Category Archives: Arizona
Sen. Allen has Mixed Feelings about 2012 Legislative Session
Arizona Senator Sylvia Tenney Allen commented on this year’s legislative session on her Facebook page:
”2012 AZ Legislative session is now over. We did some great things this session and some important bills did not get through so I have mixed feelings about it. I will be writing an update of the session highlights and especially about the budget. I was sad it was my last session but I am excited to move on with future plans and efforts to help with issue here at home. I will miss some of my fellow Senators who became my best and fast friends, I will talk about them in my update.”
In Defense of SB 1070
By Russell Pearce, Maricopa County GOP Committee Member
In 2010, I introduced SB1070 to the Arizona Senate with two goals: To alleviate the problems that the federal government’s failure to secure our border and enforce our immigration laws inflicted on the citizens of Arizona, and to spark a national conversation about this issue that would eventually lead the federal government to act.
Despite parts of the bill being blocked by activist lower court judges, it has already succeeded on both counts. In 2009, illegal immigrants comprised 9.8 percent of Arizona’s workforce (Pew Hispanic Center) and the Federation for American Immigration Reform found that illegals cost Arizona taxpayers $2.6 billion a year. At the same time, failure to enforce our laws led to rampant crime, Phoenix had the highest kidnapping rate in the country, and dozens of police officers and citizens were killed or maimed by illegals.
The purpose of this bill is not to indiscriminately go through Hispanic neighborhoods and ask everyone to prove they are citizens. Rather, SB1070 is part of Arizona’s attrition through enforcement strategy that began with 2004′s Prop 200 and 2007′s Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA), which I also authored.
If you prevent illegal aliens from getting jobs or receiving taxpayer-subsidized benefits, and you routinely enforce the law, illegal aliens will, as Mitt Romney and others have said, “self-deport.” Even without full-implementation, illegal aliens know that they are not welcome in Arizona and the strategy is working.
According to the latest Department of Homeland Security estimates, Arizona’s illegal population fell by 110,000 in 2010, or 23 percent. In contrast, the nationwide illegal population declined by less than 1 percent. Since LAWA’s enactment in 2008, 200,000 illegal aliens, 35 percent of the illegal population, have left the state. The Phoenix Law Enforcement Association released a statement noting, “Since SB1070, Phoenix has experienced a 30-year low crime rate.” Dozens of states have introduced legislation modeled after SB1070 and it has become law in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Legislators in other states tell me that the inevitable litigation is a major obstacle to getting it passed, but if the Supreme Court upholds SB1070, you can be sure many more states will follow Arizona’s lead.
Ultimately, the federal government must do its job by securing the border, cracking down on employers of those here illegally and vigorously enforcing the laws already on the books in cooperation with local law enforcement. The 360,000 illegal aliens remaining in Arizona are a constant reminder that the problem has not been entirely solved and that the courts need to take the handcuffs off of law enforcement and allow them to enforce SB1070.
Even President Obama has acknowledged that SB1070 was a result of “our failure to act responsibly at the federal level.” The issue before court is not whether the law is effective but whether it is constitutional. I view the issue simply. The 10th Amendment states that all powers not prohibited to the states are reserved to the states, and I cannot see any word of text in the Constitution denying states the right to use their police power to inquire into the status of illegal aliens.
However, I recognize that the courts do not view the issue as straightforward. For that reason, I worked with former Justice Department official and Yale Law Journal editor Kris Kobach to craft the bill in line with recent court precedent on immigration. In 2002, the DOJ issued a memo that states had “inherent power” to enforce federal immigration law. The memo cited numerous cases, such as Gonzales v. Peoria, which said states may arrest individuals when there is “probable cause to believe [they committed] illegal entry.”
While much is made of the fact that SB1070 requires police to look into the immigration status of those it has a “reasonable suspicion” will be here illegally, the Supreme Court ruled in Muehler v. Mena, that police can do so even without reasonable suspicion. Despite the claims of racial profiling, the law specifically bars law enforcement considering “race, color or national origin.”
Last year the Supreme Court upheld LAWA 5-3 in Whiting v. Arizona. While LAWA was not as well known as SB1070, in some ways it is further reaching. SB1070 mirrors federal regulations, while LAWA requires businesses to use E-Verify, which they were not already required to do nationally.
Based on this decision, along with the fact that the Constitution, precedent, and the American people are on our side, I am cautiously optimistic that the court will uphold SB1070.
