Arizona’s most significant public corruption case since the 1988 impeachment of Gov. Evan Mecham has come down to this: Four defendants. Fourteen days of testimony. Nearly four dozen witnesses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Battista says it was lobbyist Jim Norton’s “strong suggestion” that led to the flow of money from a utility owner to the pockets of a utility regulator.

Sherry Pierce says she had no idea she was doing work on behalf of water utility owner George Johnson while she was employed by KNB Consulting and her husband sat on the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Defense attorneys in the so-called “Ghost Lobby” trial said “normal folks” might not find the activities of the defendants acceptable, but the government failed to prove corruption was their driving force.

Kelly Norton was back on the stand in the “Ghost Lobby” trial Tuesday, this time under cross examination by a defense team intent on distorting her credibility in the eyes of the jury.

Kelly Norton reviewed extensive records she kept in the midst of that scheme to protect herself if – and ultimately when – the authorities came looking for answers.

The government’s star witness in the “Ghost Lobby” trial, Kelly Norton, took the stand on Wednesday, visibly nervous at the head of a crowded courtroom hanging on her testimony.

The bribery trial of a former regulator, a utility owner and a lobbyist has tentacles that stretch to many others in Arizona’s political universe – some more than others.

The witness list for the bribery case against Gary and Sherry Pierce, Jim Norton and George Johnson is a who’s who of Arizona politics.

A federal judge has rejected a bid by a former utility regulator, his wife, a lobbyist and a utility executive to throw out criminal charges against them.