Eight push law, order

County attorney candidates want to clean house

MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
Staff Writer

Since Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley has decided not to run for a fifth term and the chair in that office will soon be vacant, eight Valley attorneys have been scrambling for a chance to sit in the big comfy seat and be the new name on the desk.

But in this race the candidates seek more than the material possessions that come with the title of the county's top dog on law and order. They want to keep criminals at bay, reduce the number of plea agreements handled by the office, and reorganize the office to save taxpayer dollars.

Following are profiles of the candidates, in alphabetical order:

Michael Bailey (R)

Bailey has been a trial prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and has resigned from his position in order to run, per Arizona law.

He is a member of the Arizona Homicide Investi-gators Association and a regular faculty member with Prevent Child Abuse of Arizona.

"We need to focus a greater portion of our limited resources on property crimes and violent crimes, i.e., crimes that involve victims," Bailey said. "Presently this amounts to only half our caseload of 30,000 adult felonies per year. The other half consists of minor drug offenses and other simple cases. These cases can (and must) be prosecuted more efficiently."

"Although we must pro-secute crimes that involve people hurting themselves, our primary efforts must be on those crimes where people are victimizing others (property and violent crimes)."

Don Harris (D)

Harris previously served as Maricopa County Attorney. In 1976, after Moise Berger resigned from the position, Harris was appointed to finish the remaining 5 1/2-month term. His appointment came roughly a month after Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was killed by a car bomb. Mixed reaction remains about the way Harris handled the case, which was taken over by the Arizona attorney general's office. He has had his own Phoenix-based private prac-tice for more than 30 years.

Harris is a one-time volunteer lawyer for the Arizona Civil Liberties Union and NAACP life member. He is also a member of Temple Beth Israel and he has served on the synagogue's board of directors.

"Minimum mandatory sentencing on certain crimes, where the office will not negotiate a plea, will not deviate from the standard set up in the office ... that has to be changed."

Jerry Landau (R)

Landau has been a trial prosecutor with the MCAO and has resigned from his position in order to run, per Arizona law.

Landau has served nine years as a full-time trial attorney and 6 1/2 years as a division chief, supervising the division responsible for the prosecution of vehicle crimes and drugs. He spent 71/2 years as a special assistant county attorney, served as the MCAO's legislative liaison and was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney.

Landau is vice chairman of the National Safety Council Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs and a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Landau and his family are members of Har Zion Congregation and he has served on the synagogue's board of directors. He is also a charter member of the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center.

"I, of course, will emphasize the prosecution of violent and repeat offenders," Landau said. "I will also place strong emphasis on the prosecution, enforcement (and) prevention of identity theft, the fastest growing crime in the country."

Tom McCauley (R)

McCauley has served as a prosecutor with the MCAO and in its Domestic Violence and Juvenile Crimes units. He has also worked with the Arizona Game and Fish Depart-ment. He now practices civil litigation with the Hassett Law Firm in Phoenix with a specialty in liability defense.

He is active with the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Chicanos por la Causa Small Business Loan Committee, End Stalking in America, and the ASU Domestic Violence Shelter.

"I watched the effec-tiveness and efficiency of the office decline to the point where it now has the highest turnover rate, lowest experience level and lowest morale at any time in recent memory," McCauley said, adding that he would work to turn that around.

"I would focus on hiring and retailing qualified, ex-perienced prosecutors. I would require that every prosecutor, including super-visors, carry a caseload."

Andrew Pacheco (R)

Pacheco has served as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, as an Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force prosecutor, a special assis-tant attorney general, and he has been deputized as a special deputy United States Marshal. He has also served as a MCAO prosecutor.

"When I am the Maricopa County Attorney, the office will prioritize proactive law enforcement," he said. "I plan to train prosecutors and police officers to develop prosecution plans where whole groups of criminals are targeted and brought to justice. One of the areas that I will concentrate on immediately (is) crimes associated with illegal immigration."

Rick Poster (R)

Poster served for nearly three years as a criminal prosecutor in Michigan, representing several counties at civil commitment hear-ings. He also served for five years as a criminal pros-ecutor for the MCAO and is licensed to practice in federal court.

Poster now practices criminal law with Philips & Associates.

He was active in the Young Men's Christian Association and has taught general education degree classes.

"I plan to completely reorganize the office to save millions in taxpayer dollars; eliminate the current policy manuals and permit greater latitude in discretion; and implement an equity pay program to stop the high turnover ... allow part-time prose-utors, job sharing, and telecommuting; (and) start a day care program."

Andrew Thomas (R)

Thomas has served as a deputy county attorney, assistant attorney general, and deputy counsel and criminal justice policy adviser to the governor. He has also worked as a special assistant to the director of the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Thomas, a former legal assistant for the NAACP's Boston office, is a precinct committeeman. He is a member of the National Rifle Association and the Knights of Columbus.

"I intend to emphasize taking more cases to trial with fewer plea bargains in cases involving the most serious offenses, such as child molestation and armed robbery," he said. "I also intend to implement in-centives to create incentives to reduce the turnover rate of attorneys. Prosecutors keep predators off our streets and inhibit their ability to further prey on our community."

Jonathan Warshaw (D)

Warshaw served for four years as a Mesa Police Department officer, three years as deputy county attorney and trial prosecutor for MCAO, and as a volunteer reserve officer for the Phoenix Police Department.

Warshaw is a member of the NAACP, League of United Latin American Citizens, Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, Neighborhood Activists Inter-linked Empowerment Movement, Higley Groves West Home Owners Asso-ciation and Sunnyslope Village Alliance. Warshaw is also a member of the Valley Jewish community.

"My top three priorities will be to: one, restore 'equal justice' to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. No one will be given special treatment because of who they are, who they know, or what zip code they live in. Two, target the most violent and dangerous criminals first. Three, work with community leaders to help make all of our neighborhoods safe and livable, not just those that can afford to put up walls and gates while hiring private police officers," Warshaw said.

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