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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Arpaio, Thomas Drop Racketeering Suit
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio have filed a motion to dismiss the federal racketeering lawsuit they filed against the Board of Supervisors in December.

In the motion, Thomas says the Justice Department has agreed to investigate the Board of Supervisors for misconduct.

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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Mid-Week Roundup
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's week keeps getting busier and busier.

It started Saturday with the Huffington Post's summary of the supervisors' indictments.

Then, after a successful deadbeat parent round-up, Arpaio made national news Sunday when the Los Angeles Times wrote about his apparently escalating tactics in the fight against the Board of Supervisors. Also over the weekend, deputies visited the homes of several mid- and low-level county government and court employees. The searches continued Tuesday, according to the Phoenix New Times, when deputies visited the homes of multiple judicial assistants.

On Monday, MCSO triumphantly declared that it will once again be piping holiday tunes throughout the jails, despite lawsuits filed. Four of the six suits (which apparently allege that listening to the harmonies of Alvin and the Chipmunks, Bing Cosby and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, according to past years' playlists, can be considered cruel and unusual punishment) have been dismissed; the Sheriff's Office says it's confident the other two will also be dismissed.

Also on Monday, ABC's Nightline aired its story on Arpaio, saying the sheriff is "unapologetic" about his actions.

Tuesday saw the filing of motions to dismiss charges relating to the court tower project. The attorneys who filed the motion, Thomas Irvine and Edward Novak, are named in Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas' racketeering lawsuit; Irvine and Novak say Arpaio and Thomas lacked the standing to file the suit in the first place.

On the same day, Mary Rose Wilcox's attorney spoke on her behalf at a news conference, essentially saying charges have been filed against her after she followed Thomas' own advice. Deputies asked the attorney, Colin Campbell, to speak with them about the court tower project hours afterward, giving him a deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Wednesday's editions of The Arizona Republic and The Washington Times feature editorials asking why nobody will stand up to Arpaio and lambasting the DOJ for its investigation into civil rights violations, respectively.

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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Thomas, Arpaio File Criminal Complaint Against Superior Court Judge
A criminal complaint has been filed against Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced in a news conference Wednesday.

The complaint accuses Donahoe of bribery and corruption in connection with an investigation into the downtown court tower project. Arpaio and Thomas also filed a racketeering lawsuit against Maricopa County leaders -- including the entire Board of Supervisors -- in connection with the court tower project last week.

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