Supreme Court Argument on 1070 Goes Well for Arizona, Badly for Obama
You know President Obama’s on shaky ground when the left-stream media’s champion, the New York Times, says Supreme Court justices seem sympathetic toArizona’s border enforcement law, SB 1070.
NYT’s Adam Liptak wrote after today’s oral arguments on SB 1070 at the U.S. Supreme Court: “Justices across the ideological spectrum appeared inclined to uphold a controversial part of Arizona’s aggressive 2010 immigration law, based on their questions on Wednesday at a Supreme Court argument.
To arrive at that conclusion, Liptak only had to listen to one of Obama’s left-wing Court appointees:
“You can see it’s not selling very well,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said of a central part of the argument made by Obama’s Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. ““Why don’t you try to come up with something else?”
The Drudge Report posted a huge headline Mr. Verrilli will not be saving for his scrapbook. It declared Obama’s lawyer had laid another egg in the Supreme Court, as he did last month arguing for Obamacare: “Obama’s Lawyer Chokes Again.”
The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan reported: “Supreme Cour” justices took a dim view of the Obama Administration’s claim that it can stopArizona from enforcing immigration laws, telling government lawyers during oral argument Wednesday that the state appears to want to push federal officials, not conflict with them.”
The bias showed in the reporting by left-stream media Associated Press: “Verrilli did not mention Wednesday that the administration has deported nearly 400,000 people a year, far more than previous administrations, although the information was included in written submissions to the court.” Perhaps the AP regrets not assisting Verrilli prepare for orals.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined with colleagues who took issue with Verrilli’s remarks on theArizonalaw, noting the state only wants to inform federal authorities when it apprehends illegal aliens. “It seems to me that the federal government just doesn’t want to know who’s here illegally and who’s not,” Roberts said.
Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed SB 1070 into law, released this statement today:
“Today, more than two years after I signed SB 1070 into law, the State of Arizona had its opportunity to defend this measure before the United States Supreme Court. Many people never gave us a chance to get this far, and it is only due to the continuing support and encouragement of the American people that it was possible.
“Of course, we likely will not know the Court’s decision for weeks. But I am filled with optimism – the kind that comes with knowing thatArizona’s cause is just and its course is true.
“On the day I signed SB 1070, I called it ‘another tool for our state to use as we work to solve a crisis we did not create and the federal government has refused to fix.’ Those words still hold true – as I was reminded last week when I returned to the border to visit law enforcement and ranchers who live and work in southeasternArizona.
”Their message: The job of securing the border is not done, not so long as drugs and humans continue to be smuggled north in large numbers at the direction of violent cartels and armed gangs. As Governor, I have a duty to uphold the Constitution and a responsibility to protect the people ofArizona. With SB 1070, I am confident we can do both.”
Unbelievably, left-wing JusticeElena Kagan recused herself from the case. She refused to demonstrate the same integrity last month in the Obamacare oral arguments.
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Arizona Senate Votes to Defund Planned Parenthood
PHOENIX ─ Today, the Arizona State Senate passed the Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act of Arizona (HB 2800) that will defund abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood of state family planning money. The vote was 18-8.
The bill is based on model legislation developed by the Susan B. Anthony List and the Alliance Defense Fund, and prioritizes family planning funds away from abortion-centered businesses like Planned Parenthood to entities that provide women with comprehensive health care.
Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colorado), Vice President of Government Affairs for the SBA List said, “Planned Parenthood’s abortion-centered business model does not need or deserve taxpayer dollars. We encourage Gov. Brewer to quickly sign this bill into law. Arizona is leading the charge to protect taxpayers and women from Planned Parenthood and the violence of abortion.”
Dr. Charmaine Yoest, president & CEO of Americans United for Life, called today’s Senate action “a devastating blow for Planned Parenthood. Arizona has dealt a historic rejection to Planned Parenthood. It’s a huge blow to the abortion empire with national implications for the entire pro-life movement. This historic ban will immediately save lives in Arizona despite Planned Parenthood’s best efforts to preserve this horrific and lucrative late-term abortion procedure.”
Arizona is joining a fast-growing group of states defunding Planned Parenthood, which kills more than 300,000 preborn children each year and has been accused of defrauding taxpayers with the $487 million it receives in federal funding.
According to SBA List, eight states successfully defunded Planned Parenthood of more than $61.7 million last year. Currently, Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma are also weighing legislation that would defund the nation’s abortion giant.
