Supervisors’ battle with Petersen could be long, ugly

This is going to get ugly. Maricopa County supervisors dug in their heels against county Assessor Paul Petersen, voting Friday not only to sustain his suspension, but to recommend his removal from office.

Supervisors say this is a matter of public trust. They say Petersen engaged in “woeful misconduct in office,” and that simply can’t be allowed to stand. Point taken.

Petersen is accused of flying pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to deliver their babies — courtesy of Arizona’s Medicaid system — before putting them up for adoption. He faces felony charges in three states related to the scheme.

But Petersen has refused to resign as assessor while he fights the charges. And on Friday, county supervisors doubled down on their decision to suspend him temporarily for a “neglect of duty” — setting up a fight that could last longer than Petersen’s time left in office.

A county investigation found that Petersen only spent about two days in the office per week before his arrest and that he used county computers to do his adoption work, which violates county technology policy.

A supplemental report filed Friday suggests that Petersen may have wiped his county-issued laptop after he was released from federal custody, which also may be illegal.

On the other hand, investigators had previously found that the time Petersen devoted to his assessor duties was consistent with that of other county elected officials. And that nothing arose that required his attention while he spent 20 days in jail.

If the case remains a simple question of neglect of duty, it’s hard to argue that Petersen neglected his elected duties when there were apparently few duties for him to do, other than to show up periodically and collect $77,000 a year for it.

Petersen has previously made it clear that he intends to fight the suspension in court, and that he’s willing to throw other elected officials under the bus to ensure he gets paid.

But it turns into a whole other ballgame if the county attorney agrees to convene a grand jury to consider “willful or corrupt misconduct in office,” particularly if there is enough evidence to suggest Petersen tried to destroy public records or tamper with evidence. It could then go to a jury, which would decide whether to remove Petersen from office.

It’s less clear how Petersen might respond to that legal challenge.

One thing is clear, though: Petersen’s days in office are numbered. There’s a primary election on Aug. 4 and a general election on Nov. 3.

Two Republicans – Rodney Glassman and James Russell Thimgan – and a Democrat – Aaron Connor – have filed statements of interest to run for the seat now held by Petersen, a Republican.

There’s no way, given all that has been alleged, that Petersen will survive that challenge.