By Dillon Rosenblatt and Gary Grado | Arizona Capitol Times
Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel has hired the attorney who botched an investigation into the Fiesta Bowl a decade ago to oversee a probe of County Assessor Paul Petersen.
Adel’s office announced that former Attorney General Grant Woods will oversee the work of two private law firms hired to investigate whether Petersen neglected his duties.
Petersen stands accused in three states of running an illegal adoption scheme involving Marshallese women, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors suspended him Oct. 28 for 120 days for neglecting his duties. He was in federal custody in Arkansas at the time, but he is free on bail.
Woods, in 2009, conducted a week-long investigation into a campaign-finance scandal involving Fiesta Bowl employees and found no credible evidence of wrongdoing. But when state and federal investigators got involved, several employees of the college-football organization ended up pleading guilty to various misdemeanors and felonies, including former Fiesta Bowl CEO John Junker, who spent eight months in prison.