Corruption Fighter Targeted
Dave Tombers of the American Post-Gazette reports …
A longtime prosecutor who worked in concert with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose Cold Case Posse found probable cause that Barack Obama’s birth certificate was forged, says he was caught in a “witch hunt” for trying to remove corruption in the county.
Former county prosecutor Andrew Thomas has a deadline Tuesday to say whether he will appeal the decision. An ethics panel found Thomas’ office wrongfully accused three officials of illegal conduct to embarrass them.
Thomas has defended the prosecutions as necessary for rooting out corruption in government.
The allegations included scandal, fraud, payoffs and lavish vacations by county officials.
Thomas told WND, “This has been a massive cover-up and, for me, genuinely a Dreyfus-like injustice.”
WND has learned that as many as 11 county employees have been terminated in recent months for allegedly accepting bribes in a court tower construction scandal – one of the Thomas investigations that was stymied.
WND has also learned that the FDIC recently announced the loss of millions of dollars. There also are allegations that some $5.5 million was linked to county official Don Stapley, the subject of another Thomas investigation that was thwarted.
The October WND report documented the early troubles between then-Maricopa County Attorney Thomas and County Supervisor Stapley.
In 2006, Stapley tried to rein in Thomas’ ability to hire outside counsel for the county, saying Thomas based his “appointments upon who was favorable to him, not necessarily who was best qualified to represent the county.”
According to the complaint, the county board, under Stapley, wanted to oversee attorney selection and even hire outside counsel for the board itself. Thomas let them know on numerous occasions that the actions were illegal.
The complaint quoted Thomas saying, “Board members are immune from suit when they rely in good faith upon opinions of the county attorney, but no such immunity would apply and they may be personally liable for actions on advice of other counsel.”
Thomas essentially was arguing that the citizens of Maricopa County elected him to be the county attorney, and Stapley’s actions gave the appearance of circumventing the wishes of the voters.
The Arizona Bar Association took Thomas’ admonition of the county board to be a conflict of interest.
In another instance, Thomas initiated an investigation of Stapley for criminal wrongdoing.
A grand jury brought more than 100 charges against Stapley, ranging from failing to file financial disclosures to accepting expensive gifts such as three-week Hawaiian vacations and expensive ski trips for him and his family.
Allegations also arose that Stapley raised political contributions to run for president of the National Association of Counties, even though he was running unopposed.
The cash he raised was alleged to have been used to pay for personal luxuries instead.
But several judges who handled various steps of the case threw out charges, even though outside investigators had cited the “merit” of the counts. And bar association officials said the one-year statute of limitations had expired on dozens of charges.
Ultimately, none of the counts went to trial, and Stapley testified before the bar that the investigation “ruined his life.”
In an email to WND Thomas said of the bar association results, “The findings are completely divorced from the actual facts and evidence presented at the hearing.
“While I was county attorney, I antagonized powerful people and special interests – particularly the judiciary, which rendered this decision – over crime control, illegal immigration and other issues.
These forces targeted my law license for five years; at the end, they simply mobilized, ganged up and overwhelmed me, fabricating wrongdoing to achieve their desired end.”
Others targeted included former assistants Lisa Aubuchon and Rachel Alexander.
The bar association revoked Aubuchon’s license and suspended Alexander’s, which will force her to re-take the bar exam.
Referring to a recent national survey found at stateintegrity.org, Thomas said this week, “Arizona has some of the worst corruption in America.
“Today, corruption has won and justice has lost,” he continued. “I brought corruption cases in good faith involving powerful people, and the political and legal establishment blatantly covered it up and retaliated by targeting my law license.”
WND’s previously reported the maneuvers could have been politically motivated, with even some of Thomas’ political opponents saying the counts have “no merit.”
“Arizona after what happened yesterday has become Mexico,” Thomas said. “People in this community need to understand what happened yesterday when my law license was terminated.
“Powerful politicians twice indicted for corruption have gone free. Others who blocked investigations and prosecutions retaliated against law enforcement and demolished county government to protect themselves escaped justice. Insiders who knew how the system works and how to work the system have had a field day. Honest prosecutors have been unjustly smeared and punished.
“The rule of law is no more in this county,” he said.
“We will never know all the corruption cases that aren’t filed and the criminals that go free because of what’s happened. But the chilling effect on prosecutors is clear: Public safety and clean government inevitably will suffer. They already have.
“The political witch hunt that’s just ended makes things worse [regarding corruption in America] by sending a chilling message to prosecutors: ‘Those who take on the powerful will lose their livelihood,’” he said.
