A former prosecutor on April 22 kicked off his campaign for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office with a broad and blistering attack on current officeholder Andrew Thomas.
Gerald Richard, a Democrat, accused Thomas of a litany of abuses of office, including wasting public funds on self-promotion at the expense of public safety and constitutional rights.
The candidate, who recently left his advisory position with the Phoenix Police Department, said Thomas had jeopardized the prosecution of Serial Shooter suspects Dale Hausner and Samuel Dieteman by tapping their phones without court approval.
Thomas also was singled out by Richard for spending resources to prosecute non-violent illegal immigrants instead of acting against “thousands of violent criminals with outstanding arrest warrants who continue to walk our streets.”
“What is the point of paying prosecutors, public defenders, judges, juries and jailers to lock up people who pose no danger when they’re going to be deported in six months anyway?” Richard posed in a press release.
Richard served as chairman for the Arizona Supreme Court Commission on Minorities for 12 years, and has chaired the rules committee of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.
Thomas spokesman Barnett Lotstein said Richard’s attack against the tapping of Hausner’s and Dieteman’s phones was unwarranted because Phoenix detectives sought the surveillance of the suspects to help prevent future attacks.
Dieteman already has pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, while Hausner is accused of killing eight people in random shootings over the course of 15 months.
Both suspects could be sentenced to death, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
Lotstein further defended Thomas for his prosecution of illegal immigrants and accused Richard of being “instrumental” in the creation of a Phoenix Police Department “sanctuary policy” for illegal immigrants.
“We’re very proud of Mr. Thomas’ record of prosecuting, including organized crime and illegal immigration,” Lotstein said.
Supporters for Richard’s bid for county attorney include former Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Dennis Garrett, former state Rep. Art Hamilton and Hispanic activist Alfredo Gutierrez, according to campaign spokesman Doug Ramsey.
Tim Nelson, former legal counsel for Gov. Janet Napolitano, also is seeking the democratic nomination to challenge Thomas.
Richard also criticized Thomas for the prosecution of two owners of the Phoenix New Times newspaper and accused him of using his office to direct millions of dollars worth of legal work to attorneys who helped him campaign for county attorney in 2004.
The comment was an apparent dig at Thomas’ hiring of private attorney Dennis Wilenchik to serve as special prosecutor in the New Times case. The paper was accused of violating laws prohibiting the disclosure of personal information of public officials.
Late last year, Thomas dropped all charges and fired Wilenchik after it became known that the attorney issued sweeping subpoenas seeking the notes of New Times reporters and computer records of visitors to the newspaper’s Web site.?