by Laurie Roberts

Arizona Republic

May 15, 2011

Take a bow, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

You, Max Wilson and Andy Kunasek and Fulton Brock.

Special accolades to Mary Rose Wilcox for a job exceedingly well done. Oh, it won’t rate the coveted Golden Rule in Government Award. I think we can rule that one out, based on her decision to trample the “do unto others” clause on her march to nearly a million dollars — of our money, that is.

But overall, applause all around. Hands down the best political botch job I have seen this year, and given that this is Arizona, that is saying something.

In the end Wilcox got her money, and Wilson, Kunasek and Brock got caught with their pants down. And the taxpayers? We got played.

As usual.

U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake on Friday ruled that we owe Wilcox $975,000 — plus whatever the cost of her legal fees for having to return to court to pry loose her bonanza.

On Monday, the supervisors were busy tugging on their Sansabelts, pondering how they got outmaneuvered and whether to appeal.

“I still think it requires a board member to sign off on it,” Kunasek said.

This particular piece of political theater began in December 2009 when Wilcox was charged with 42 criminal counts, stemming from allegations that she voted to grant public funds to Chicanos Por La Causa while obtaining loans from one of its subsidiaries. Three months later, a Pima County judge dismissed the charges, citing prosecutorial misconduct, but noted that he never considered the merits of the case against Wilcox.

Cue the pain, the suffering and the inevitable lawsuit against us.

Wilcox claimed that she suffered terribly, losing not only her restaurant but her Golden Rule in Government Award, an honor withdrawn by the Arizona InterFaith Movement after she was indicted.

She joined fellow Supervisor Don Stapley and seven others in filing $46 million worth of claims against us for mistreatment at the hands of then-County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

In June 2010, the supervisors — the three who weren’t preparing to sue us — authorized then-County Manager David Smith to settle the claims.

In February, Smith talked about paying only their legal fees.

Then suddenly last month, as one of his last acts before retiring, he began doling out big money: $500,000 to retired Judge Barbara Mundell and Stapley’s secretary, Susan Schuerman.

Then, the shocker: He offered Wilcox $975,000.

“David Smith was leaving and he didn’t care if he angered the board,” Scott Isham, Wilson’s chief of staff told me on Monday. “This was an ‘Fyou’ out the door.”

County Attorney Bill Montgomery advised that the Wilcox windfall would have to be approved by one of her colleagues and the county treasurer. When her colleagues refused, Wilcox headed to federal court, hoping to convince Wake that she didn’t need anyone’s approval to cash in on her pain and suffering.

On Friday, Wake agreed with her.

It was almost hard not to, given the anemic defense put on by Steve LaMar, the attorney hired to defend the county.

He acted as if he’d never heard of Montgomery’s legal opinion, which, in any case, the judge said “clearly doesn’t apply.”

And LaMar’s argument — that any outlay over $200,000 needed board approval — fell apart when Smith testified that $500,000 checks had already been cut to Mundell and Schuerman.

Bottom line: Wake found that the supervisors long ago handed Smith a blank check to settle the claims as he saw fit.

Kunasek told me on Monday he always believed that Wilcox’s settlement would have to be approved by at least one board member.

“If I want to get reimbursed for cab fare, I need to have another board member sign off on it,” he said.

Both he and Wilson signed affidavits noting that they advised Smith that any Wilcox settlement would be subject to board approval. They just didn’t show up in court Friday to defend that point of view — a fact duly noted by the judge. Meanwhile, Smith was there to testify that he doesn’t recall ever being told any such thing.

“My authority was to settle claims and, acting within that authority, that’s what I did,” he said.

It took Wake about two seconds to order us to show Mary Rose the money, and an elated Wilcox proclaimed that justice prevailed.

“I will rededicate myself to being the best county supervisor I can be,” she told a reporter.

Of course, the best county supervisor she could be would be one who declines to take money from the people who for decades have been electing her.

Yeah, that’ll happen.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8635.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2012/05/14/20120514roberts0515-supervisors-did-great-political-botch-job.html#ixzz1ux7Zm9Z5