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County Supervisors’ shielding of corruption by asking for a Justice Department investigation ends in nothing except thousands of our tax dollars wasted.

Convicted felon and former business partner of Don Stapley is demanding a huge settlement from County taxpayers

The frivolous investigation by the Justice Department into Sheriff Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas has finally come to an end. Arpaio and Thomas have been cleared of any wrongdoing in their attempt to prosecute corrupt County Supervisors Mary Rose Wilcox, Don Stapley and a judge who consistently ruled to protect the Supervisors’ corruption. The US Attorney’s Office issued a statement yesterday saying they were closing the investigation. This decision is even more significant considering it is coming from the Obama administration, which dislikes Arpaio because of his crackdowns on illegal immigration and his investigation into Obama’s birth certificate.

This will impact the Arizona State Bar’s targeting of Thomas and his deputies. The State Bar disbarred Thomas and punished two of his deputies due to them prosecuting the two Supervisors and judge. Now that Thomas has been fully cleared by a lengthy, ongoing investigation by the federal government, the State Bar’s actions are being called into question. Corrupt disciplinary judge Bill O’Neill, who was in the pocket of the State Bar, did what the Bar wanted (click here to read about his corruption on the case, which includes ghostwriting pleadings for friends, a violation of judicial ethics). Thomas did not appeal the disbarment, because the corrupt County Supervisors refused to fund his appeal. His two deputies are currently appealing their sentences pro se. No doubt this decisions will affect the decisions by the Arizona Supreme Court, which is hearing the appeals.

Sheriff Arpaio said at a press conference in response:

“They did their investigation, they didn’t find enough probable cause and they didn’t bring an indictment. We don’t go around framing anybody. My people are not crooks. I never had any doubt. … Once again, I send my appreciation to the federal government for their hard work in clearing my office. If I did something wrong, there would be indictments floating all over the place.”

Andrew Thomas reacted to the announcement:

“The Justice Department acknowledged the obvious: A jury of citizens simply would not indict a prosecutor who had done his job. This decision directly contradicts the State Bar’s claim that the taking of my law license could be proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The real losers in the political witch hunt that just ended are the people of Arizona. Prosecutors no longer attempt to fight corruption or illegal immigration in Arizona because they fear being targeted and disbarred. Though I have suffered a grave injustice, I will continue to campaign for reforms in our courts and elsewhere so the powerful and corrupt are not above the law.”

His Deputy prosecutor Lisa Aubuchon, was also disbarred by the Arizona State Bar, reacted,

“I am relieved this chapter of the witch hunt is over.  The findings on the perjury charge directly contradict the bar findings, a clear example of the trumped up charges that were pushed through the bar matter for political reasons.  My family has suffered greatly just because I was doing my job.  Average citizens charged with crimes are treated differently than politicians and judges- that is wrong.  Many people agreed with the filing of charges against Don Stapley, Mary Rose Wilcox and Gary Donahoe and it is unreal that the disciplinary panel could find that the guilt is not relevant to the proceedings preventing Andrew Thomas and myself from bringing forth all of the evidence we relied on.  If the bar decision is allowed to stand, the message is that a prosecutor can lose his or her license just because someone at the bar disagrees with charging decisions.  I am hopeful that either the Arizona or United States Supreme Court will right this wrong.”

A spokesman for the Arizona Republican Party, on behalf of chairman Tom Morrissey said, “It is good to see this witch hunt has come to an end. I find it bizarre when a man is hounded for doing his job by those who refuse to do theirs.”

The County Supervisors and their cronies have filed million dollars in lawsuits against the County over the prosecutions. Let’s hope this shuts down these abuses of our tax dollars. Arpaio and Thomas tried to prosecute Wilcox for violating county ethics rules by voting to award the radical left wing organization Chicanos por la Causa grant money while accepting a favorable personal loan from them. Stapley was prosecuted for spending $86,000 in campaign money raised for a race where he had no opponent on luxury items, including 3 lavish vacations for his family. One of the lawsuits demanding taxpayer money for “stress” is from Conley Wolfswinkel, a convicted felon and former business partner who was funneling Stapley $15,000/mth for a shady land deal. From today’s Arizona Republic:

County Supervisor Andrew Kunasek was furious about the decision, which he calls “an assault on our system of justice. That Hendershott and Aubuchon are walking away from this — I think it’s a scourge on the Department of Justice,” he fumes. “I am pissed at [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder. His inaction here is a terrible abuse.”