The bar association refers people to the disciplinary order and says, “The panel found that Thomas and Aubuchon used their positions as Maricopa County attorney and deputy county attorney to target political enemies.
“A 247-page order details how they ignored conflicts of interest and used their positions to burden and embarrass targeted individuals. The order also states they violated the Rules of Professional Conduct relating to perjury and violating court rules.
“Alexander, who also worked as a deputy county attorney, was found to have filed a lawsuit without completing a proper factual investigation.
“The case was tried over nine weeks before a hearing panel comprised of the presiding disciplinary judge and two volunteer panel members (one attorney and a member of the public). Forty-eight witnesses testified and nearly 6,200 pages of exhibits were admitted.”
The panel ruled, “This case is replete with intentionally orchestrated malignant actions.”
Bar spokesman Rick DeBruhl told WND that there was nothing further to comment on.
“The association doesn’t disbar attorneys,” he said. “We simply follow the orders of the independent panel.”
The order itself explains Thomas should have seen the clouds on his horizon.
“Attorneys must ever guard against the temptation to confuse what is legal with what is ethical or moral. Because an act is legal, according to the letter of the law, does not make it ethical. Because an act is ethical does not make it legal,” it said.
Then it added, “Speeding is illegal but isn’t always unethical. If one speeds because he believes it will save a life, the action may still be found to be illegal but not necessarily unethical. On the other hand, cheating on a spouse is ethically wrong, but may be legal.”
But the harsh judgment makes no mention of recent scandals, many stemming from the original corruption investigations Thomas and his colleagues began.
“Look at all the corruption scandals that have happened recently in Arizona while the rule of law has basically been repealed in Maricopa County,” said Thomas. “We had the U.S. attorney who resigned in disgrace. We had the criminal chief of the U.S. attorney’s office plead the Fifth Amendment before Congress.
“We have the firings after the court tower corruption scandal came out. We have the golf tournament scandal, which the Arizona Republic has reported. Now [Maricopa County Supervisor] Don Stapley is enmeshed in an FDIC lawsuit which involves some of the original counts we first filed against him.”
Thomas announced in his press conference his intentions to target corruption through a ballot measure and a forthcoming book.
“We now have a constitutional crisis, as prosecutors and members of the executive branch are being targeted by the judiciary and other branches for blowing the whistle on corruption and misconduct in the judiciary,” Thomas said. “That is essentially what has happened to me.
“As county attorney, I took on many powerful special interests and corrupt individuals who retaliated with a witch-hunt targeting my law license,” he said. “Unless we want Arizona to become as corrupt as Mexico, the people of Arizona must take back their government. At this point, only the people of Arizona can make things right.”
He said he would seek voter help for reforms to fight corruption.
“This fight now shifts to the court of public opinion, a fair court,” he said.
WND reported earlier on comments from even some of Thomas’ critics.
Said columnist Robert Robb, who has made no display of supporting Thomas, “I have written scathingly about the gross abuse of power by former County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Thomas and Arpaio proclaimed that there was a giant conspiracy involving the county board of supervisors, senior county management and several judges in which the judges agreed to protect county officials against criminal probes in exchange for the county constructing a new office building for the judges.”
Robb said there was no evidence to support the racketeering and criminal complaints, but he said the complaint brought by the Arizona Bar Association against Thomas includes “gross overcharging,” which he called a “serious disservice.”
Among the issues that originally attracted attention was the $347 million in taxpayer funds used for a court tower during an economic downturn, a building that featured plush quarters for judges and raised eyebrows as it was done at a time when county employees were being laid off.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/04/prosecutor-who-teamed-with-arpaio-targeted-in-witch-hunt/
Flake: Career Politician We Can’t Trust
National Journal: “Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona… has one of the most liberal records on immigration of any Republican member”
Career politician Jeff Flake says he has the courage to be Arizona’s next U.S. Senator, but the Congressman is lacking straight talk and honesty with voters. Congressman Flake broke his term limit pledge and has been dishonest about his record on illegal immigration. For over a decade, Congressman Flake has been the Washington poster boy for a pro-amnesty liberal immigration policy instead of fighting to secure our borders. While Congressman Flake has been advocating for comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, he has also been pushing legislation with liberal Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) to force Arizona taxpayers to pay for “in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants.”
