News
Candidate Events
Tuesday, August 19th-6:00 pm- Gerald speaks at the East Valley meeting of Progressive Democrats of America, held at Molly Brannigans, 1744 S. Val Vista, Mesa.
Wednesday, August 20th-11:00 am- Live Radio Interview on KJZZ (NPR).
Wednesday, August 20th- 12 Noon- Debate with Tim Nelson at Democratic Nucleus Club, Arizona Country Club, 57th Place and Thomas Road
Democratic candidates for
county attorney
make their case
Each week leading up to the Sept. 2 primary election, The Republic will pose a question to the two Democratic candidates, Tim Nelson and Gerald Richard, who are vying to face Republican incumbent Andrew Thomas in the Maricopa County attorney’s race.
This weeks’ question: Why are you the better candidate to challenge Thomas?
Gerald Richard: “I believe voters are demanding professional law enforcement, not political posturing, from the County Attorney’s Office.
I am a law enforcement professional with 15 years of executive level experience at the Phoenix Police Department. I have administered budgets of more than $130 million. I have provided legal advice to four different police chiefs in the fifth-largest city in the U.S. I have worked side-by-side with the Valley’s police agencies.
I have fought crime from the streets to the courtrooms. I am the only candidate - Democrat, Republican or Libertarian - who has prosecuted felony criminal cases as a deputy Maricopa County attorney. I have worked with thousands of victims and witnesses.
My appeal extends beyond the Democratic Party. I have been endorsed by prominent Republicans, including former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton and former Department of Public Safety Director Dennis Garrett. I have the credibility to go toe-to-toe with County Attorney Andrew Thomas over his publicly-funded political grandstanding.
I have deep roots in this community. I have lived here all my adult life. I am a graduate of the Arizona State University College of Law and a doctoral candidate (in educational leadership) at Northern Arizona University. I created the Phoenix Police Department citizen advisory boards. My credibility with our many diverse communities gives me an advantage that none of my opponents can match.
I know what it takes to keep the citizens of Maricopa County safe. I have the right kind of experience and leadership skills to restore professional criminal prosecution to the County Attorney’s Office.
- Yvonne Wingett
Ex-Phoenix police
administrator
touts his
on-the-street experience
by Yvonne Wingett - Aug. 8, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Gerald Richard sees himself as the people’s prosecutor, a county attorney who would put “prosecution over politics.”
Dressed in a black suit with a gold tie - the colors of his campaign and college fraternity - he talked about the need for a fresh leader at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
Richard believes he’s that leader.
The Democrat is crisscrossing the county to introduce himself and lay out his plan.
He promises voters that he will improve conviction rates, strengthen relationships with law-enforcement agencies and put an end to an immigration-related policy to hold and prosecute undocumented immigrants. He said he will reform the office to better train attorneys and give them more discretion to better work cases.
He’s confident they’ll listen. So confident that he gave up his job in March, three years short of being eligible for retirement from Phoenix police, where he was the director of the department’s administrative-support division.
In the Sept. 2 primary election, he faces attorney Tim Nelson, former general counsel to Gov. Janet Napolitano. In six months, Nelson has raised about $207,000 for this race, far more than Richard’s $49,000.
The winner will go head-to-head with Republican incumbent Andrew Thomas in the Nov. 4 general election. Thomas is the tough guy on illegal immigration, the man with name identification, and the man with the most money, about $240,000 so far.
Money in this race is crucial. Although Richard trails, checks come in every day, he says. Richard figures Nelson’s supporters will redirect financial support to him if he defeats Nelson in the primary.
Richard believes he has the right resume to lead an office of 900-plus employees, the right personality to reach out with other agencies and the right prosecutorial background to unseat Thomas.
It’s been more than three decades since voters put a Democrat in this office.
“I’ve been the one that’s been right there in the trenches, from the officers to the courtroom, as a prosecutor,” said Richard, 53, of Ahwatukee. “I’m the best man for this job.”
The resume
Richard has been in law enforcement for 22 years and says he has the kind of on-the-street experience that is most important for the job.
