Tim Nelson, Democratic candidate for Maricopa County attorney, is an accomplished attorney who spent years working alongside Janet Napolitano while she was Arizona attorney general and as she serves as governor.
His public sector experience, which includes high-level civil cases against the Baptist Foundation of Arizona and the country’s tobacco companies, is matched by years spent working with some of the Valley’s top legal firms.
One former adversary who now fundraises for Nelson labeled the candidate a “positive influence” and a “problem solver.”
Another Capitol insider and lobbyist, a Republican, said Nelson might represent the “next generation” of up-and-coming Democrats.
One thing is for certain: Nelson, with much help from the legal community, is pulling in loads of money for his campaign against Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. But, first things first. The candidate recently sat down with the Arizona Capitol Times to discuss his career, his race with fellow Democratic primary contender Gerald Richard and his chances of becoming the next counsel for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Why are you running for county attorney≠
Because the current county attorney is doing a lousy job. I think we have wasted far too much of our tax dollars on programs that promote him and that hire his friends as outside counsel. I think we have seen abuses of power that are dangerous for our society. I think we have seen a tanking of morale and an exodus of qualified lawyers, which harms the office’s ability to prosecute crimes effectively.
You’ve been involved in some very large cases, such as the state’s tobacco settlement and the Arthur Anderson settlement regarding the Baptist Foundation of Arizona fraud. What are you most proud of≠
I’m certainly very proud of the money we were able to recover for the seniors involved in the Baptist Foundation case. I’m also very proud of a Supreme Court case I argued and won that guaranteed for Arizona consumers the right to recover damages in price-fixing cases. I think that was a very important win for consumers in Arizona (2003- Bunker’s Glass Co. v. Pilkington).
Your primary opponent claims his experience as a former prosecutor of street crime trumps your experiences, which seem to center more around civil cases and business law. What’s your response≠
I’ve got more courtroom experience than either of my opponents in this race. I’ve been practicing law for 20 years at the highest levels of both the private and public sector.
I’ve been managing teams of lawyers throughout the course of my career and I’ve got the experience working with large law firms and the largest law firm in the state — the Attorney General’s Office — and working with the lawyers who represent the various executive branch agencies throughout the Arizona government; managing teams of lawyers on important projects and important cases for the people of Arizona. That’s the kind of experience we need in the County Attorney’s Office.
How important of a campaign issue do you think illegal immigration will be≠
There’s no question it’s a very important issue. I think people are justifiably frustrated by the failure of our federal government to secure our borders, and we as a border state are feeling the consequences of that failure. We have got to have a policy to secure our borders and that deals with the consequences (for) the number of people who have already entered unlawfully.
For the County Attorney’s Office, the most important issue has got to be public safety. We need to be looking at what the public-safety implications of illegal immigration have been.
We need to be focusing on these coyotes who are operating as organized criminal syndicates to smuggle human beings, who are holding their human cargo for ransom, kidnapping them even after they have been released into our society, and sometimes engaging in open warfare on our streets. That is what is posing the greatest danger and has to be the primary focus of the law enforcement efforts of the County Attorney’s Office.
Do you feel that is not being done right now≠
I think it is not being done. Instead, we are seeing the arrests of individual immigrants and we’re not seeing a systematic effort to go after the organized criminals who are facilitating this immigration.
How would you describe the transition from going from an assistant AG to counsel for the governor to becoming a political candidate≠
It’s been exciting. It really has. I’ve had tremendous opportunities for the last seven years with Gov. Napolitano, and now I have the opportunity to take on Andrew Thomas and bring about a new face of justice for Maricopa County. I relish that opportunity. I think it’s a very important race for the people of Maricopa County — to make sure we’re going to have someone put public safety first and not have the type of shenanigans that we have seen from Thomas’ office for the course of the last four years.
It seems this year there is a very interesting and a very well-followed presidential election. Do you think that this helps you or harms you or has any effect on the race≠
I think it is going to turn out a lot of voters, and I think that is a good thing. The more people who are engaged in the political process the better, because a lot of people need to be educated about what is going on here in Maricopa County and what the consequences for us are from some of Thomas’ policies.
I think it is going to be a very positive thing.
