Pearce Recall Update: ‘Outsider’ Pearce should look in the mirror

October 29, 2011

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: "King" Russell Pearce has complained from day one that the recall effort against him was from "outsiders" who do not live in his District 18. He even suggested that financial support for the recall comes from out of state. Well, more than 10,000 of his neighbors in Distict 18 signed petitions to recall … Read more

(Update) Pimps for Private Prisons and Profit

October 29, 2011

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: A Maricopa County Superior Court judge refused on Thursday to halt the bidding process for planned private prisons, not on the merits but on the legal question of standing. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Judge refuses to halt private prison bidding process – Arizona Capitol Times: Judge Arthur Anderson ruled … Read more

GOP staffers cross the line at Tea-Publican Committee to Interfere With The AIRC

October 29, 2011

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Tea-Publicans have thrown out all institutional norms and rules in their quest to "blow up" the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC). It is bad enough that House Republican Caucus staffer and dirty tricks guy John Mills (he of the Republican voter fraud "Green" scheme siphon scandal in 2010) has been paid to … Read more

A Halloween Story

October 29, 2011

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: From the Arizona Daily Star's David Fitzsimmons. On Halloween, watch for chupacabras: Break out the campfire marshmallows! Here is a Halloween story for the kids: After a healthy breakfast of scorpions, Gov. Jan Brewer donned her wicked witch of the Southwest hat and fired up her crystal ball. Spying the Independent Redistricting … Read more

Talking Baseball: 11th Heaven: Wild Cards win World Series!

October 29, 2011

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In August, the St. Louis Cardinals trailed the Atlanta Braves by 10½ games for the wild ward spot in the playoffs. By the last week of September, the Cards still trailed the Braves by three games with seven to play. The Comeback Cards captured the wild card spot on the last day of … Read more

Poor ol’ Russell Pearce is getting picked on (Just ask Russell Pearce)

October 29, 2011

by David Safier "Poor me!" Pearce wails in a recent fundraising email. "Poor, poor me!" Will you help me defeat [Lewis]? I know I’ve asked for a lot but I must have the necessary resources to defend my record. We cannot allow their vicious lies and personal attacks to go unanswered. If we do, we … Read more

Tom Horne disqualified by conflict of interest from pursuing his AIRC witch hunt

October 28, 2011

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne was diqualified by a Superior Court Judge today from pursuing his politically motivated witch hunt of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, based upon a professional conflict of interest.

Even nonlawyers could have easily explained to Horne that because the AG's office was legal counsel representing the AIRC and provided the commission with training on Arizona's open meetings law that the AG's office could not then switch sides and pursue its own client for a claim related to the advice and legal representation that the AG's office provided the commission. Attorney-client privilege expressly prohibits it. This was clear to everyone from the very beginning, except Horne apparenlty.

The real conflict of interest here is that Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne is first and foremost a partisan political hack who is abusing the power of his office to pursue politically motivated litigation. Eventually he is going to find himself in front of a State Bar of Arizona disciplinary proceeding, just like his friend, disgraced former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Horne disqualified from investigating IRC – Arizona Capitol Times:

Attorney General Tom Horne will no longer be able to pursue an open meeting law investigation into members of the Independent Redistricting Commission, as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled the attorney general is saddled with an existing conflict of interest.

Judge Dean Fink today granted a motion to disqualify Horne[.]

* * *

At issue is the fact that the Attorney General’s Office previously advised the commission members about the compliance with state law, including open meeting laws that Horne claims to have a reasonable belief that the commission violated.

Ethical rules established by the Arizona Supreme Court govern attorneys’ duties to former clients and generally prohibit attorneys from leaking information about former clients that could be damaging.

* * *

Fink found the AG’s previous IRC representation as “fundamentally related” to the current investigation, and he regarded the scenario as a “changing of sides.”

The judge was also not swayed by Horne’s claim that another court-established ethical rule grants government attorneys greater leeway in their dealings with former clients in order to respect the duty of prosecutors investigating instances of possible malfeasance by government officials.

Fink found that Horne’s claim did not overrule attorney-client privileges held by the IRC, which, like other public officials, could find themselves under investigation but are still “entitled no less than anyone else to the loyalty of their lawyers.”

* * *

Horne said that he would not appeal Fink’s ruling in the interest of saving what he called “precious time” that could otherwise be spent investigating the commission. The case, he said, would be immediately transferred to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, whom Horne said would “pursue the matter as vigorously as I did.”

* * *

Attorney Paul Charlton, who represents IRC Chairwoman Colleen Mathis… praised the ruling as a “vindication of the caution” that Mathis and Democratic commissioners José Herrera and Linda McNulty displayed by not cooperating with Horne.

Charlton stressed that attorneys general are rightfully charged with investigating and prosecuting government officials who are technically clients as long as the prosecutions are not related to the subject of the advice given.

“Here, the attorney general had given the commission very specific advice about open meeting law issues, and, in particular, serial communication (contacts outside of public government meetings) issues,” Charlton said. “The attorney general then said, ‘Now, I am going to pursue a civil prosecution because they ignored the advice I gave them.’”

UPDATE: Judge Fink also delayed the previously scheduled November 7 hearing date for three weeks to give the state time to retain counsel and to prepare for the hearing.

As you might imagine, the Arizona Democratic Party has been burning up the "internets" with press releases following the events of the past two days as new evidence comes to light about the Tea-Publican conspiracy to "blow up" the AIRC: