Andrew Thomas (prosecutor)
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| Andrew Peyton Thomas | |
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26th Maricopa County Attorney
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| In office January 3, 2005 – incumbent |
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| Preceded by | Richard "Rick" Romley |
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| Born | 1966 |
| Political party | Republican |
Andrew Peyton Thomas (born 1966) is an American politician, serving as the county attorney for Maricopa County in Arizona.
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[edit] Early career
Thomas joined the Maricopa County Attorney's Office as a Deputy County Attorney in 2003, and ran successfully for Maricopa County Attorney in 2004. He took office in January of 2005. He also ran unsuccessfully in 2002 for Arizona Attorney General and lost that race to Terry Goddard.
[edit] Maricopa County Attorney
[edit] Policies
As County Attorney, Andrew Thomas focused his agenda and policies towards the rights of crime victims, in addition to adopting tough policies on violent crime, child exploitation, identity theft and repeat offenders. During his first term, Thomas also made considerable effort on prosecuting human smugglers and illegal immigrants. Thomas also helped draft and campaigned for Proposition 100, which sought to end the right to bail for illegal immigrants accused of serious felonies, and Proposition 301, which toughened sanctions for abuse of methamphetamines. In 2006, the voters of Arizona approved both measures.[1] Under Thomas, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office expanded their community outreach programs through the internet.
[edit] Controversies
As County Attorney, Thomas' office has been a hotbed for controversies, some of which have garnered national exposure and enraged citizens.
[edit] Matt Bandy prosecution
In 2006, 16-year-old Matt Bandy was arrested and charged with distributing child pornography using the family computer. From the start, all evidence indicated that computer viruses and trojan horses were responsible for the presence of underage photographs[citation needed], which meant that Bandy did not have any knowledge of their presence[citation needed]. Thomas, upon discovery of this evidence, refused to hand the computer hard drive over to the defense until he was forced to by the Arizona Supreme Court. Bandy, facing 90 years in prison without parole, was pressured by Thomas' office into accepting a plea bargain[citation needed], pleading guilty to 3 felony counts of showing a playboy magazine to three of his 16 year old school classmates. Thomas's office tried to get Bandy listed as a Sex Offender, but the judge threw out that requirement. The Bandy family spent $250,000 in legal fees defending their son. The case was later featured on ABC's 20/20.
[edit] Recall Petition
In November 2007, efforts began to recall Andrew Thomas from office.[2] The grounds for the recall effort is cited as "Disobeying and violating the United States Constitution and abuse of power." If successful, the recall will be part of the November 2008 ballot. A KAET-ASU public television poll taken in November 2007 found that 40% of respondents had a positive view of Thomas, 25% had a negative view, and the remaining 35% either didn't know of Thomas or didn't have an opinion about him.[3]
The recall campaign concluded without success on February 28, 2008.[4]
[edit] Phoenix New Times prosecution
In October of 2007, Thomas' office ordered the arrest of two editors of the Phoenix New Times over the publishing articles regarding certain grand jury investigations. The investigation requested information regarding visitors to the New TImes website, which included the personal data of those visitors. The charge brought significant criticism from media professionals as a signal towards totalitarianism. The charges for the two editors were later dropped.
In November 2007, Thomas's office has been ordered to appear in court in connection with a grand jury investigation of the Phoenix New Times print publication. Judge Ana Baca ordered the office to appear when it was discovered that the grand jury case file is missing key paperwork, including the original grand jury subpoenas and original affidavits of service.
In 2008, the two editors announced plans to sue Thomas' office.
[edit] Legal Hirings
The record of his previous employment with the law firm is under dispute. Thomas was employed by Wilenchik prior to his election in 2004. Shortly after he took office, Wilenchik's firm benefited from a surge of contracts from the County. He has hired the Wilenchik Law firm to be a Special Prosecutor in the case against The Phoenix New Times founders for publishing the Street Address of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in their newspaper. This led to a public outcry causing Thomas embarrassment. [5]
[edit] Crime Prevention Handbook
In 2008, Thomas drew fire when his office released a crime prevention handbook. Members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have criticized the book even though they provided the funds to Thomas' office for the purpose of "Crime Prevention", which featured his name on the cover and a portrait of himself on the first page (as does a number of literature put out by Govenor Naplitano, Attorney General Terry Goddard and many other local and state officials), as a self-promotion piece. This booklet was also criticized for its representation of extravagance, amidst government efforts to cut spending to eliminate a budget shortfall. However, the money used was set aside a whole year before the current "budget crisis" that Napalitano inflicted upon the state of Arizona.
Further criticism came when it was discovered that Thomas' office used over $2 million of public funds, over the course of three years, on television advertisements and high-profile public service announces that featured his name and his likeness. Most of the public service announcements were aimed at parents and teens and the prevention of drug use. Currently, Drug Free AZ is run and operated under the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.[6]
[edit] Wikipedia Editing
On March 3, 2008, the Phoenix New Times reported that Thomas, under the username "Apt37", edited his own Wikipedia article, erasing negative statements about him.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ "ANDREW P. THOMAS Maricopa County Attorney", Maricopa County Attorney's Office, 2006. (English)
- ^ Wingett, Yvonne. "Recall petitions target Arpaio, Thomas", Arizona Republic, November 16, 2007. (English)
- ^ "HORIZON Cronkite-Eight Poll", KAET, November 20, 2007. (English)
- ^ Kiefer, Michael. "Move to recall Arpaio, Thomas ends", The Arizona Republic, February 28 , 2008. (English)
- ^ Lemons, Stephen. "IN YOUR FACE! FURIOUS PUBLIC BACKLASH FORCES COUNTY ATTORNEY ANDREW THOMAS TO DROP CASE AGAINST NEW TIMES.", Phoenix New Times, October 19, 2007. (English)
- ^ Wingett, Yvonne. "Public, RICO money paid for crime-prevention booklets", Arizona Republic, January 18, 2008. (English)
- ^ Fenske, Sarah. "Andrew Thomas, Maricopa County's top prosecutor, burnishes his . . . Wikipedia page?", Phoenix New Times, March 3, 2008. (English)
