Continuing to shine the light on Maricopa County
Maricopa County Sheriff threatens Colin Campbell, Mary Rose Wilcox's attorney, giving him until 5:00 today to "voluntarily talk" with the sheriff's office about his client's case. Maricopa County Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox were indicted this week (Don Stapley for the third time) and charged with perjury, forgery, and false swearing - both were outspoken critics of the Sheriff's policies.
The sheriff's office sent a letter to Campbell demanding that he speak to them about:
"Any effort with the Arizona State Bar Association to file complaints against Mariopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas."*Any discussions with the current presiding judge, Barbara Mundell, about the selection of judges -- particularly, the selection of a judge in the so-far-unsuccessful case against Don Stapley.
*Same thing as above, but regarding possible talks with retired Judge Anna Baca.
*"Any involvement/discussion with the Maricopa County Criminal Court Tower."
Campbell filed a motion this morning asking the Court to order Arpaio and Thomas to stop their harassment and to stop interfering with his representation of his client.
An article in the Huffington Post today says that Arpaio (and Thomas by proxy) are being investigated by the FBI for abuses of power, and that the Department of Justice has set up a hotline for Maricopa County residents to call to report suspected wrongdoing by Arpaio and his office (877-613-2137), but that both Spanish and English mailboxes at the hotline's number are full.
Reportedly, the FBI is investigating Arpaio, who works hand-in-hand with Thomas on these corruption cases, for alleged abuses of power. Besides Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley, other local political opponents of Arpaio have also found themselves subjects of investigations by Arpaio and Thomas, including Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, former Mesa Police Chief George Gascon, former candidate Dan Saban, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, Maricopa County Manager David Smith, Superior Court Presiding Judge Barbara Mundell, ACLU attorney Dan Pochoda, and Phoenix New Times reporter John Dougherty.
KPHO news in Phoenix published an article in October that announced Arpaio was under investigation by the FBI, and gave an account of Arpaio's misdeeds and political prosecutions.
Maricopa County lawyers have announced a rally December 21st at the courthouse to protest the actions of County Attorney Andrew Thomas and demand that he be suspended from the Arizona State Bar. The world (or at least the blawgosphere) is watching to see whether and to what degree Maricopa's lawyers are going to take action.
