Andrew Thomas, the former Maricopa County Attorney whose abuse of power got him disbarred this year, is considering a run for governor, according to a county GOP site. “The Word Is Out That Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is considering running for Governor. He can be reached at (602)…
Pictures taken last week of a Navajo man’s penis and “stumpy” thumbs reportedly link him to the photographed sexual assault of a toddler. Carl Carlson of the Navajo Nation committed aggravated sexual assault of a child, sexual exploitation of a child and possessed child pornography, according to a complaint filed…
Americans have been learning in the last few days of how FBI agents uncovered evidence of an extramarital affair of a top official. The official, of course, is former CIA Director and U.S. Army rock star General David Petraeus, who announced on Friday he would resign his post after news…
Detective Tim Abrahamson, who played a lead role in some of the discredited MACE investigations that led to the disbarment of former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, drove to North Dakota in September and attacked his wife’s ex-lover, police say. Abrahamson created a ruse to get close to the man, then…
David Hendershott, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s former trusted chief deputy, and Lisa Aubuchon, the stooge of disbarred former County Attorney Andy Thomas, probably will pay a steep price for doing the bidding of their bosses. A judge has ordered Hendershott, Aubuchon, her husband, their lawyer Ed Moriarity and his…
Out of 43 Maricopa County Superior Court judges, four have last names that sound Hispanic. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that those four happen to have ended up among the six worst vote-getters in last night’s election. Scanning over the vote counts today, it looks like Maricopa County residents…
A 27-year-old Gilbert DJ who runs a capital investment company out of Scottsdale has been jailed in Arkansas after being indicted in a fraud scheme. Michael Brace Columbia, when not entertaining local nightclub goers, is the CEO of an investment company called StoneRock Capital Group LLC. His wife, Joanna Columbia,…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio wasn’t the only candidate who sailed to easy victory in Maricopa County on Tuesday. Up-and-coming right-wing icon Bill Montgomery creamed his Libertarian opponent, Michael Kielsky, by a 74-26 margin. No one really expected otherwise. The Democratic Party decided to save money this year by failing to put…
Marijuana wasn’t on the ballot again in Arizona this year, but historic elections concerning the intoxicating plant could affect how it’s handled nationwide. Colorado and Washington have become the first states in the country to legalize the possession and use of marijuana for any adult 21 or over. Massachusetts became…
Voters turned out the lights on the self-described “solar team” of three Democrats who hoped to control the Arizona Corporation Commission. The commission, which regulates public utilities, corporations, securities, railways and pipelines, will be dominated by an all-Republican membership for at least two years. With 90 percent of polls reporting,…
Arizona voters have rejected soundly the retention of a one-cent sales tax passed in 2010 that would have provided education funding and scholarships. The state already spends less on a per-student basis than most other states, but voters either don’t care or didn’t think throwing money at the problem works…
Terry Goddard may not be governor, but he’ll make a heck of a board member for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District. Maricopa County voters gave Goddard the most votes of any of the five new or re-elected members on the board, which oversees operations of the ever-important Central Arizona…
Changes are coming to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, a governing panel that has become better known in the last few years because of to some serious scandals. The five-member Board currently consists of Republicans Don Stapley, Fulton Brock, Andy Kunasek, and Max Wilson and Democrat Mary Rose Wilcox…
Dave Hendershott, Lisa Aubuchon, and their lawyer, Ed Moriarity, face about $210,000 in sanctions and fees stemming from a failed lawsuit related to their long fight with the county. Hendershott and Aubuchon were key players in the fight against the county launched by their bosses, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former…
We had a temporary, though intense, urge to flee the state after reading Michael Clancy’s climate-change apocalypse story in today’s Arizona Republic. Clancy’s story describes how climate change could turn Arizona from the paradise it is today into a scorched, polluted, economically challenged wasteland that swelters in winter as well…
Two years ago, a slate of five tea-party candidates ran for the non-partisan, 15-member Central Arizona Water Conservation District board with the aim of promoting limited government. Two won: Cynthia Moulton and Mark Lewis. They added to a push by conservatives begun in 2008 to add more of their numbers…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas may be a political loser, but he’s still popular with the women — of the Paradise Republican Women’s Club, anyway. The venerable Valley club has scheduled Thomas, a failed politician whose abuse of power led this year to disbarment and disgrace, to appear as guest…
Maricopa County Bill Montgomery has prosecuted far fewer illegal immigrants for conspiring to smuggle themselves than his predecessor, Andrew Thomas. Thomas, who was disbarred earlier this year for abusing his power, came up with the idea to charge average illegal immigrants with conspiracy under Arizona’s 2005 state human smuggling law…
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court has decided to make Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery happy and grant more time to both sides in a hearing on Monday related to Arizona’s ban on late-term abortions. As we blogged last night, Montgomery filed an emergency motion with the appeals court yesterday to…
Testy, testy! “I think there’s a ‘Deputy’ in front of your title,” Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery tells one of the Pima County Attorney’s underlings in an October 31 e-mail. Montgomery makes the smarty-pants comment in a series of recent, heated e-mails released today in court records from a lawsuit…
New, temporary signs have gone up at Camelback Mountain to warn people about the danger of bees following the death on Monday of a 19-year-old hiker. Signs on sandwich boards were placed at the trail head of Echo Canyon trail, and also along the trail on the north end of…
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a petition to re-hear arguments that medical marijuana is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. In a split decision in May, a three-judge panel of the usually liberal court shot down the idea that the ADA allows sick or disabled…
