Feds fail again on bribery case

That the federal bribery case against former Corporation Commissioner Gary Pierce came a cropper isn’t a surprise, for two reasons.

The first is that it seemed a weak case from the beginning.

There were supposedly five members of the conspiracy. Four told one story. One told another, claiming a bribery transaction. There was little documentary evidence supporting the story of the one over that of the four.

Moreover, there was no quid pro quo event, where A tells B that he will do this if B does that. The bribery had to be inferred from behavior that had plausible alternative explanations.

The second reason that it wasn’t a surprise is that the federal government has a long history of local corruption investigations and cases that turn out to be a bust. That’s true nationally, but particularly true in Arizona.

Two stand out, because of the reaction of federal judges.

In a case decided in 2013, the federal government brought charges, bribery among them, against Tempe Councilman Ben Arredondo. The FBI had conducted a sting operation, posing as a de- veloper offering Arredondo sports tickets. Arredondo gave the tickets to others. He pleaded after the feds threatened to go after his wife. Federal Judge Frederick Martone gave Arredondo probation rather than prison, openly skeptical about the case and the resources the feds poured into it.

In a case decided in 2014, the feds charged legislative staffer John Mills with 15 counts of wire fraud. Mills was moving money out of then-Speaker Jim Weiers’ campaign account for personal use and then repaying it. A jury acquitted Mills on six of the counts. Judge James Teilborg dismissed eight others. He then sentenced Mills to just probation on the lone remaining count.

Martone and Teilborg are conservative judges with a strong sense of rectitude. That they seemed as offended by the actions of the feds as by the behavior of the alleged perps speaks volumes.

Then there is the case of former Attorney General Tom Horne. The FBI conducted a months-long investigation. It was supposedly about illegal coordina- tion with an independent expenditure campaign on his behalf. But the investigation extended well past the election, and investigators seemed more interested in salacious details about interpersonal affairs in Horne’s office than about any potential criminal activity.

The investigation resulted in no criminal charges. A civil charge of illegal coordination was made, but ultimately dismissed by the Arizona Supreme Court on procedural grounds.

There are many other local examples of federal corruption investigations that ended up going nowhere much.

The federal Department of Justice and the FBI put a high priority on local corruption. There are federalism grounds to find this objectionable.

The Constitution doesn’t give the federal government the role of policing the integrity of local officials. If it did, it probably never would have been ratified. There are practical objections as well. All of the alleged illegal behaviors in these and other cases violated state law as well. In fact, they fit state crimi- nal law much better than federal criminal law, which often had to be stretched to purportedly apply.

There might be a basis for federal involvement if state and local prosecutors were corrupt or part of the alleged illegal behavior. That’s not the case in Arizona. All of these cases should have been left up to state and local officials applying state law. They didn’t belong in federal court or the subject of a federal investigation.

The Pierce bribery case was reportedly part of a larger FBI investigation, presumably into the role Arizona Public Service Co. played in the 2014 Corporation Commission races. APS is widely suspected of having funneled large sums of money into independent expenditure campaigns by groups not required to report their donors.

If improprieties were committed, again, state law would fit much better than potential federal charges.

But, also again, there’s reason to doubt that this investigation will produce anything that will stick.

I believe that APS has played dumb politics for several years now. But all those involved were lawyered up the wazoo. The chances that they committed an indictable misstep are slim.

Don’t the feds have some truly federal crimes they could be investigating?

The Constitution doesn’t give the federal government the role of policing the integrity of local officials. If it did, it probably never would have been ratified.