TPMMuckraker Andrew Thomas
Arizona
The Man Behind Arizona's Anti-Ethnic Studies Law
Justin Elliott | May 13, 2010, 4:09PM
Arizona state Superintendent Tom Horne
Arizona's new law restricting ethnic studies is the brainchild of the state's ambitious top education official, Tom Horne, who is locked in a Republican primary for Attorney General against a prominent ally of hardline Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Horne, the state's superintendent of public instruction since 2002, has long sought to kill the Tucson school district's ethnic studies classes, including La Raza studies -- and he wrote the bill to target that single program. "It's just like the old South, and it's long past time that we prohibited it," he has said of ethnic studies classes that, he claims, teach Hispanics to resent whites.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (64) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (10)Topics: Andrew Thomas, Arizona, Jan Brewer, Joe Arpaio, Republicans, Tom Horne
Joe Arpaio
In Face-Saving Move, Arpaio Withdraws Lawsuit Against Supervisors
Zachary Roth | March 12, 2010, 1:54PM
Sheriff Joe Arpaio
In what looks like a last-ditch effort to save face, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has dropped the lawsuit that had accused local county supervisors and others of being part of a criminal enterprise, saying the U.S. Justice Department has agreed to look into the allegations.
At a press conference yesterday, the hardline anti-illegal-immigration sheriff and his allies -- county prosecutor Andrew Thomas, and Robert Driscoll, the former Bush DOJ lawyer hired last year by the sheriff's office -- maintained that the move represented a "victory," because all they were seeking was a full investigation of the allegations, something, they say, that the Justice Department's Public Integrity section has pledged to conduct.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (6) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Andrew Thomas, Bob Driscoll, Immigration, Joe Arpaio, Justice Department
Joe Arpaio
'Pure Intimidation': Arpaio Deputies Question Judges' Assistants In Their Homes
Zachary Roth | December 16, 2009, 1:45PM
Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has stepped up his brazen campaign to target the local judiciary.
Deputies of the Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff went to the homes of assistants to several Superior Court judges, to try to interview them about what Sheriff Joe has asserted -- with little evidence -- is corruption on the part of their bosses, reports the Phoenix New Times.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (28) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Andrew Thomas, Gary Donahoe, Joe Arpaio
Joe Arpaio
In Boldest Move Yet, Arpaio And Ally Charge Judge With Bribery, Despite Lack Of Evidence
Zachary Roth | December 11, 2009, 1:27PM
Sheriff Joe Arpaio
For a while now, there's been plenty of evidence of Sheriff Joe Arpaio abusing his law enforcement powers to target political enemies. Indeed, Justice Department investigators are said to have been looking into the issue for the last year.
But Arpaio may now have taken things into a whole new realm. This week, the top cop for Maricopa County, Arizona, who has used media-friendly stunts to gain a national reputation as a law-and-order zealot and bete noir of illegal immigrants, announced the filing of a criminal complaint against his latest target: a judge who's involved in several of the controversial cases Sheriff Joe has helped bring.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (75) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (21)Topics: Andrew Thomas, Don Stapley, Gary Donahoe, Immigration, Joe Arpaio, Justice Department
Joe Arpaio
Not So Fast! DC GOP Power Couple Roadblocked On Arpaio-Linked Case
Zachary Roth | October 20, 2009, 4:52PM
Republican lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing
The effort by a conservative county prosecutor in Arizona to hire a big-name Washington lawyer power couple to go after a local official has hit a roadblock.
Earlier this month, we told you how Maricopa county prosecutor Andrew Thomas, working closely with the notorious anti-immigrant sheriff Joe Arpaio, had hired Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, a famed Republican husband-and-wife team, to investigate a local county official -- and political antagonist of both Thomas and Arpaio -- on campaign-finance charges.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (9) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: Andrew Thomas, Don Stapley, Joe Arpaio, Joseph diGenova, Victoria Toensing
Joe Arpaio
DiGenova -- Clad In Cowboy Boots -- And Toensing Give AZ Presser, Then Meet With Arpaio
Zachary Roth | October 9, 2009, 10:05AM
Republican lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing
We've gotten more detail on that press conference that Washington GOP lawyers Joesph diGenova and Victoria Toensing held in Phoenix yesterday, to talk about their hiring as special prosecutors probing Don Stapley, a Maricopa County official whose high-profile arrest by deputies of Sheriff Joe Arpaio caused a stir recently.
In an apparent effort to blend in, reports the Phoenix New Times, diGenova wore cowboy boots. But aside from that, the limelight-seeking power couple apparently didn't reveal too much.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (9) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Andrew Thomas, Don Stapley, Joe Arpaio, Joseph diGenova, Victoria Toensing
Joe Arpaio
Lights, Camera, Action: DC Power Couple Jet Into Arizona For Stapley Presser
Zachary Roth | October 8, 2009, 6:12PM
Republican lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing
Well, that didn't take long...
Just three days after the news was announced that they've been hired to probe campaign finance allegations against a heretofore obscure Arizona county supervisor, Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing went before the cameras in Maricopa County.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (3) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Andrew Thomas, Immigration, Joe Arpaio, Joseph diGenova, Media, Victoria Toensing
Joe Arpaio
'America's Toughest Sheriff' Teams With Beltway GOP Power Couple In 'Inquisition' Of Arizona Official
Zachary Roth | October 7, 2009, 3:41PM
Republican lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing
Notorious anti-immigrant sheriff Joe Arpaio is working with a husband-and-wife GOP lawyer team that was one of Bill Clinton's biggest tormentors during the 90s, to go after a local Arizona official. But critics are calling the effort a politically motivated fishing expedition. And the defense lawyer on the case knows something about politicized justice: he was one of the US attorneys improperly fired by Alberto Gonzales.
Here's the back-story. It's got a few twists and turns. But stay with us -- it's worth it:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (35) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (6)Topics: Alberto Gonzales, Andrew Thomas, Bill Clinton, DOJ Office Of The Inspector General, Don Stapley, Immigration, Joe Arpaio, Joseph diGenova, Justice Department, Paul Charlton, U.S. Attorneys, Victoria Toensing
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