More shenanigans in Maricopa County

Andrew Thomas, County Attorney for Maricopa County, Arizona, and co-leader of the county's ruling junta with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, has apparently been very busy spending taxpayer money on investigations of his political opponents. According to a report in the East Valley Tribune:

Thomas has paid Wilenchik and Bartness, the company he worked for immediately before taking office, at least $320,000 for legal services related to a range of opponents and high-profile political cases, according to county records.

Another firm, Iafrate & Rai, has been paid at least $35,000 to handle part of the county attorney’s legal work involving Phoenix New Times, the alternative newsweekly that on Friday was at the center of a public backlash against Thomas and Arpaio after sheriff’s deputies arrested and jailed its executives over violating grand jury secrecy rules.

Other political opponents of Thomas and Arpaio who have been the subject of legal work by outside counsel include immigration rights activists We Are America and the state’s top legal enforcement official, Attorney General Terry Goddard, as well as the West Valley View newspaper.

For a rabid anti-immigration demagogue, Thomas is doing a surprisingly good job of turning his county in a replica of a Central American banana republic.