Joe Villasenor, a senior assistant to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, will be placed on “indefinite, unpaid leave” as of this evening, according to his supervisor.Villasenor was arrested December 15 after his wife told Phoenix Police officers that he’d grabbed her arm and shoved her hard enough to send her face-first…
A conservative think-tank is demanding that the city of Phoenix release two years’ worth of “activity logs” for Mayor Phil Gordon’s security detail — a set of records the city has previously refused to turn over.Judicial Watch, based in Washington, D.C., quietly sent a letter to the city on December…
The Arizona Republican Party is reported to have received $50,000 from the National Republican Committee to help build a grassroots effort to strengthen the party. However, the latest spending reports show no record of the transaction, as required by law, the Arizona Guardian reports today. That, evidently, is A-ok with Arizona…
Governor Jan Brewer is having a little trouble convincing people to pony up the cash she needs to qualify for public money to fund her 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Brewer is running under the state’s clean election system, which means she will be given public money to fund her campaign, but…
Department of Justice data is in, and federal prosecutions reached a record high in fiscal year 2009, and Arizona deserves much of the, uh, credit. In 2009, there were 169,612 federal prosecutions — more than half of them cases against illegal immigrants, according to new report from Syracuse University. Check out the…
The lawyer for indicted Maricopa County Supervior Mary Rose Wilcox wants a guarantee that County Attorney Andrew Thomas won’t accuse the Pima judge assigned to the case of conspiring against him. In a motion filed today, attorney Colin Campbell asks the Superior Court to force Thomas to state publicly he won’t…
The Arizona Republic editorialized this morning that county leadership is out of control, and says in its closing argument that “a higher, saner power must step in.”Obviously, they’re talking about the feds — not this wimpy guy: Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat, is evidently powerless against his Republican…
There was speculation that Republican AZ Senator Jim Waring would consider a run for state treasurer, and this week he made it official.Yesterday, term-limited Waring planned to set up an exploratory committee to begin raising money to become Arizona’s top banker, and will close up shop on a committee he started to…
The latest news in the reshuffling of the usual suspects in state government is that Senator Jim Waring is considering a run for treasurer, assuming Treasurer Dean Martin doesn’t want to keep his job.Waring’s termed-out in the Senate, where legislators are only allowed four consecutive terms in each house, and…
The Mexican government is keeping immigrants safer than it used to on its side of the border, a top official says. Cecilia Romero Castillo, commissioner of Mexico’s National Institute of Migration, told the Los Angeles Times recently that “new controls” begun by the government have reduced the number of extortion attempts…
The Democratic Party is mixing things up a bit. At a press conference this afternoon, state Senator Meg Burton-Cahill announced she was retiring from the Senate, Representative David Schapira announced he will begin “exploring” a run for her Senate seat, and, straight out of left field, Tempe City Councilman Ben Arredondo,…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s criminal investigation into potential misdeeds by county leaders includes Governor Jan Brewer, a source close to the investigation tells New Times.The source, who did not want to want to be identified, did not want to elaborate on the subject of the inquiry, saying only that…
Here’s one from the rumor mill: Russell Pearce (above), the state senator from Mesa who’s led the charge against illegal immigration in Arizona, could be appointed head of the state Department of Public Safety. The Phoenix Business Journal and KTAR (92.3 FM) quote anonymous insiders at the state Capitol who…
Here we are more than a year away from gubernatorial elections, and pollsters are already hard at work.According to a poll released today by Public Policy Polling, Attorney General Terry Goddard would crush any likely opponent in next year’s election.The poll matched Goddard against sitting Governor Jan Brewer, former-Governor Fife Symington,…
Three unidentified sources “from different parts of the political spectrum” hint that a state investigation of Governor Janice Brewer may be coming down the pike, says the Phoenix Business Journal.A September 5 article by Mike Sunnucks says that questions have arisen about the way Brewer uses her power and how,…
You’re the city’s chief spokesman, home on administrative leave for allegations your bosses won’t specify to the public. A reporter calls, and you tell him you don’t want to say why you were put on leave. And then you say, out of the blue, “In my career, I have never touched…
A pair of Phoenix business owners claim the city screwed them in a railroad deal and ruined their livelihood. Now the husband-and-wife entrepreneurs have locked themselves inside their small compound, threatening to stay until they’re forced out.This plot could have been pulled from the Westerns section at the DVD store,…
A Border Patrol agent is suing the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, claiming he was traumatized after being stopped by ICE agents on a dark, rural road in southern Arizona and held at gunpoint. Jess Cabe, who works out of the Border Patrol’s Nogales Station, filed the lawsuit on September 4 in the U.S. District…
A decision expected today in the case of an alleged theft of a campaign sign by longtime Chandler politician John Huppenthal has been put off until Thursday. Huppenthal’s case is another leftover of the messy 2008 election season. If you’ll recall, Chandler police recommended charges of theft and tampering with…
President Obama popped into a meeting today between government officials and immigrant advocates, saying he wants local 287(g)-authorized agencies “held accountable,” a pro-immigrant group said today. Reform Immigration for America stated in a news release that the president wasn’t expected at the meeting in Washington D.C. on immigration reform, which was…
Veteran Arizona Capitol Times reporter Phil Riske has been fired from the Yellow Sheet, a paid-subscription politics rag, says an Arizona Republic blog post by Matthew Benson. Riske had been with the Cap Times for seven years and planned to retire at the end of August, but he got in…
The state’s having a bit of a yard sale right now, and what’s on the lawn? How about a hospital, a state park, and, oh yeah, the state capitol.We reported on this a few weeks ago, and believe us, we can’t believe this is actually happening either.In the last few…
