“What I wasn’t going to do was be a political pawn,” said Sheriff Paul Penzone, a Democrat. “I wasn’t going to allow this to become something that got greater politicalization because I am an elected official.” || Sheriff’s Office
By Ray Stern
The Arizona Republic
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spent several weeks looking into allegations of a massive bribery ring run by a drug cartel and found nothing, doing so quietly even as the issue created turmoil among Arizona Republicans.
The claims, aired at a legislative hearing in February, led to an ethics investigation targeting former Rep. Liz Harris, R-Chandler, and then to her April 12 expulsion from the state House of Representatives. Yet Harris’s supporters hope to soon see the county Board of Supervisors reinstate her to the post.
Paul Penzone’s office concluded that the allegations weren’t worth a rigorous investigation. He said his office conducted “an inquiry,” not an investigation.
“What I wasn’t going to do was be a political pawn,” said Penzone, a Democrat. “I wasn’t going to allow this to become something that got greater politicalization because I am an elected official.”
The allegation of “widespread corruption of Arizona officials through financial means by a drug cartel organization, is a spectacular claim and appears to be purposefully so,” states a written conclusion to the inquiry that Penzone released. “Local and federal partners with access to the documentation identified that no predicate existed for lawful investigation. Information reviewed by TMU (Threat Management Unit) did not locate evidence supporting the claims that cartel money was used to bribe public officials.”
Another one-page document Penzone released states that the FBI also found the evidence “did not meet a predicate for continued investigation.”
The FBI’s Phoenix office declined comment on the document or the Sheriff’s Office’s review of the allegations.
