Sonoran Alliance is trying to cover as many candidate debates and forums as our writers have time for. The following are some highlights from last Tuesday night’s forum with the Democrat candidates for County Attorney, put on by the League of Women Voters.

Democrat County Attorney candidates Tim Nelson, a partisan hack for Governor Napolitano who worked for the ACLU, and Gerald Richard, nicknamed “Amnesty Gerry” because he will not enforce the human smuggling law against illegal immigrants, participated in a forum last Tuesday night put on by the League of Women Voters. The major impression viewers got from watching the forum: crime rates have finally began decreasing again over the last few years in Maricopa County, after years of steadily increasing. If you want to see crime rates go back up again, vote for one of them.

Both were asked questions submitted by audience members, which focused on issues like illegal immigration, tough plea policies, and conviction rates. It became clear that the main difference between the two Democrats and current Republican County Attorney Andrew Thomas was on illegal immigration. Both candidates repeatedly said that they do not believe it should be a priority, and disagreed with Sheriff Joe’s enforcement of illegal immigration laws. Nelson and Richard criticized Thomas for prosecuting illegal immigrants for conspiring to smuggle themselves. Nelson said that Thomas gave Arpaio bad advice when he told him his crime suppression sweeps are legal.

Richard said he would not arrest any illegal immigrants for conspiring to smuggle themselves. Nelson said he might arrest some, but it would be put on the back burner. Richard said he would save the office $60 million by not prosecuting illegal immigrants for smuggling themselves. He didn’t say anything about the costs that are being saved under the current policy by sending illegal immigrants back to Mexico. The illegal immigrant population in Arizona has decreased by 18% over the last year, due primarily to the tough stance the legislature, Thomas and Sheriff Arpaio have taken on it (illegal immigrants have decreased by only 11% nationwide). That’s a lot fewer illegal immigrants using our taxpayer-funded hospital emergency rooms, public schools, and welfare benefits.

Nelson was asked if he agreed with his former boss Governor Napolitano in opposing a tough plea bargain policy of Thomas that sends felony repeat offenders to prison. Nelson stammered and said that couldn’t be true, and said he supported it. He was wrong about Napolitano. “Thomas enforced this policy even over the strong objections of Napolitano, who didn’t want to pay the extra prison costs.”

Nelson was all over the board on whether we need to put more criminals behind bars. At one point, he said we are locking up too many juvenile offenders. He said only the violent offenders should be locked up. This is disturbing. What about juvenile sex offenders, should they go free to molest again? Or habitual thieves, Nelson would just give them a slap on the wrist and some counseling?

Richard criticized Sheriff Arpaio for housing inmates in tents to save money. Richard said just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s right. This is a naïve view. Major cities in Maricopa County have seen their crime rates decrease over the past couple of years, in part because inmates don’t want to go back to Tent City. The ones that can’t control their criminal behavior leave the state to commit crimes elsewhere, where they’ll be coddled in jail.

Nelson claimed that he will improve the conviction rate at the county attorney’s office. He gave yet some more conflicting conviction rates (click here for other numbers he’s thrown around) He said that MCAO lost 1 in 5 jury trials in 2005, 1 in 4 in 2006 and almost 1 in 3 in 2007. This extreme statistic has been refuted by the Arizona Republic, which reported that the office wins 80% of trials with an overall conviction rate of 93% – it has not decreased since Thomas took office.

Nelson said that Thomas “doesn’t allow plea bargains.” This was yet another bizarre accusation. Thomas has toughened up plea policies, not discontinued them. Around 80% of defendants take the plea offered to them. Nelson sounded silly exaggerating.

Nelson accused Thomas of spending “millions of RICO dollars to promote himself.” If that is true, why hasn’t your average Maricopa County resident heard of Thomas? Educating the public about crime is required by the state RICO statute. Unlike Governor Napolitano, Thomas doesn’t put his photograph on billboards. Unlike Attorney General Terry Goddard, Thomas doesn’t put his photograph on the front of almost every single publication from his office (and there are a lot of them). Governor Napolitano has said that RICO funds should be used in the fight against illegal immigration. It was very unclear how Nelson would spend RICO funds instead.

Both candidates said they would bring back Briefbank sharing, allowing other county attorneys around the state to access briefs drafted by Maricopa County attorneys. Nelson said it was “unconscionable” of Thomas not to share the database. But neither candidate bothered to mention the reason why Thomas discontinued sharing the database – it was expensive and all county agencies had been asked to find ways to cut back expenses.

Nelson said he wants to create a new domestic violence court that will only hear domestic violence cases. This is a dumb idea. Not only are domestic violence crimes already prosecutable under regular assault laws, but singling this kind of violence out sends a message to women that they are victims and should look to the government to help them. By turning domestic violence into a cause, women become less likely to stand up for themselves and leave a bad situation. Plus with the current budget problems, the county can’t afford another court. Nelson didn’t give any reasons why domestic violence crimes should be in a separate court. Why should domestic violence be singled out, but not, say, robbery or arson? It’s a feel-good politically correct idea that does nothing but increase the victim mentality and raise costs.

Richard said he wants to focus on domestic violence within the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community. This just shows how far out of the mainstream he is.

In his closing statement, Nelson bragged that he was the only candidate running who’s led teams of lawyers to victory in high pressure situations. That didn’t make any sense. As County Attorney, that characterization could fit Thomas as well.

Richard said his #1 issue if elected would be the outstanding felony warrants. Governor Napolitano has used the number of outstanding felony warrants as a reason to criticize Sheriff Arpaio for his crime suppression roundups of illegal immigrants, claiming that Arpaio is neglecting warrants in favor of rounding up illegal immigrants. This is funny considering Phoenix Police, where Richard worked the past 16 years, has the most outstanding felony warrants of any law enforcement agency in Maricopa County, not the Sheriff’s Office. 12,000 are from Phoenix. Only 1,572 are from the Sheriff’s Office. If Richard let so many felony warrants sit when he was with Phoenix PD, why should we expect him to do any better as County Attorney?

Both candidates were disappointing, advocating a soft approach to crime and denying the link between illegal immigration and crime. If either one was elected, we can fully expect to see crime rates go back up. Fortunately, Thomas’s approval ratings are almost as high as Governor Napolitano’s. Maricopa County voters want a county attorney who reduces crime, not someone who tries to take a politically correct approach to crime that doesn’t work.