He spent most of his career, about 19 years, working as a civilian in various positions with Phoenix police. For the past four years, Richard ran the administrative-support division, where he oversaw a budget of $130 million and supervised hundreds of employees. He says that management experience has prepared him to oversee the County Attorney’s Office of 966 employees, including 357 attorneys.
In that role, he also supervised the department’s legal unit, where he put his law degree to work. He was responsible for all of the department’s civil and criminal legal matters. He advised top brass and city attorneys on how to proceed whenever there was a lawsuit against the department. When cops had to testify, he prepped them for trial.
Former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Paul Charlton worked with Richard back in his early days with the Phoenix Police Department. Richard was “bright and even-keeled,” the pair became friends, and Charlton blessed his run for county attorney.
“It takes an individual who understands the basic premise of what’s right, not to do what’s political, and he understands that,” said Charlton, now a partner with Gallagher & Kennedy. “He’s been a prosecutor before. He’s been in law enforcement for most of his career. The learning curve is going to be very quick for him. He’ll be able to walk into that office and know what it needs.”
Over the years, Richard also played a major role in helping police forge partnerships with the community. In the Valley, he was at the leading edge of a national movement known as community policing, empowering residents to be the eyes and ears for police.
He helped create citizen advisory boards for Hispanics, Muslims, African-Americans, Jews, gays and lesbians, youths, seniors and others, to help those communities better understand how police officers work and why citizen input is critical.
Before his time with the police, Richard worked as a deputy county attorney from 1986 to 1988. There, he worked his way from paralegal to the Specialized Crimes Division, where he was assigned to the Organized Crime Bureau.
He was responsible for the prosecution of street gangs and occult criminal activity, handing cases that involved the desecration of gravesites and cemeteries.
“The cases I am accustomed to prosecuting are those that involve perverts crawling through your window, molesting your children, sexually assaulting you and then willing to kill you in the event that you try to defend yourself,” he said. “That is what the county attorney is all about. I’ve said over and over again. Tim (Nelson) would probably make a great attorney general, but when it comes to the County Attorney’s Office, I’ve been the one that’s been in the trenches.”
A vision
Richard is spreading his vision for the office to Kiwanis clubs, Latino groups and Block Watch associations. He’s meeting with voters from Wickenburg to Gilbert. One of Richard’s key goals is to fill the County Attorney’s Office with the best attorneys in the state within four years; the best in the nation in eight. He plans to do that by boosting salaries and giving lawyers more discretion to work cases.
On immigration, Richard says he would not use the state’s human-smuggling law to prosecute people being smuggled into the state as conspirators if they are not suspected of a crime.
Citing published estimates, he says it costs an average of $13,500 to put a person through the county’s criminal-justice system - money that could be better spent on other public-safety measures. To cut costs, Richard said he would immediately send undocumented immigrants who have not committed state crimes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.
“If they commit a state crime, that means I will prosecute you here, I will keep you here, and when it comes time to go home, I will take you back to wherever you’re from,” he said. “I lost three out of my 10 officers with Phoenix P.D. (because of) individuals who went across the border and came (back) and killed. I don’t ever want to see that again.” Three of the last 10 murdered Phoenix officers were killed by people born outside of the U.S.
Richard promises to cut spending on private attorneys and says he will form a committee to assess each firm’s expertise to make sure the most qualified lawyers are receiving contracts to represent the county.
Richard also says he would use his long list of contacts within law enforcement to reach out and improve relationships with the County Attorney’s Office.
He would use his friendly personality to boost morale among employees, increase training for attorneys and give them more authority to better work cases.
Richard also says he would “stop the wasteful spending” of RICO funds seized in racketeering cases on self-promotional ads. He pledged he would never include his photo or name on one.
Richard also wants to focus on prosecuting cases involving abuse of the elderly and on programs that could help turn around young offenders.
“We deserve more,” he says. “My entire theme is saving lives and saving money. I’m willing to be the one to step up to do it.”