Recent campaign finance report shows that you have collected more than $200,000 and a lot of your contributions were from attorneys, some from prominent defense attorneys. Do you think this creates a conflict of interest≠
I’ve got thousands of contributions from people all over the county. And, yes, the legal profession is certainly supportive of my campaign because they understand probably better than anyone else the dangers to our justice system that have been created by Thomas’ policies.
But I don’t think I have any kind of disproportionate support from any particular sector within the legal community. And I can assure you there is no conflict of interest. I’m going to prosecute cases aggressively regardless of who is defending them or who has contributed to my campaign.
For years, you served as general counsel for Gov. Janet Napolitano. Did you walk away with any political lessons≠
I clearly did and probably the most salient thing was government has got to be proactive and responsive to the needs of the people. We cannot sit back and kind of wait for things to happen. We have to anticipate people’s needs and be out there working hard to address them in advance.
I think that’s one of the things the governor has done extraordinarily well, and it’s something I’d carry on as county attorney.
What are some of the things that a county attorney needs to be proactive on≠
I certainly think we need to be proactive to address the coyotes and the human smugglers.
We also need to take a much more affirmative and aggressive stance to reverse the flow of cash in the County Attorney’s Office.
We have seen, under Andrew Thomas, a three-fold increase — an $11 mi
llion increase on spending on outside counsel. He’s got a 900-person office with over 300 lawyers, yet he has gone from spending $5 million a year on outside counsel in 2004 to spending $16 million a year on outside counsel nowadays. Of that increase, 80 percent is going to people who have contributed to his last campaign. We’ve got to have someone who is going to go in there right away and turn that ship around. We need to be putting that money back into real law enforcement in the office and reducing the influence on outside counsel and building the kind of team of capable prosecutors needed to effectively handle cases in-house.
So, would you be extremely reluctant to use outside counsel, in general≠
I think we need to use outside counsel only when we don’t have the in-house expertise to handle the particular question. There are clearly going to be some cases when you don’t have the expertise, but what we have seen with Andrew Thomas is outside counsel for the most routine matters like public-records requests. That’s a total waste of our tax dollars.
We’ve got to have that kind of capacity in-house and make sure we are cultivating it and getting lawyers who have the tools they need to do their jobs right.
Several Democratic lawmakers have indicated they have no desire to see a contentious primary campaign between you and Gerald Richard. Do you feel this hamstrings you, or do you plan to run your campaign as you see fit≠
My job is to defeat Andrew Thomas, and I think we as a party need to work on the strength that can be achieved from having two candidates. Now we have two voices out there educating the public about all the things Andrew Thomas has done. As long as that is our focus, that is going to be a healthy development for the party. And that’s the direction I intend to go.
And when it comes to running against Richard, are you expecting a tough primary≠
Gerald is a very affable guy and a good candidate, but he doesn’t have the type of experience practicing law that I have — at the highest levels of government and at the highest level of the private sector. He doesn’t have the courtroom experience that I have, and I think we need that experience in the County Attorney’s Office. I’m going to be talking to voters about my experience, my record, what I can do for the County Attorney’s Office and about my ability to ultimately beat Andrew Thomas in the fall.
In September, Democrats are going to have to elect someone who can beat Thomas in November.
Do you think your opponent is a good candidate≠
Sure. I think Gerald is a well-spoken man who has committed his career to public service, and I commend him for that.
What will it take to defeat Andrew Thomas≠
I think it is going to take resources, tenacity and a persuasive message. My campaign has got all three of those things.
And are you expecting a dirty campaign≠
We’ve already seen evidence of that, and it unfortunately seems to be part of Thomas’ M.O. (modus operandi). He engaged in a bunch of unfounded labeling of me and I think those tactics are straight out of the Republican playbook. They’re intended to divert people’s attention from the failures of the incumbent.
We’re not going to let that happen. We’re going to make sure we go right back on the failures of Thomas and the things that he has done that have made us less safe.
Have you considered the prospect of having a working relationship with Sheriff Joe Arpaio≠
I have. In fact, the sheriff and I have worked together before on some tobacco issues when I worked for the Attorney General’s Office. It’s certainly possible to work well with the sheriff, and I intend to do that in a professional manner.
But I will give the sheriff much better legal advice than he has been getting, and it may not always be advice that he wants.
Thank you.
Sure, thank you.