TIM NELSON GERALD RICHARD
I came up with this description of the Democratic primary for Maricopa County attorney shortly after I first learned the race would feature Gerard Richard, who was the police director for the Phoenix Police Department, and Tim Nelson, who was general legal counsel for Gov. Janet Napolitano. My impression of their strengths and weaknesses has shifted only slightly after the Tribune Editorial Board had a chance to chat with each candidate one-on-one.
On paper, Richard’s resume would seem to match perfectly for what’s widely viewed as a law-and-order office. His career started as a law clerk with the county attorney, rising over three years to handling felony prosecutions. Then he went to work for Phoenix police as a legal adviser. Over 18 years, he became the department’s highest-ranking civilian and oversaw a wide range of functions while working every day with police officers.
What Richard lacks is a traditional political base. Until this campaign, he has had little involvement with the Democratic Party. In speaking with Richard, I discovered he does have experience dealing with law enforcement from political and policy perspectives, as he worked quite closely with the police chief and mayor’s office. But for this campaign, Richard had to start from ground zero in building grassroots support and the necessary machinery to attract primary voters.
On the other hand, Nelson has political experience in spades, as illustrated by his fundraising advantage through the first half of this year. His support comes both from Napolitano’s statewide network and his 12 years in private practice when he was a money-making partner in one of Arizona’s largest law firms.
Nelson’s political connections can’t be underestimated when the winning Democrat will have to upset a tough-on-crime incumbent (Republican Andrew Thomas*) who comes from the party with a decided advantage in registered voters.
But nearly all of Nelson’s legal work is dealing with complex civil matters, such as the tobacco master settlement. The county attorney’s office actually does a lot of civil legal work, but voters seem to care much less about that than how it prosecutes crime.
Democrat voters have to decide whether Richard or Nelson has a better chance of attracting independents and cross-over Republicans frustrated with any missteps of Thomas’ office such as the prosecution of the Phoenix New Times. That choice is complicated by the fact that both Richard and Nelson are likely to not have enough money to run a mass media campaign (television/radio/newspaper ads). The winner will have to rely on direct mail, viral/Internet publicity and unpaid news and blog stories to counter Thomas’ general name recognition and staunch support among likely voters who rank illegal immigration as a top concern.
In other words, either Democrat would have two-month, uphill battle to stop Thomas from winning re-election.
*I reluctantly linked here to the official Web site of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office because Thomas apparently hasn’t yet established a campaign Web site. That’s seems a little strange in 2008.
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Vote Tim Nelson!!!
The Dems will definitely need a viable candidate to go up against Thomas this fall. And Gerald Richard’s lack of involvement in the party up until now is coming back to hurt him. He simply doesn’t have an organization that can beat Andy Thomas in November.
Looks like Tim Nelson is posting fake comments praising himself again. Shouldn’t he be working at Osborn Maledon right now? Check out aclutimwillsayanythingtogetelected.blogspot.com for the real deal on ACLU Tim.
Tim Nelson has outraised Gerald Richard 4 to 1. Tim Nelson has outraised Andrew Thomas 5 to 1 in the last quarter, and has pulled just about even with Andrew Thomas in total funds despite Thomas having $200,000 lead last year using funds from a previous campaign. I think this says quite alot about how fed up people are with Andrew Thomas, especially conservatives like myself.
This article is spot-on. Richard is passionate about public service, which is very admirable. But the Republican machine will mobilize to bowl him right over in a general election. Tim Nelson has the best combination of legal and organizational (political) experience to overtake Thomas in the general election.
And as terrible as Thomas has been, we should not underestimate the power of Thomas’ name and face plastered in the media next to Arpaio. If we really want Thomas to go (and to make it impossible for him to run for governor), we need to stop him in his tracks now.
Oh there is “conservativo” again, who has been outed commenting on these websites as Tim Nelson himself pretending to be a conservative! Come on Tim, you can at least pick a new pseudonym so it’s not so obvious. Do we really want someone as county attorney who pretends to be multiple other commenters? Saying “especially conservatives like myself” is blatantly false since Nelson is not a conservative. Not ethical for an attorney running for a law enforcement position to post false information like that on a public newspaper site.
No I am not Andrew Thomas who is actually WORKING right now on the taxpayers dime. Do you think he’s dumb enough to be posting comments on a newspaper website during working hours? Apparently you are.
Jerry Waldorf, you are funny!! Andrew Thomas spends his days looking in the mirror at his pretty self while he doles out county legal work to friends and family.
I don’t think he’s incompetent (after all he’s a Haarvard man) though I’ve heard he has yet to argue a criminal trial. Maybe he likes to rest and daydream about how he will look on his next tv commercial and billboard. And well, who doesn’t enjoy those!!