Reach the reporter at 602-444-4712 or yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com.
Read Gerald’s responses to the Arizona Republic candidate questionnaire at:
Ahwatukee Foothills News
Richard hopes experience
counts in
county attorney race
July 10, 2008 - 4:40PM
On paper, the Ahwatukee Foothills Democrat should easily be elected the next Maricopa County Attorney.
Gerald Richard has experience prosecuting criminals in that office, including going after organized crime and gangs. From there he went to the Phoenix Police Department where he provided legal advice for complex criminal investigations, taught search and seizure rules, and moved up the ladder to overseeing a $67 million budget as director of the Legal Support Division, where he managed the Investigations Unit.
Richard pushed the creation of a citizen’s advisory board for the Phoenix police and he would push the same thing as county attorney. And he would increase the training for attorneys from the current three-and-a-half days back to the 30 days a year it was four years ago.
“I’ve got 22 years of law enforcement experience and I want to see a change,” said Richard, a resident of Ahwatukee Foothills since 1997.
He wants to see more creative prosecution and more emphasis on crime prevention.
But while Richard has the prosecutor, law enforcement and administrative experience on paper, he’s the only one of the three who has tried felony defendants before a jury, the odds are long.
Incumbent Republican Andrew Thomas, while having less prosecutorial experience than Richard, has high approval ratings as he focuses on prosecution of illegal immigrants and his policy that defendants can’t plea bargain the most serious charge against them. Trial schedules have become clogged under his administration and training for prosecutors has been reduced, but that hasn’t hurt his approval ratings.
In an April poll by KAET and Arizona State University, show Thomas was rated good or excellent by 69 percent of the respondents who had an opinion.
And before Richard can even face off against Thomas in the November general election he must first defeat fellow Democrat Tim Nelson in the Sept. 2 primary election.
“My background and experience clearly surpasses that of Tim (Nelson),” Richard said.
Nelson has the backing of Gov. Janet Napolitano, Congressman Harry Mitchell and most of the Democratic establishment, which will make him a tough candidate to beat, despite having no criminal prosecutor experience.
Nelson has been Napolitano’s general counsel and advisor on legal issues, both in the governor’s office and before when she was attorney general where he helped negotiate the final $217 million tobacco settlement.
Voters will be able to decide for themselves Monday night when public television’s KAET Channel 8 will hold a televised debate between the two Democrats, from 7 to 7:30 p.m.
The debates come just before voters will begin receiving early ballots in the mail.
Lawmakers moved the primary election day to Sept. 2, to provide more time between the primary and general election, in case of recounts or questions. That means the campaign will go into high gear as early voting begins around the end of July.
Despite the long odds, Richard is confident.
“It will be like Rocky Balboa coming back,” he said.
Contact writer: (480) 898-7914 or dmurphy@ahwatukee.com.
East Valley Tribune
July 9, 2008 - 10:25AM
Democratic county attorney hopefuls square off in Tempe
Nick R. Martin, Tribune
The two Democrats campaigning to become the Valley’s chief prosecutor found themselves at home and at the top of their games Tuesday night in front of a packed crowd in Tempe, the stronghold of Democratic politics in the East Valley.
It was the first time Gerald Richard and Tim Nelson took to a debate in the race, which has churned on since late last year, and each candidate found his own niche during the matchup.
Richard, a former high-ranking Phoenix police administrator, tried to show that the stage belonged to him from the start. Winning a coin toss to begin the forum, he opened by turning down the chance to use a microphone, and instead used just his voice to reach the large audience at Changing Hands Bookstore.
He began his remarks with a story about going to school at Arizona State University in 1973 on a track scholarship and spending hours reading and browsing books at the very place where the debate was being held.
“I grew up at Changing Hands,” he said. And with that, the charismatic attorney went on to lay out his resume, including two years as a prosecutor in the mid-1980s and his efforts leading a division of the Phoenix Police Department.
Richard proved to be the more engaging speaker of the night, at times joking with the audience.
