Andrew Thomas Trying Again to Get County Supervisors to Approve Special Prosecutors -- Whose Job Will be to Investigate Supervisors

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas didn't suceed at first, so he's trying again -- this time threatening the county Board of Supervisors with legal action unless members consider appointing special prosecutors to conduct an "investigation" of those same supervisors. In a letter sent to the supervisors last night, Thomas' office demands they put...

By Ray Stern

October 28, 2009

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Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas didn't suceed at first, so he's trying again -- this time threatening the county Board of Supervisors with legal action unless members consider appointing special prosecutors to conduct an "investigation" of those same supervisors.

In a letter sent to the supervisors last night, Thomas' office demands they put the question of hiring the three prosecutors -- two of whom are from Washington D.C. -- on the board's November 4 agenda. The supervisors rejected the same agenda item last week, resulting in a battle of competing legal analyses.

Sally Wells, Thomas' chief assistant, claims in the new letter that the board "apparently relied upon a faulty legal analysis" when it rejected the item. We love the use of the word "apparently" in ~~Thomas'~~ Wells' prose. (Whoops - we stated earlier the letter was written by Thomas). With the letter were attachments of several cases in which the board approved, without objection, past special prosecutors.

County lawyer Wade Swanson, naturally, disagrees his analysis was faulty -- so Thomas is unlikely to find traction here.

Click here for the letter to the supes, here for the letter's enclosures and here for the new agenda item Thomas wants the board to consider at its upcoming meeting.

Backing up a sec, though -- isn't the Sheriff's Office the investigative agency in the cases gainst Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox? And didn't Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott of the Sheriff's Office tell us last month that the case against Stapley was "finished" and "ready" before the file was sent to Thomas for potential prosecution? Affirmative on both questions.

Yet Wells claims the board's refusal to consider the special prosecutors "has impeded and delayed the investigation of serious allegations of potential criminal conduct by one or more members of the Board of Supervisors."

Why are the prosecutors going to do the investigations now?

In any case, it's not hard to figure out why the supes might want to ignore Thomas' latest request -- especially if they've got something to hide.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.