Let’s see….how many employers have been arrested under Arizona’s Employer Sanctions law now? -0- He’s tough on crime? -ha ha-
So, Jerry, you can quip all you want about your handsome man friend Andy, he’ll need your support, cause he’s about to lose his job to TIM NELSON!!
Andrew Thomas as many advantages over his wanabee opponents including the fact that Tim Nelson has never tried a criminal case and Gerald Richard tried his last criminal case 20 years ago when gas was still affordable.
Well, if you are dumb enough to accuse other people of pretending to be a candidate, and dumb enough to edit your own Wikipedia page, then yes, you are dumb enough to be posting while at work on the taxpayers dime.
I grow tired of defending myself to you. If you actually think people believe you when you accuse citizens of being a candidate then you are hopelessly out of touch with reality. By the way, fell free to check my posting history WHICH GOES BACK FOUR YEARS if you think I just comment on this race. But I’m pretty sure you’re not going to do that. You’ll just mindlessly accuse anybody who doesn’t agree with you of actually being the candidate. Poor guy…
It should be labeled the man vs. the little boy. The Horizon debate showed Nelson as a whiny high pitched weakling who seems to think because Janet’s friends and his big law firm buddies gave him money he should be county attorney. Richard came across as someone who understood the issues and is not simply going to use the county attorney’s office as a stepping stone. Thomas will crush him with the ACLU matters and Nelson can not successfully attack Thomas on giving legal work to his friends when Nelson and Janet gave legal work to his wife’s firm. He also will have a harder time going after Thomas on billboards when he was Janet’s attorney and she had her pictures on all the tourism billboards.
Andrew Thomas has never tried a felony jury trial so I fail to see that as an advantage against Richard. Nelson’s campaign is very good at spin which is what would be expected of a professional campaign by a professional politician Pluto 5469 and the other Nelson treat Richard as a good speaker to expain away their bosses anemic performance in any joint forum. Gerald Richard is the professional who can bring professionalism back to the County Attorney not merely replace one political hack with a different political hack.
I am an Independent with little to no faith in 2008 partisan politics. I also believe that Andrew Thomas is an embarrassment to Arizona and Maricopa County … similar to past Arizona politicians like Evan Mecham and Fife Symington. His disregard for individual liberties is more than troublesome. We need to get him out now and Tim Nelson offers the best opportunity. As for the Horizon debate, I thought Tim Nelson did far better than Richards. Nelson offered specifics while Richards offered conclusions. Maybe I saw a different debate. Richards looked uncomfortable.
Nelson’s campaign mantra that Ricard does not offer specifics is getting tiresome. It is typical consultant garbage of talking points offered regularly enough seeming to be the truth. Nelson only specific is he has raised a lot of money. Thomas will destroy Nelson by pointing out his ACLU ties and rightfully pointing out that the very things that Nelson complains about Thomas doing have been done by Napalitano. In a debate Richard would clean the floor with Thomas. His negatives are nonexistent.
I go along with Larry B’s view of Gerald Richard. Gerald Richard has the experience needed for the tough urban city Phoenix has become — it’s getting worse not better. We don’t need another white collar lawyer used to sitting on the highest floors of the law offices of Arizona. Haven’t we had enough with elitist Thomas and his single point Harvard view. What can he possibly know about diversity except that he wants none. Thomas belongs back on the 19th century. NY Gov. Spitzer and his white collar crime witch-hunts got him where? Haven’t we had enough of that also? Tim Nelson would be more of the same.
GERALD RICHARD FOR COUNTY ATTORNEY HAS OUR VOTE
We need a true professional in the County Attorney’s office who wants to make this a career not with his agenda toward another higher office. The Maricopa County Attorney’s office needs real house cleaning.
We’ve had enough politics at the expense of the taxpayers and loss of citizens’ rights and the ongoing witch-hunts for Thomas personal agenda and vendettas.
We will vote for Gerald Richard for County Attorney — and Dan Saban for Sheriff. Tim Nelson may be a good lawyer, but he needs to remain in the law firm fighting cases and making a difference for his clients. We need good lawyers since there is a grave shortage of good lawyers in the state of Arizona and Maricopa County.
I find this strange also — comment from above: *I reluctantly linked here to the official Web site of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office because Thomas apparently hasn’t yet established a campaign Web site. That’s seems a little strange in 2008.”
Thomas would rather have the taxpayers pay for his campaign through the County Attorney’s office rather then foot the bill himself. i.e. “crime prevention pamphlets”, billboards, internet “special reports”, PR to the national media on “illegal immigration” this year’s election trump card and on and on.