Congressional Republicans strongly opposed Congressman Flake’s bill and his pro-amnesty record that he shares with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. So, when career politician Jeff Flake realized Arizona Republicans also did not trust his position on illegal immigration, he changed his ten-year pro-amnesty position right before announcing his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
No one really believes career politician Jeff Flake or trusts his liberal views on illegal immigration.
Congressman Jeff Flake is a career politician we can’t trust.
Flake Refuses to Discourage Negative Super PAC Campaign Ads against Cardon
By Wil Cardon
Candidate for U.S. Senate
Over the past few years, America has seen the face of elections change drastically. Unfortunately, some of these changes give unbalanced power to outside third party groups to dramatically and negatively impact the outcome of local elections. Exactly one week ago, I asked Congressman Flake to join me in a quest to keep the U.S. Senate primary race unfettered, unencumbered and balanced by attempting to eliminate the negative interference from Super PACs or other third party groups. I call this initiative the Arizona First Pledge.
The Arizona First Pledge offers common sense solutions that would hold both Congressman Flake and me accountable if any third party groups campaign on our behalf. It pledges that if any Super PAC or third party group interferes in this race, Congressman Flake or I must pay 50 percent of the total amount spent on our behalf by the third party to the charity of our opponent’s choice. It has been one week, and Congressman Flake has yet to respond. While I am still holding out faith that Jeff will put the voters of Arizona first over his Washington insider buddies, I encourage you to support this idea which protects Arizona voters. The election for our next U.S. Senator must be about the citizens of Arizona and their issues and not the interests of lobbyists, special interest Super PACs and Washington big money. Please join me in asking Congressman Flake why he won’t put Arizona voters first and sign the pledge. We have only a few months left in the primary race. It is time Jeff puts the Washington politics aside and focuses on Arizona.
Kelly Wins GOP Nomination for Congress
Jesse Kelly, who barely lost the Arizona Congressional District 8 race to Gabby Giffords two years ago, has won the Republican nomination in a special primary to replace the retired congresswoman. Kelly won 35 percent of the votes Tuesday to best three GOP opponents. He will run against Ron Barber, Democrat nominee, in the June 12 election for the right to serve out the remainder of Giffords’ term. Rep. Giffords retired this past winter because of the serious injury she received in the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting massacre in Tucson.
Here’s more on who Jesse Kelly is, taken from his website biography:
Kelly is an Iraq War veteran with a commitment to restoring the fundamental qualities that make America great. He and his wife have two boys.
Jesse works as a project manager for the family construction business in an enterprise that takes him across the southwest region of United States. In his managerial capacity, he accepts responsibility for completing multi-million dollar projects–on time and within budget. Through his work, he understands how to schedule and balance human resources, time, and money. He has also seen firsthand that Southern Arizona families struggle to keep food on the table in this stagnant economy. That must change.
Prior to joining the family business, Jesse served in the United States Marine Corps. During his four years in the military, he led a squad in the Mortar Section of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was honorably discharged in 2004.
His run for congress embodies three principles: lowering taxes, strengthening the economy, and fostering a climate that allows businesses to grow, which in turn will provide more jobs for Arizona families.
Jesse and Aubrey Kelly live in Marana, Arizona, where they have chosen to raise their sons. The family attends Tucson’s Alive Christian Fellowship Church.
Ninth Circuit Upholds Arizona Voter Protection Law
Fox News reports …
An appeals court upheld a requirement in a 2004 Arizona law that voters show identification before they can cast ballots.
The court says there wasn’t evidence that the mandate disparately affected Latinos as the challengers of rules had alleged.
A 12-member panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says in a ruling Tuesday that there was evidence Arizona has racially polarized voting and a history of discrimination against Latinos.
But the court concluded that no proof was offered to show that the ID requirement gave Latinos fewer opportunities to vote.
The court, however, found that the federal National Voter Registration Act trumps another section of the Arizona law that requires people to prove their citizenship in order to vote.
Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas Statement after Disbarment
Arizona continues to have some of the worse corruption in America according to a recent national survey. We recently received a grade of D. After what’s just happened, we deserve an F. The reason is, Arizona after what happened yesterday has become Mexico. People in this community need to understand what happened yesterday when my law license was terminated. Let’s recap. Powerful politicians twice indicted for corruption have gone free. Others who blocked investigations and prosecutions retaliated against law enforcement and demolished county government to protect themselves escaped justice. Insiders who knew how the system works and how to work the system have had a field day. Honest prosecutors have been unjustly smeared and punished. The rule of law is no more in this county. We will never know all the corruption cases that aren’t filed and the criminals that go free because of what’s happened. But the chilling effect on prosecutors is clear: Public safety and clean government inevitably will suffer. They already have.
