Thread: Arpaio`s probe of panel stirs questions

Arpaio's probe of panel stirs questions
Sheriff targets agency at odds with his donor
100 commentsby Yvonne Wingett and JJ Hensley - Jun. 26, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office has launched an investigation into the state Department of Racing, which has been investigating the business dealings of an Arpaio campaign fundraiser.

It is the third time in six months that Arpaio's office has pursued investigations into public officials or agencies that have been at odds with him or his policies, but it appears to be the first in which his office has targeted an agency that is at odds with a key financial contributor.

Arpaio's office is seeking to determine whether the Racing Department broke procurement laws by hiring two people to investigate Turf Paradise racetrack owner Jerry Simms, an Arpaio supporter who has had long-running disputes with the department. Sheriff's officials also are looking into whether it was legal for the department to bill Turf Paradise $61,000 for costs related to the track's operating permit.
Simms declined to comment and referred calls to his attorney, Gerald Alston, who said he asked Arpaio to investigate after being turned down by two other state agencies.

Arpaio said that the inquiry is justified and that his office is not giving special treatment to a campaign contributor, though he did not know details of the investigation.

"No one is going to buy me and try to get special attention because they gave me money," he said. "We have a lot of investigations going on involving possible corruption."

However, government experts say such an investigation involving a campaign contributor creates an appearance of conflict that public officials should try to avoid.

"Clearly, there's an appearance of impropriety there," said Grant Woods, a lawyer and former Arizona attorney general who did not know the specifics the investigation. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but you always want to avoid that because that lessens public confidence in your investigation. You could have somebody else investigate it; there's lots of other options. There's sheriff's departments from all over the state."

Arpaio's relationship with a donor typically would have caused the Sheriff's Office to step aside and send the case to another jurisdiction to maintain the integrity of the investigation, said Steve Carpinelli, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Integrity. Local expert Tim Delaney agreed.

"It doesn't pass the smell test," said Delaney, founder of the Center for Leadership, Ethics & Public Service, a Phoenix think tank. "If you have other agencies within the appropriate jurisdiction looking into this and signing off (that no problems were found), for any local official to elbow in . . . when a direct beneficiary of this would be one of the sheriff's key fundraisers, it does raise my eyebrows."


A tip is received

Capt. Paul Chagolla, a sheriff's spokesman, said the investigation came after a credible tip from Alston, which indicated that the Racing Department was "inappropriately holding up matters involving Turf Paradise business."

Chagolla also said the Sheriff's Office is obligated to look into any allegations of corruption. Asked why the Sheriff's Office decided to take the investigation after two other agencies had passed, Chagolla said, "I can only reiterate what I already said: Once the allegation was brought to the Sheriff's Office, we were obligated to take a look at it. We are an independent agency."

The state Auditor General's Office and the Department of Administration looked into the hiring process for the two investigators and approved it. Records show that each agency found no grounds for an investigation because the Racing Department had followed state procurement codes.

Still, Alston disagreed and took the matter to the state Attorney General's Office, which could not investigate the case because its attorneys represent the Racing Department.

Alston said he still believed the Turf Paradise matter wasn't getting the attention it deserved, so he went to the Sheriff's Office.

"They were my last resort; they weren't my first resort," Alston said of Arpaio's investigators. "I'm not privy to whatever relationship Mr. Simms might have with the sheriff."


Donations, investigations

Simms, his family members and people connected to the racetrack donated more than $4,000 to Arpaio's re-election campaign, according to the most recent filings with the Maricopa County Recorder's Office. Simms hosted a fundraiser for Arpaio, he told The Republic in a previous interview, and according to the filings, he gave the sheriff $370, close to the $390 maximum allowed by law, during the first filing period.

Several other Simms family members and Turf Paradise officials contributed the maximum $390. Arpaio received a total of about $300,000 in donations from all his contributors during the first campaign-filing period. Records show that Alston also contributed $390 to Arpaio's campaign.

The Racing Department inquiry is just one of several investigations Arpaio has launched into other government agencies.

