you more if you ignore the ticket, as many often do.After a brief hearing this morning, the board voted to approve an additional $20 court fee for those who ignore citations and have to go to court.Supervisors Max Wilson, Mary Rose Wilcox, and Fulton Brock approved the measure, while Supervisor Stapley re

  November 4, 2009