Arizonans for Responsible Law Enforcement

Jeffrey Messing, the attorney hired by Maricopa County to investigate a complaint Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas's re-election campaign filed against the Arizona Democratic Party and an independent expenditure group, has decided not to pursue the matter further, he told PolitickerAZ.com Monday.

"We are closing the investigation and won't be proceeding further," Messing said.

The complaint alleged that a radio ad by the group Arizonans for Responsible Law Enforcement attacking Thomas during his re-election fight failed to fully disclose the source of the ad's funding, which the Thomas campaign said came directly from the Arizona Democratic Party.

The Arizona Democratic Party and Scott Palumbo, an attorney who headed Arizonans for Responsible Law Enforcement, have one more day to respond to a complaint filed by the re-election campaign of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, according to the independent counsel handling the complaint.

Jeffrey Messing, the independent counsel hired to look into the matter, told PolitickerAZ.com that he sent an information request to both Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director Maria Weeg and Scott Palumbo. The responses are due Friday.

The election lawyer who will be reviewing a complaint against the Arizona Democratic Party from the re-election campaign of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has yet to see the letter, he told PolitickerAZ.com Friday.

Jeffrey Messing is the outside counsel to whom the complaint, filed with Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne on Wednesday, has been referred. Messing, however, is yet to see it.

"I'd like to talk about it, but I haven't received it yet," said Messing. He said he was told he'd be handling the case but the documents haven't arrived.

Arizonans for Responsible Law Enforcement, a political committee pushing for the defeat of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is defending an ad that has sparked controversy and several legal actions, and accusing Thomas's office of trying to force it off the air.

According to the organization, Thomas's campaign served "cease and desist" letters to Phoenix radio stations demanding they stop airing an ad that criticizes Thomas, likening his tactics to those by the KGB.

"Tracking the websites you and your family visit?" says the announcer in the ad. "Arresting journalists in the dark of night in front of their families because of what they published? Passing out your tax dollars – like candy - to all his cronies? Sound like the KGB? The secret police? Castro’s Cuba? No. Sadly, it’s your current Maricopa County Attorney, Andrew Thomas."

The campaign of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is calling for Arizona elections director Karen Osborne to investigate the connection between the Arizona Democratic Party, a group known as Arizona Wins and Arizonans for Responsible Law Enforcement, which produced a radio spot against Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who is running for re-election against Democrat Tim Nelson.

"The Arizona Democratic Party has engaged in an apparent scheme intended to hide their involvement in the funding of a so-called independent expenditure by an organization named 'Arizonans for Responsible Law Enforcement,'" read the letter from Barnett Lotstein, writing on behalf of Thomas, to Osborne.

"It has come to our attention that the Arizona Democratic Party transferred campaign funds to an organization called 'Arizona Wins,' which in turn transferred campaign funds to 'Arizonans for Responsible Law Enforcement,' which produced a campaign commercial containing false and scurrilous accusations against County Attorney Thomas," continued Lotstein. "This commercial, which is presently being broadcast on numerous radio stations, does not reveal that the original source of the funding is the Arizona Democratic Party."