Just read a pretty detailed piece in the American Bar Journal about the crazy goings-on in our county -- you know, the Joe Arpaio/Andy Thomas vs. Everyone Else show.
It's called "The Maricopa Courthouse War -- An Arizona Showdown Over Populist Politics, Abuse of Power, and Pink Boxer Shorts," and here it is if you are interested in an outsider's POV.
Nothing close to a revelation, as far we could see, but a good effort:
Quotes from the usual suspects (Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, attorneys Dave Bodney and Michael Manning, the Goldwater Institute's Clint Bolick).
But Sheriff Arpaio himself (barking man to left) declined comment.
Now that's news!
Andy Thomas (he of the big decision to make on whether to run for Arizona Attorney General) also stayed mute for this one, choosing to let mouthpiece Barnett Lotstein utter a few nothings.
Terry Carter, the writer of the American Bar Association piece, recounts Thomas' lame attempts to explain the basis of the now-dismissed felony bribery charges against presiding criminal Judge Gary Donahoe during a press conference last December.
"If I'm not explaining this well, I hope you'll help me," Thomas told reporters after fumbling through an answer to one of our questions. (Here's our take, written immediately afterward.)
According to the ABA story, "many lawyers in Phoenix say that single, embarrassing moment -- perhaps more than anything -- has galvanized and energized opposition to Thomas and Arpaio."
And there was this nice summarizing comment from former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, an attorney for Supervisors Chairman Don Stapley.
"That kind of arrogance has its Watergate, eventually," Charlton says of Thomas' actions. "I think here it [was] the charging of Judge Donahoe."
