Conspiracyland Is Getting Crowded; CA Thomas Calls for Fellow Prosecutors to be Investigated

A few weeks ago I wrote about Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' paranoiac lawsuits against just about anyone who ever crossed them. I also criticised the amateurish RICO lawsuit they filed alleging a massive conspiracy against them among Maricopa County officials and judges.

It comes as no surprise that when the county attorneys from neighboring Arizona counties also criticised the conspiracy-minded duo, Thomas responded by...wait for it...accusing them of breaking the law and calling for an investigation.

Thomas wants a former state Supreme Court justice to investigate his neighboring prosecutors as part of what he calls “an orchestrated campaign to pressure law enforcement in Maricopa County to drop charges against influential criminal defendants and suspects.”

The state’s highest court brought former Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor out of retirement on Wednesday to referee the ongoing mess in Maricopa County. McGregor was appointed to oversee all of the ongoing lawsuits and criminal cases between Maricopa County officials, which have become almost too numerous to count.

In his request to McGregor [PDF], Thomas accused the other prosecutors of essentially breaking the law by criticizing him and the sheriff. He said the pair violated rules for attorneys in Arizona, as well as tainted the pool of possible jurors in the ongoing cases.

Messages left at the offices of [County Attorneys] Polk and Walsh were not immediately returned. Michael Scerbo, a spokesman for Thomas, refused multiple times to answer questions or make his boss available for an interview. “The motions speak for themselves,” Scerbo said.

When asked why the county attorney, who is normally willing to answer questions, would not speak about his latest requests, Scerbo repeated his response and added: “Editorialize all you want, but that’s the only thing I’m going to say.” He then hung up.

It has been an extraordinary week for Thomas and Arpaio, one in which criticism against them has reached never-before-seen highs, particularly from their own Republican Party.

On Monday, the day before Polk’s letter was published in the newspaper, high-profile Republican attorney Tom Ryan led a rally of more than 300 people in front of Maricopa County’s main courthouse. The group, made up mostly of attorneys, said Thomas’ recent actions have made him “a domestic enemy to our Constitution.”

It can only be a matter of time before County Attorney's Polk and Walsh get added to the RICO suit. After all, they're clearly part of the "orchestrated campaign" against Thomas and Arpaio.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 10:34 AM

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