Andanh.com

 From the political notebook:

• Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' request that the Arizona Supreme Court snatch disciplinary actions against him and others in his office from the state Bar is extraordinary. It is also warranted.

The hostilities began when Thomas criticized how the courts were handling implementation of the ballot measure denying bail to illegal immigrants accused of serious crimes. Thomas went so far as to request that one particular judge be precluded from hearing any case involving his office.

 The state Bar president, Daniel McAuliffe, made public statements sharply criticizing Thomas. The Bar also began a disciplinary investigation of Thomas and others in his office on its own initiative, not as a result of a complaint being filed.

That morphed into a series of investigations, virtually all of which are also Bar initiated and driven. The investigations are meandering and wandering off into areas that Thomas asserts violate attorney-client privilege.

Given that the Bar itself is the complainant, Thomas has a compelling case that its advocacy has irremediably tainted the objectivity of its investigatory and adjudicatory activities. And he makes a persuasive case that the Bar is abusing its disciplinary authority.

The court will be reluctant to step in at this point. Ordinarily, the Bar would make its decision, which could then be appealed.

However, it does not serve the public interest for the state's primary prosecutor of felony criminal offenses to be the subject of a protracted harassing and irremediably tainted investigation.


• This does not mean that Thomas is entirely an innocent victim in all this. He has been gratuitously confrontational. That makes him less effective and shortchanges his political potential.

It is possible to be a tough, effective, conservative prosecutor without declaring war on the judiciary and alienating a substantial portion of the legal fraternity. Bob Corbin, who served as both county attorney and state attorney general, is a good example.

If Thomas gets re-elected, he really needs to rethink how he does business.


• He also needs to rethink his role in the investigation of Attorney General Terry Goddard over the plea deal with former state Treasurer David Petersen. Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio are supposedly investigating whether Goddard's office went soft on Petersen in exchange for Petersen approving a payment to the office on another matter.

Arpaio announced the investigation in a press conference, itself a breech of law-enforcement protocol, more than a year ago.

When it became public that Thomas had recused himself from the investigation into New Times publishing Arpaio's home address, potentially a violation of state law, Goddard asked that he transfer the Petersen investigation to another agency.

After all, Thomas' perceived conflict is far larger with respect to Goddard than the New Times. They ran against each other before and may do so again. New Times was just a critic. Goddard is a political rival.

Just as it is contrary to the public interest for the county attorney to be subjected to a protracted investigation by someone whose objectivity is tainted, so too is it contrary to the public interest for the state attorney general to be in the same position.

Thomas should grant Goddard the same consideration he is asking the state Supreme Court to grant him.


• The Arizona Legislature should also look at breaking up the unusual and unhealthy accumulation of power in the state Bar.

The state Bar is an aggressive advocacy organization. It takes positions on legislation and ballot measures. In this case, it took a public position on the propriety of Thomas' comments about the way judges were implementing the bail ballot proposition.

It is simply inappropriate for an aggressive advocacy organization to also have licensing and disciplinary authority.

The functions are separated for the doctors. They should be separated for the lawyers as well.


• John McCain recently joined Hillary Clinton in criticizing Barack Obama for not having a subcommittee he heads hold oversight hearings on Afghanistan. As the people of Arizona well know, McCain is hardly in a position to criticize others for shirking their senatorial duties while running for president.

At this point, I'm not sure McCain could still find the Senate without a map.