The Arizona Republic has printed a barrage of articles, editorials, and guest op-eds by attorneys lately highly critical of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas. When attorneys like Dennis Riccio, below, try to submit an article with a positive viewpoint of Arpaio and Thomas, the Republic can't turn their bias aside enough to print even one positive article.

My Turn: Enough of Prejudging Thomas and Arpaio

It is disturbing reading many of the editorials and op-eds in this newspaper about Sheriff Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas's attempts to prosecute Supervisors Stapley and Wilcox and investigate the Court Tower. The writers rush to judgment accusing Arpaio and Thomas of unethical behavior, without knowing the full facts. Only Arpaio and Thomas have seen the results of the investigations, search warrants and subpoenas. Most of this information is still privileged until the prosecution is over, and some of it – the Grand Jury information – will never be publicly releasable. The newspaper editorial board and criminal defense attorneys are acting as judge and jury prematurely deciding cases in public they know very little about.

The public has a right to be skeptical of a $341 million state of the art, luxury Court Tower being built during a recession, while county agencies, including law enforcement, are forced to cut 15% of their budgets by laying off employees. With the exception of columnist Laurie Roberts, this newspaper has failed to ask the hard questions, and even her questions have gone unanswered. Why is this luxury tower being built even though the county cannot afford it? People deserve to know answers.

There is a serious problem with one county agency decimating others so it can have more power. It is especially unsettling when the agencies it is cutting are law enforcement. If there is one thing everyone in society can agree upon, it is that public safety is the most important function of government. Without law and order, society is chaos. Instead, taxpayers' money is being redirected to bloated county government, where money is handed out like candy to promote diversity programs, multiple failed environmental awareness campaigns, and millions of dollars in subsidies to the private sector.

Even more alarming is how the Supervisors have been able to stop the Sheriff and prosecutor from prosecuting them – Supervisors Stapley and Wilcox – by attacking them and cutting off their resources. It is a double standard of justice that those accused of white collar crime are able to get away with these kind of stunts to avoid prosecution.

The accusations against Supervisor Stapley are appalling. It is a slap in the face to the citizens of Maricopa County that the other Supervisors just elected him last week as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He has been indicted on multiple felonies for financial misreporting and misusing campaign funds. The kinds of things he is alleged to have spent campaign funds on cannot be ignored: $6000 at Bang and Olufson electronics, along with $1300 for hair implants, $400 for candle holders and $10,000 for furniture for his home. He also spent these funds, solicited as campaign money, to buy tickets to Broadway plays and movie theatres, flowers, grocery store bills, massages, department stores and trips for his family to Sundance, Utah to ski, a trip for his son and friends to Florida and a three-week vacation in Hawaii for his entire family at a beach house costing approximately $11,000.

It is not surprising that criminal defense attorneys are submitting op-eds to the newspaper attacking Arpaio and Thomas. If criminal defense attorneys are attacking the prosecutor and Sheriff, you know they must be doing their job well.