The Arizona Republic
Pinal County Attorney Jim Walsh, 69, will vacate his office Dec. 31 after five years as the county’s top prosecutor.
A Democrat from Oracle, Walsh was appointed in May 2007 and elected unopposed the following year. He lost a bid for re-election in November to Lando Voyles, 41, a Republican and former Maricopa County prosecutor.
We recently asked Walsh about the job and what he’ll do next. Here’s an edited excerpt from the interview:
Question: Describe your job in two sentences or less.
Answer: Well, we’re the chief prosecuting office of the county. We prosecute both major felonies and misdemeanors throughout the county. That’s our role in the public-safety system. It’s not our only role, but it’s very critical. With that comes things like having a family-advocacy center for sexual assaults on kids, victims services. But we also represent the county civilly, so we’re the legal advisers, the legal representatives of all the county departments, the elected officials, many of the school boards, a lot of the special districts, the supervisors, the managers. That’s a pretty good-sized client base.
Q: That was more than two sentences.
A: I know, it’s hard to put it in two sentences. Look at one of the brochures — we’ve probably got it down to three. And then child support, that’s another thing we do.
Q: What’s your leadership philosophy?
