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On Location: COGEL Meets in the Midst of Serious Unethical Behavior

COGEL (Council on Governmental Ethics Laws) annual conferences are often held at a time and place where there are
serious government ethics issues. Last year, the conference was held in
Chicago the day Gov. Blagojevich was arrested. This year, the
conference was held in Maricopa County, AZ, where few days go by when
there isn't a serious government ethics issue. Maricopa County has got
to be the most dysfunctional county in the U.S.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2009/12/09/20091209donaho…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Arizona <i>Republic</i></a>, in a little more than a week,
county sheriff Joe Arpaio and his loyal sidekick, county attorney
Andrew Thomas, filed three suits against a large number of other county
officials.<br>
<br>

In the first suit, a week before the COGEL conference, they named judges, county supervisors, county
administrators, and private attorneys in a
civil corruption and racketeering complaint filed in federal court.
This suit is detailed in <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/12/01/…; target="”_blank”">another
<i>Republic</i> article</a>. Why a civil suit? According to the <i>Republic</i>, the
county attorney "has been stymied by court rulings in his criminal
investigations of county officials.
The burden of proof is less in civil court. And filing in federal court
potentially sidesteps accusations of conflict of interest that have
plagued his office." The county manager told the <i>Republic</i>, "The sheriff
and the county attorney have filed a number of lawsuits
over a range of issues, and they've lost every time, and then they
ascribe these losses to a vast conspiracy."<br>
<br>
On the third day of the conference, the two men indicted two county
supervisors on separate allegations
that include perjury, forgery, and making false statements.<br>
<br>
And on the last day of the conference, they filed a suit against a
superior court judge who had made several decisions against them,
accusing the judge of failing to disclose an
attorney-client relationship with two lawyers hired to represent the
county on issues related to the construction of a county court tower,
which the sheriff and county attorney are investigating. The suit also
alleged that the judge is biased against
the sheriff's office.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/12/07/…; target="”_blank”">another
<i>Republic</i> article</a>, on the second day of the conference, the sheriff
asked the county board of supervisors for $7 million in legal fees.
This request is due to a new county policy "that requires elected
officials to cover their
own legal fees when engaged in disputes with other county officials."
So far in 2009, intra-county suits have run up $2.5 million in attorney
fees. But the sheriff is on the warpath, so he wants a lot more for
next year.<br>
<br>
But the most significant cost to the county, not in dollars but in
meaning, is the $100,000 in attorney fees the county will have to pay
to five county residents who were <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/602&quot; target="”_blank”">arrested for clapping</a> at
a board of supervisors meeting. According to yet <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/12/01/…; target="”_blank”">another
<i>Republic</i> article</a>, the county attorney's suit against them was
dismissed in September. The justice who dismissed the case "noted that
a similar disruption, if not a more excessive one, took
place during a June 2008 supervisors meeting. The difference between
the two disruptions ... was that the summertime applause
came for a speaker who supported Arpaio while the applause of the five
arrested was for speakers who questioned the sheriff's policies."<br>
<br>
It's bad enough when a sheriff and county attorney insist that the rest
of the county government is conspiring against them. But it's even
worse when they arrest citizens who clap for their opponents. Is the
America the sheriff says he is defending nothing but a police state?<br>
<br>
That $100,000 in legal fees should come out of the sheriff's and county
attorney's pockets. But they don't want to take any responsibility for
what they do. Sheriff Arpaio waxed eloquent to the <a href="http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/148266&quot; target="”_blank”">East Valley
<i>Tribune</i></a>, "Sometimes you have to do
what you have to do." But he's already done most of what he did in the
last two weeks, just in different forums and with different tactics.<br>
<br>
A former county supervisor told the <i>Tribune</i>, "If you go out there and
ask anybody, they've lost total confidence in all of county government."
That's the bottom line. This insanity has got to stop.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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