It’s not a homerun — much less a grand slam.But considering how frequently Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas have been spanked by both the appellate and Superior courts lately, we suppose today’s opinion issued by the Court of Appeals in Trombi v. Donahoe counts as a victory…
Arguing that there’s no way their client can get fair treatment with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office prosecuting the case against her, attorneys representing Mary Rose Wilcox have filed a motion asking Judge John Leonardo to disqualify the office from further involvement in the case. They also asked Leonardo to…
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Captain Joel Fox testified earlier this week before the grand jury probing the SCA campaign finance scandal — triggering speculation that an indictment in the case could come as early as next month.Grand jury proceedings are secret and, typically, the subject of a probe doesn’t make an…
Earlier this year, the county took away the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office ability to represent the board of supervisors — setting up a separate “civil litigation” department that answers to County Manager David Smith instead of County Attorney Andrew Thomas.Now, if a group of defense attorneys have their way, Thomas…
In the spring of 2008, roughly six months after Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon coasted to re-election, he officially began dating his fundraiser. Plenty of things about this relationship might, in a more puritanical time, have started tongues wagging. At 58, Gordon is two decades older than his paramour, 38-year-old Elissa…
Deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office paid visits to at least seven rank-and-file county employees over the weekend, attempting to question them about the court tower project, county spending, and other topics apparently somehow connected to the sheriff’s wide-ranging “corruption” probe. That investigation has already resulted in indictments for two county…
The Arizona Court of Appeals has jumped into the middle of the so-called corruption probe that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas have been attempting to escalate this week.A three-judge panel of the court issued an order this morning halting Arpaio and Thomas from any attempt…
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon established a federal political action committee in late 2007, hoping, he later said, to “educate members of Congress on the needs in Phoenix.”But in its two years of activity to date, the committee’s biggest beneficiary has been Gordon’s girlfriend, Elissa Mullany. Federal election records show that,…
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon hasn’t needed to raise money since he waltzed to reelection in the fall of 2007, leaving a war chest stocked with $370,000. Yet in the last two years, Gordon has paid his chief fundraiser big bucks all the same. Records show that Gordon paid fundraiser Elissa…
Prosecutors working for Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas persuaded a grand jury to indict Mary Rose Wilcox, the lone Democrat on the county Board of Supervisors, on 36 felony counts. But they should have a much harder time getting those charges to stick in court. That’s because this indictment is even sloppier than…
Michael Manning, the lawyer who’s made a mint suing Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other local miscreants, has decided not to run for Arizona Attorney General, after all.Turns out too many people are dependent on Manning’s rainmaking skills for him to leave private practice. Must be nice!”Shortly after it became public…
In this week’s print edition, New Times examines Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ habit of hiring pricey outside lawyers — and then letting them run up huge bills for less than stellar work.We couldn’t help but notice that some of the same firms billing the county for the biggest sums…
In May, we told you about Miriam Hayenga, the tennis champ-turned-developer who found her plans up-ended by arbitrary bureaucracy at Phoenix City Hall — plus some bungled legal work from prominent attorney Paul Gilbert.Because of Gilbert’s insider status, we titled the Web version of the story, “Don’t Even Think About…
Four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars ago, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas filed suit to stop the county’s Spanish-language program for DUI offenders. You’ve probably heard little, if anything, about the case since Thomas’ initial media blitz, when he argued that providing probation services in Spanish somehow violated…
Yesterday, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s officer accused of brazenly swiping — and photocopying — a defense lawyer’s paperwork reportedly checked himself into jail, as ordered by Judge Gary Donahoe.Detention Officer Adam Stoddard had refused to apologize for his actions, which ignited a firestorm from defense attorneys across the country. That…
It isn’t every day that an administrative law judge issues a decision so juicy that it’s read all the way to the end — much less pored over with highlighters, schadenfreude, and the occasional “Oh, no he di’int!” But Judge William G. Kocol’s recent decision in a National Labor Board…
Wow.We’ve been known to scratch our heads at the Arizona Republic’s unwillingness to call a spade a spade — or even refer to said spade with a polite euphemism. But a recent editorial in the paper’s Ahwatukee community edition may take the cake as the daily’s most misguided, misleading, and…
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and the Reverend Oscar Tillman, who heads the local NAACP, have long enjoyed a good relationship — if not literally close, at least as positive as any relationship based in politics can be. But Tillman told me last week that Gordon has lost his support. And…
Yesterday, we pointed out errors, ommissions, and outright deceit in one of the proposals for cab service at Sky Harbor International Airport. We asked if City Council members were listening. After today’s council meeting, we have our answer. They weren’t. Now, technically, the council did pay lipservice to some of the…
We broke the news yesterday that one of the three companies that Phoenix is preparing to contract with for cab service at Sky Harbor, Visum Investments, has serious problems with its proposal: Its references don’t check out, and its general manager’s resume appears to be inaccurate.Today we’re discovering a potential…
The Phoenix City Council is scheduled to vote tomorrow on contracts with three cab companies to serve passengers at Sky Harbor International Airport.But a New Times’ review of public records associated with the city’s selection process reveals shocking irregularities with one of those company’s proposals – omissions and misrepresentations so…
Nine years ago, when the city of Phoenix last issued a request for proposals for taxicab service at Sky Harbor airport, it chose three experienced companies: AAA, Discount, and Allstate. This year, it’s selecting a one-week-old start-up — and a firm based out of a UPS store. That sounds crazy,…