Look at all the corruption scandals that have happened recently in Arizona while the rule of law has basically been repealed in Maricopa County. We had the U.S. Attorney who resigned in disgrace. We had the criminal chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office plead the Fifth Amendment before Congress. You don’t see 50 front page stories about that. I have never pled the Fifth, I have answered every question under oath I’ve been asked. Tom Horne, people are aware of that investigation that has just begun. We have the firings after the court tower corruption scandal came out. We have the golf tournament scandal, which the Arizona Republic has reported. Now Don Stapley is enmeshed in an FDIC lawsuit which involves some of the original counts we first filed against him.
And consider this, and this is extremely important: In the Fiesta Bowl scandal, not one politician has been charged. They charged all the employees, but not one politician. Not Grant Woods, not Gary Husk, who is a politico. And the reason is the chilling effect of what has happened in the case that came to fruition yesterday. We now have a constitutional crisis as prosecutors and members of the executive branch are being targeted by the judiciary and other branches for blowing the whistle on corruption and misconduct in the judiciary. That is essentially what has happened to me. As county attorney, I took on many powerful special interests and corrupt individuals who retaliated with a witchhunt targeting my law license. Unless we want Arizona to become as corrupt as Mexico, the people of Arizona must take back their government. At this point, only the people of Arizona can make things right.
I will soon announce an effort to seek voter approval for reforms to fight corruption and improve our government. I will have more to say in my forthcoming book as well. I wish to thank the Republican Party and many others for their public support. This fight now shifts to the court of public opinion, a fair court.
FOLLOW-UP RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS
The Supervisors fired my first two sets of attorneys, then refused to fully fund my third set. The presiding judge who made the decision to disbar me should have recused himself, since he had ruled against me in a prior matter. It is not that we didn’t have evidence in the racketeering complaint, the judicial panel did not want the believe the evidence because it implicates senior judges and other friends of the Board of Supervisors. The evidence is there according to prominent seasoned lawyers in my office and elsewhere. Robert Driscoll is a prominent lawyer with the Justice Department. I had the senior charging attorney in my office say they committed crimes. I had another senior prosecutor who said so. She said she was joking later on the stand, but I don’t know what kind of person jokes about charging an innocent person with a crime. Those are facts. We had Bob Barr, who is former US Attorney, he thought there was probable cause to charge Judge Donahoe. And a detective from the County Attorney’s Office in a response to a direct question from Judge O’Neill, said that he thought there was probable cause. So Judge O’Neill was impeached by his own question!
I’ve not been contacted by the FBI. Everybody in that room ultimately concluded that there was probable cause to charge Judge Donahoe, and that’s what you do in law enforcement, you discuss whether or not you have charges. So for me to go to law enforcement professionals to decide whether to charge someone with a crime is a conspiracy? Then there are 40,000 conspiracies a year in this county because there are 40,000 felony cases. It’s absurd.
Some of the other county attorneys around the state were embarrassed by what came out. The Yavapai County Attorney’s Office couldn’t find the guts to prosecute these cases.
We’ve reached a point where prosecutors can’t do their job without fear of being second-guessed and having criminal investigations dropped every time you call Washington. As a result of what happened yesterday, our system of justice has been destroyed. There will no longer be candid conversations about the strengths and weaknesses of controversial cases in prosecutors’ offices. You’ll have prosecutors who will be afraid to bring charges against people who can reach out and touch them in courts and the State Bar.
Other men far greater than I have gone to jail in defense of principles they believed in; they would not cowtow to corruption. People like Gandhi, people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., people like Solzhenitsyn, people like Thomas Moore. They stood for something. There are some things worth fighting for. And somebody has to clean up this town. And I’m going to stand firm.
Regarding the perjury charge against me, that is one of the most outrageous assertions. I didn’t even know that level of detail in the case. We have a State Bar and judiciary who are very angry about corruption in their ranks being exposed. Lawyers in the state are afraid of them, so I brought in experts from outside of the state, Bob Barr, Bob Driscoll.
I’ve stated my case. I did my job. A lot of powerful people didn’t like that. And they got even. But the loser is the people of Arizona. And that’s why I’m going back to the people. This is not going to be settled by the Supreme Court of Arizona or any court, it’s going to be settled by the people of Arizona, and I’m going to go to the people of Arizona and seek reforms. Finally we can deal with the corruption in this state.