Read more at Fox News – http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/09/01/arpaio-criminal-investigation-closed-by-feds/ (We scanned through the entire New York Times today, expecting a print article about this, since the New York Times has been heavily covering the DOJ investigation into Arpaio with frequent front page headlines, but could not find a single mention of it)

Submitted by:

A m e r i c a n  P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

This videtorial is based on a June 25, 2012 editorial by Joseph Farah, founder and publisher of WND.com.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the only law enforcement officer in America who has stood up to challenge Barack Obama’s constitutional eligibility — and has demonstrated tremendous courage, fortitude and commitment in staying the course. Yet, he faces a barrage of constant attacks from the media and the political establishment.

The latest comes from his own Maricopa County, Arizona, Board of Supervisors, who tried to embarrass him and undermine his efforts by refusing a five thousand dollar reimbursement from the sheriff’s volunteer Cold Case Posse for expenses incurred in a trip to Hawaii to investigate Obama’s birth certificate and related matters. Those expenses were for a deputy who accompanied lead investigator Mike Zullo for security purposes. The reimbursement lost by a two-to-two vote, in the absence of Supervisor Fulton Brock. It was Supervisors Mary Rose Wilcox and Don Stapley who rejected the funds. Arpaio spokeswoman Lisa Allen explains both were subjects of sheriff’s investigations in the past and had filed claims alleging wrongful prosecution.

The posse announced in March it found probable cause that the image released in 2011 by the White House as birth documentation for Obama is a forgery. Another news conference is scheduled in a few weeks, and Sheriff Arpaio promises important new revelations. He launched the investigation at the request of constituents who feared that placement of Obama’s name on the state’s 2012 ballot would constitute fraud if Obama were found ineligible.

Posse lead investigator Zullo tells WND, “We are trying to conduct an investigation with zero cost to the taxpayers. They refused to take the money. We don’t understand how that helps the taxpayers.” According to Zullo, the deputy was needed on the Hawaii trip because he was allowed to be armed as a sworn officer, while volunteer investigators from the Cold Case Posse were not.

Zullo also says the Hawaii trip was all business. “From my [motel] balcony I had a view of an alley, a check cashing place and a liquor store.” He noted the room cost only one hundred twenty nine dollars a night, which is a low rate for most locations in the Aloha state.

After the investigative trip to Hawaii, WND reported an intelligence source, who warned early last year that a forged Obama birth record would be released, now says a forged “original” birth certificate intended to pass forensic inspection by using 1961 materials is being prepared and could be made public as an “October surprise.” But Arpaio insists on seeing the entire roll of microfilm that contains Obama’s birth record and submitting it to court-certified forensic examiners to determine authenticity.

Protester Chad Snow calls Hispanic woman a “crazy b***”

SPEECH BY ANDREW THOMAS AT PRESS CONFERENCE, APRIL 11, 2012

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.

STATEMENT BY LISA AUBUCHON

My name is Lisa Aubuchon. Unfortunately Judge O’Neill didn’t have the courtesy or respect to learn how to pronounce my name. I will be filing an appeal and a request for stay. I have a lot of clients who have a lot of faith in me and will continue to have faith in me. If you want to look into something, look into process. The Bar took advantage of a simple probable cause determination n the disciplinary process. The disciplinary process was changed effective January 1, 2011. They waited until the new process came into place so that they could skip over     the panel of eight people that would have determined probable cause. That will be one of the major issues on appeal. The other issue involves Judge O’Neill. He was the trial judge in the Judge Donahoe case. I appeared in front of Judge O’Neill in Pinal County. I made arguments on the Donahoe matter regarding the conflicts of interest. Judge O’Neill entered stays in that matter. He has no right to hear this case, he should have recused himself. And he was also involved in another matter that remains under seal, hopefully that will come out sometime in the future.

PROFANE PROTESTER CHAD “YELLOW SNOW” SNOW  

At the press conference, attorney Chad Snow, who led the recall against Russell Pearce and spends all day online trolling the Phoenix New Times leaving profanity-laded comments about law enforcement, showed up with a handful of scraggly looking protesters and tried to shout down Thomas. He got into an argument with a conservative Latina supporting Thomas and called her a “crazy b***.” When asked why he called her that, he said “Because she is. Teabaggers don’t believe in free speech.” Sounds more like Chad “Yellow Snow” Snow is the one who doesn’t believe in free speech. Doesn’t he have ethical responsibilities as an attorney to treat people with respect?