Andrew Thomas (prosecutor)

Infobox Politician (general)
name = Andrew Peyton Thomas


imagesize =
caption =
order =
office = 26th Maricopa County Attorney
term_start = January 3 2005
term_end = incumbent
predecessor = Richard "Rick" Romley
successor = Incumbent
birth_date = 1966
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
party = Republican
otherparty =
spouse =

Andrew Peyton Thomas (born 1966) is an American politician, serving as the county attorney for Maricopa County in Arizona.

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.

Maricopa County Attorney

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 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. [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = ANDREW P. THOMAS Maricopa County Attorney
language = English
publisher = Maricopa County Attorney's Office
date = 2006
url = http://web.archive.org/web/20080211165842/http://www.maricopacountyattorney.org/about/bio.html
accessdate = ] Under Thomas, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office expanded their community outreach programs through the internet.

Controversies

As County Attorney, Thomas' office has been a hotbed for controversies, some of which have garnered national exposure and enraged citizens.

2008 County Attorney Election

Tim Nelson has decided to run against Thomas in the 2008 election. Thomas lashed out at Nelson for accepting under $20,000 in donations from defense attorneys; yet, Thomas has been critized for using $2 million dollars to promote his face and his name through television advertisements.Nelson said the donations would not influence his policies or leadership of the office, saying the accusation was "absolutely crazy." He said he has raised more than $307,000 from many professionals who are unhappy with Thomas and his leadership of the office, including judges, private attorneys, paralegals and people outside of the justice system. [http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/09/10/20080910elex-thomas0910.html]

Matt Bandy prosecution

In 2006, 16-year-old Matt Bandy was arrested and charged with distributing child pornography using the family computer. Bandy claimed that the images were downloaded by a virus or trojan. Bandy, facing 90 years in prison without parole, accepted a plea bargain, pleading guilty to 3 felony counts of showing a "Playboy" magazine to three of his 16 year old school classmates. [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-01-25/news/doubting-thomas/ Phoenix New Times coverage of Bandy case] 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. [http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/print?id=2791529 Transcript of ABC News interview] Thomas's office has maintained Bandy's guilt and rejected his explanation. [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,247903,00.html]

Recall Petition

In November 2007, efforts began to recall Andrew Thomas from office. [cite news
last = Wingett
first = Yvonne
coauthors =
title = Recall petitions target Arpaio, Thomas
language = English
publisher = Arizona Republic
date = 2007-11-16
url = http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1116recall1116.html
accessdate = ] 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. [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = Cronkite-Eight Poll
language = English
publisher = KAET
date = 2007-11-20
url = http://www.azpbs.org/horizon/poll/2007/11-20-07.htm HORIZON
accessdate = ]

The recall campaign concluded without success on February 28, 2008. [cite news
last = Kiefer
first = Michael
coauthors =
title = Move to recall Arpaio, Thomas ends
language = English
publisher = The Arizona Republic
date = February 28 , 2008
url = http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0228recall0228.html
accessdate = ]

RICO Funds

(The acronym RICO comes from the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Similar state laws allow law enforcement agencies free rein to seize money and assets from criminal organizations and sue it for projects in their offices.)

Thomas has come under criticism for using $3.5 million of such monies to print brochures, make radio and TV public service announcements for his office, many of them touting his name and image, and even to help pay for the book tour of a local talk-radio host who shares his views on illegal immigration. [http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2008/09/11/20080911elex-ctyattyheadtohead.html]

Outside Attorneys

Thomas rearranged his office priorities so that many civil cases are handled by contract attorneys outside of his office rather than designated staff attorneys. In the last two years, the office spent $27 million on such lawyers. Thomas defends the decision as cost effective because he is able to get expert legal advice. But his opponents have accused Thomas of cronyism, especially because Thomas' former employer, Dennis Wilenchik, has handled numerous cases, many of them representing the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office against injury claims. But Wilenchik also caused embarrassment for Thomas when, in open court, he accused a Superior Court judge of being a threat to public safety for allowing bond for people suspected of being illegal immigrants; shortly after, Wilenchik was at the center of a flap when editors from the New Times newspapers were arrested and jailed over a story they had written. Wilenchik was the special prosecutor assigned to the case. [http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2008/09/11/20080911elex-ctyattyheadtohead.html]

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. [cite news
last = Lemons
first = Stephen
coauthors =
title = IN YOUR FACE! FURIOUS PUBLIC BACKLASH FORCES COUNTY ATTORNEY ANDREW THOMAS TO DROP CASE AGAINST NEW TIMES.
language = English
publisher = Phoenix New Times
date = 2007-10-19
url = http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2007/10/in_your_face_furious_public_ba.php
accessdate = ]

Arizona State Bar Investigation

In 2008, the State Bar of Arizona launched an investigation of Thomas. In response, Thomas filed a Petition for Special Action with the Arizona Supreme Court in an effort to halt the investigation. [http://azbar.org/NewsCenter/shownews.cfm?newsid=187] The Arizona State Bar filed a response noting that "a lawyer who happens to be an elected public officer. . . cannot simply opt out of the lawyer-regulatory system claiming the privilege of his elected office." [http://azbar.org/NewsCenter/shownews.cfm?newsid=187] Thomas' private attorneys filed a reply on July 2, 2008. [http://www.myazbar.org/AZBarInfo/NewsPDFs/Reply%20to%20Petition%20for%20SA%2007-02-08.pdf] . Thomas has also posted a call to reform the Arizona Bar on the Maricopa County Attorney General web site. [http://www.maricopacountyattorney.org/state-bar/] On August 15, 2008, the Arizona Supreme Court denied his Petition for Special Action and ruled that the State Bar could proceed with the ethics investigations against Thomas.

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 Governor Janet Napolitano, 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.

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.cite news
last = Wingett
first = Yvonne
coauthors =
title = Public, RICO money paid for crime-prevention booklets
language = English
publisher = Arizona Republic
date = 2008-01-18
url = http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0118booklets0118.html
accessdate = ] {

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 himself. [cite news
last = Fenske
first = Sarah
coauthors =
title = Andrew Thomas, Maricopa County's top prosecutor, burnishes his . . . Wikipedia page?
language = English
publisher = Phoenix New Times
date = 2008-03-03
url = http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-02-28/news/andrew-thomas-maricopa-county-s-top-prosecutor-burnishes-his-wikipedia-page/
accessdate = ]

References

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External links

* [http://www.maricopacountyattorney.org/index.html Maricopa County Attorney's Office]
* [http://illegalimmigrationjournal.com Illegal Immigration Journal]
* [http://drugfreeaz.com Drug Free AZ]
* [http://endidtheft.com End ID Theft]
* [http://stopduiaz.com Stop DUI AZ]
* [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-02-21/news/new-times-files-a-prelude-to-a-lawsuit-against-sheriff-joe-arpaio-county-attorney-andy-thomas-and-a-discredited-ex-special-prosecutor-on-behalf-of-its-readers-and-the-constitution/ New Times Article 2-21-08]
* [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-02-28/news/andrew-thomas-maricopa-county-s-top-prosecutor-burnishes-his-wikipedia-page/ New Times Article 2-28-08]
* [http://mikeyounglaw.com/wp/2008/07/18/maricopa-county-attorney-andrew-peyton-thomas-and-his-wikipedia-bio/ Wikipedia Bio Modification Analysis 07-17-08]