PHOENIX, ARIZONA. AUGUST 16, 2010. Late Friday the Arizona Corporation Commission confirmed in a letter that it has launched an investigation into Attorney General candidate Tom Horne. Horne failed to disclose his bankruptcy on numerous records, stemming from a life-time ban from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors.
The letter can be viewed here. If found guilty, and Horne has already admitted his failure to disclose the bankruptcies as required by Arizona law, it would be a felony, prohibiting his further service as State Superintendent of Public Instruction or Attorney General.
That’s not the only trouble Horne faces. The Arizona Daily Star reported Saturday on Horne’s hiring, and strange defense, of a confessed embezzler – Donald Houde – that he has put in charge of some of the Arizona Department of Education’s most sensitive records. The article can be read here.
Law enforcement leaders supporting Thomas are: Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh, Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan, Graham County Sheriff P.J. Allred,Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith, Peoria Police Officers Association, Phoenix Law Enforcement Association and Arizona Police Association.
Former Arizona Attorney General and NRA President Bob Corbin has also weighed in to support Thomas, as has the NRA itself. Other conservative leaders such as U.S. Congressman Trent Franks and former Congressman and anti-illegal immigration hawk Tom Tancredohave endorsed Thomas too. Tancredo even withdrew his endorsement of Tom Horne to support Thomas. Arizona Right to Life supports Thomas as well, who has repeatedly criticized Horne for his support of taxpayer-funded abortion policies while in the State Legislature.
Thomas has a track record of successfully defending illegal immigration crackdowns in our courts, including his successful efforts to prosecute illegal immigrants for conspiring to violate the state’s human-smuggling law and to defend Prop 200′s voter ID requirements and the employer-sanctions law, which he defended along with the Attorney General’s Office.
If elected Attorney General Thomas has pledged to expand that office’s prosecutions of illegal immigrants under the state’s human smuggling laws. The office is not currently pursuing such prosecutions.
Thomas is married with four children. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Prior to serving as Maricopa County Attorney, Thomas served as an assistant attorney general for Arizona, deputy counsel and criminal justice policy advisor to the Governor, special assistant to the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, and a deputy county attorney.
For more information about Andrew Thomas, please go to www.ThomasforArizona.com.
This is a perfect example of Thomas distorting the truth in order to make something of nothing!
The “letter” is a reply to a request to file a complaint by Barnett Lotstein, who was fired by Romley. It is nothing more than instructions of what will follow if a complaint is filed by a citizen…NOT an ACC initiated effort at all.
In fact, the letter says, normally they would have just called to explain the process but having no number had to send a letter.
So, they use it to make stuff up in hopes of swaying public opinion.
How convenient. How slimy. How unethical. How dishonest. How classic Andy Thomas.
Since Lotstein doesn’t have the county supplied car and gas anymore, the double dip 6-figure income, or the special prosecutorial privileges he enjoyed under Andy, looks like he is trying to gain favor in hopes of landing a job with the AG. Or…is it sour grapes after being fired by Romley?
Either way, it’s not gonna happen. Can’t be the AG if you are disbarred or in the federal pen.
Barry Young on KFYI this morning spent nearly 30 minutes talking about how BAD of an idea it would be to vote for Thomas.
Oh, thank goodness! I’m sure Tom Horne felt so alone and unloved as the last remaining political opponent of Andy Thomas who Andy wasn’t trying to investigate for something.
Now that Andy has reached this milestone, he’ll soon get a shiny set of steak knives.
So let me understand this. If I have a beef with someone, I might call a government agency. That agency sends me a letter acknowledging my call and promising to follow up. That becomes an “investigation.” What’s to stop me from calling the government to complain about my enemies and then claiming they are being “investigated” as a result? That’s exactly what’s happening here. This is a typical end-of-campaign stunt.
This should be easy for the corp com.
Horne declared bankruptcy then lied about it.
Romley is a shallow and power hungry popinjay. He fired Lotstein because he grew tired of Romley’s chronic sycophantic and obnoxious behavior. As for Horne, he has not been effective as school superintendant so why would we put him in charge of such an important position? He has also distanced himself from the core principles of the republican party, because he wanted to get votes from all sides.
Desperate lies from a desperate candidate posted on a desperate blog.
20/30 GOP:
Who gives a rip what Barry Young says. He wants to build a mosque at Ground Zero. I’m more interested in what Arpaio, Pearce, Babeu and Dever say. They all say vote for Thomas.
Last I checked Andy was up by 25 points over Horne in the Business journal pole. Better sue them Tom! You certainly can’t win on merit.
Yep, it’s sure “merit” that Thomas is running on, eh?
What, you mean this one?
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/poll/index.html?poll_id=32841
Currently at 9%, but as Tony K says:
“This poll is not scientific”
(P.S. “p-o-l-l”)
Good Lord.
Read the press release.
Then, read the letter.
This sort of sloppiness is exactly why we do NOT want Andrew Thomas for AG!
The press release is misleading tripe that says that the ACC has “launched an investigation”.
The LETTER that the press release is based on is basically a form letter that mildly chastises Thomas for not including his phone number, instructions as how to fill out a form, and a warning that the ACC is going to take a very long time before doing anything, if it even does anything at all.
I would not mind seeing a candidate with the political views of Andrew Thomas and the legal skills of Tom Horne. Unfortunately, we don’t have that. Still, I will take the slightly more moderate but supremely competent and ethical Horne over the out-of-control, sloppy lawyer Thomas in this election.
Experience is enough for me. That’s why I’m voting for Thomas & Montgomery.
The letter is addressed to Barnett Lotstein not Andrew Thomas. And… reading the letter carefully: “The documents that you assert contain false information were filed with the Corporations Division, and it is the Corporations Division that typically investigates such allegations.” This means specific action has in fact been taken toward an investigation. Goodness, there is more exaggerating contained in complaints about Thomas than any exaggerating he commits himself.