At one point, Richard told a story about a 15-year-old boy named “Little T” who ran away from home and was caught by the police making some sort of trouble. Little T knew Richard from a community event the candidate had done and called him up for help. Richard said he told the boy he would help him avoid jail only if he obeyed his mother.
“You either let your mother be your jailer,” Richard recalled telling the boy, “or you let Bubba be your lover.”
The audience of more than 100 laughed and Richard followed up, saying it was a point about how to handle prosecutions: “It’s a caseby-case basis.”
Nelson, too, had a strong showing, brandishing his own credentials, including his prosecution of white-collar cases and his most recent five-year stint as chief counsel for Gov. Janet Napolitano.
He spent much of his time aimed at the work of the current county attorney, Andrew Thomas, a Republican who is running for re-election this fall.
He accused Thomas of unwise spending, conflicts of interest and poor judgment on crime policies.
Having outraised Richard, his Democratic opponent, in campaign contributions more than three to one, Nelson also tried to position himself as the candidate who could unseat Thomas.
On top of the fundraising, he said he had been gaining the key endorsements, including a one from U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., whose district is based in Tempe.
“We need a candidate who’s going to win,” he told the crowd. “And I submit that I’m the best person for the job.”
Mostly, the candidates avoided a direct confrontation with each other, sticking more to own their résumés and issues they both believed in.
Richard and Nelson have three more forums scheduled between now and August, including one next week on the KAET show, “Horizon.”
Paul Charlton endorses
Gerald Richard
for county attorney
Phoenix Business Journal - by Mike Sunnucks
Monday, June 30, 2008
Former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton has endorsed Gerald Richard over incumbent Andrew Thomas for Maricopa County Attorney.
Richard, a former county prosecutor, is running against Tim Nelson in the Democratic Party primary to take on Republican Thomas. Nelson is the former legal counsel to Gov. Janet Napolitano.
Charlton, appointed by President Bush to the federal prosecutor post, is an attorney with Gallagher & Kennedy PA.
Thomas has been aggressive in going after illegal immigrants and their smugglers during his tenure as county attorney. He also has been sparring with the State Bar of Arizona over that group’s ethics inquiry into his handling of an investigation into Phoenix New Times’ publication of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s home address.
News Release
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Doug Ramsey (602) 513-2742 djramsey5@cox.net
June 3, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RICHARD QUALIFIES FOR BALLOT
Files over 5,000 signatures
(Phoenix, AZ)- Gerald Richard, Democratic candidate for County Attorney, has qualified for the September 2nd primary ballot. Richard has filed over five-thousand petition signatures, more than twice the required minimum of 2,338.
Richard says he will emphasize his 22 years of law enforcement experience in his campaign to unseat Andrew Thomas as Maricopa County Attorney. “I am the only candidate who has actually prosecuted felony criminal cases before a jury,” said Richard. “I am the only Democrat who has effectively and successfully managed a large law enforcement agency the size of the county attorney’s office.”
Former Phoenix Police Officer Jason Schechterle has endorsed Richard. “With integrity of the highest level and an unmatched dedication to law enforcement and the justice system, Gerald Richard will provide Maricopa County with stability for the future,” said Schechterle.
Richard is also supported by Democratic candidate for Sheriff, Dan Saban. “It’s time for an innovative public safety professional who understands that innovative strategies come from being in the trenches,” said Saban. “Gerald has not only been in the trenches, he has helped dig most of those trenches,” Saban added. “It is time for a change in our county attorney. Gerald Richard is the right leader at the right time to accept this challenge.”
Beyond his Maricopa County law enforcement experience, Richard is a nationally-recognized authority on youth and gang crime prevention and on police-community relations.
He is a graduate of the ASU College of Law. Richard is nearing completion of his Doctorate in Educational Leadership at NAU.
For more information on the Gerald Richard campaign, www.richardforcountyattorney.com
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Paid for by the Committee to Elect Gerald Richard for Maricopa County Attorney
4003 E. Agave Road
Phoenix, AZ 85044
(602) 513-2743
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