Incoming Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley waited a whole hour or so this afternoon after winning the job before he fired his one-time close aide Barnett Lotstein.
Lotstein, most recently a top spokesperson and special assistant to departed County Attorney Andrew Thomas, was escorted from his eighth-floor office in downtown Phoenix about an hour ago, according to eyewitnesses who just contacted us.
The eyewitnesses said the relentlessly spinning mouthpiece (for Romley and then Thomas) looked "dejected."
As a special assistant, Lotstein was subject to termination without cause.
Someone once told us that, when the world ends, all that will be left are styrofoam cups, cockroaches--and Barnett Lotstein.
We think he meant it as a kinda-sorta compliment to Lotstein's reptilian survival abilities.
And we're here to tell ya that the old fellow may resurface in some capacity with Andy Boy if the latter (EEEKKKK!) happens to win the nod for Arizona Attorney General later in this year.
We are also told that Thomas' chief deputy Phil MacDonnell also is history--at least at the County Attorney's Office.
That move was as predictable as MacDonnell not making the list of finalists who applied with the Board of Supervisors to replace Thomas.
News on the impending demise (professionally speaking) of deputy county attorney Lisa "Tow Job" Aubuchon, one of the architects of Thomas' dangerous and pathetic reign, is forthcoming.