One focuses on Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon's allegations of racial profiling by the Sheriff's Office. Two weeks ago, deputies scanned more than 10,000 pages from the Mayor's Office through a public-records request.

A second investigation centers on internal communications of Superior Court judges and staff related to a dispute over whether Arpaio could limit jail-visitation hours in an attempt to cut costs.

Sheriff's officials said all the investigations are in the early stages. In the past, Arpaio has announced high-profile investigations of Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and the Maricopa Community Colleges. So far, neither has resulted in any action.


Racing investigation

The Racing Department and Simms have had a string of conflicts since Simms bought the track at 19th Avenue and Bell Road, along with 277 acres, for $53 million about eight years ago. In 2001, the department refused to renew Simms' license partly based on allegations related to his history of improper dealings with a California lawmaker and a California regulatory official. Simms appealed, and the department issued a license.

In spring 2007, the Racing Department launched an investigation into Turf Paradise's bookkeeping office, which serves as a bank for people who do business at the track.

The investigation started after racing officials got a reliable tip about "financial inconsistencies," said Racing Department Director Geoffrey Gonsher, who would not elaborate on the ongoing inquiry.

Also last year, Simms' license came up for renewal. It was the first time he had been through the more rigorous application process that was put into place after Gonsher took over the department five years ago.

The agency and Turf Paradise had a lingering dispute from a permit-renewal process in 2006. Then, the department hired Linda Bergevin, a forensic investigator and former Racing Department special-investigations manager, and Lawrence Field, a certified public accountant, to review Simms' background and the racetrack's property, operations and finances.

Racing officials asked the state Administration Department for permission to contract with the two without advertising the jobs to others, a process that is fairly common among government agencies. Each was knowledgeable about Turf Paradise, according to procurement records, and it could have cost more time and money to hire people who didn't have that background.

The work by Bergevin and Field came to about $61,000, which the Racing Department asked Turf Paradise to reimburse, a policy the department implemented years ago. Turf Paradise refused, saying the track had been treated unfairly, records showed.

Alston sent letters to the state auditor general and the governor's attorney, saying Gonsher may have broken state procurement laws by hiring Bergevin and Field without publicly advertising the jobs. Alston also questioned the legality of Gonsher instructing Turf Paradise to pay the investigators directly. Turf Paradise sued the state over the fees in August. The case is pending.

In September, the Racing Department gave Simms a "conditional approval" of a license, despite ongoing regulatory issues. The license allowed Turf Paradise to remain open but required officials immediately to comply with several health and safety regulations. Many of those issues have not been fixed, Gonsher said. Shortly after, Turf Paradise paid the disputed $61,000.

Problems surfaced again earlier this year when the Racing Department revoked licenses of more than 100 immigrants working as grooms and exercisers at Turf Paradise who could not prove legal status.

On March 25, two sheriff's deputies hand-delivered a public-records request to Gonsher asking for documents related to the process used to hire Bergevin and Field, according to records obtained by The Republic.

Alston, Simms' attorney, said he believes Gonsher was holding Turf Paradise to standards higher than other businesses.

"In general, in all the time that he was there, we saw very little evidence that he was interested in promoting Thoroughbred racing or in helping Turf Paradise be successful," Alston said. "In all the time he's been there, it's been a running battle ... and we've never been cited with one thing."

Gonsher's job as director of the Racing Department is to regulate racing businesses. The department licenses about 10,000 people who work in the industry, from grooms to trainers to office executives.

Gonsher, who plans to retire in July, said Turf Paradise has always been treated fairly and, over the years, has been cited for numerous safety and property issues by Phoenix and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

In a motion to dismiss Turf Paradise's claim against the Racing Department, the Attorney General's Office supported the department's payment procedures. The Administration Department also approved the hiring process.

Late last month, the Racing Department's findings were forwarded to the state Department of Financial Institutions and the Attorney General's Office for them to determine if laws were broken. Officials with both agencies declined to comment, citing attorney-client privilege.








http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... g0626.html

More power to you, Joe.