Allister Adel
>“Voters supported me in November 2020 as
the first woman
elected
to be Maricopa County Attorney
On March 14, The Arizona Republic’s Robert Anglen reported that up to 180 drunken drivers, hit-and-run drivers and abusers would go unpunished because prosecutors forgot to file charges before the one-year statute of limitations expired.
She leaves in her wake investigations by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, the State Bar Association and the Attorney General’s Office, which on Friday demanded a report about those 180 botched cases.
She leaves in her wake an agency in disarray and a community in dismay, one that wonders whether we can trust prosecutors to do their jobs fairly, equitably and competently.
She leaves with just two weeks left before the April 4 filing period for candidates who want to run for the job in November. (Politicians are reportedly already lining up.
Don't appoint someone who can get elected
Meanwhile, it’ll be up to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to name an interim replacement. These are the same people who selected Adel, who at the time of her appointment worked as an adviser to nonprofits but was seen as someone who could win the vote in 2020.
As for all the politicians tempted to line up to try to snag this interim political plum to get a leg up in November: Please don’t.
Leave this one to the professionals because someone’s got a lot of rebuilding to do over at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.