Dan Saban

Doug Mings, Chairman of the Legislative District 17 Democrats, is replacing Todd Landfried as executive director of the Maricopa County Democratic Party, according to Mark Manoil, who chairs the Maricopa Dems.

"Todd isn't out - he's shifting his work," said Manoil, explaining the change. Manoil said Landfried will be handling a campaign porfolio for the rest of the cycle. Manoil praised his work, saying he did a "great job" helping to recruit candidates, and also for setting up the website joesgottogo.com, which attacks Republican incumbent Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Manoil also said the county party's role is shifting with the primary season coming to a close. "We were focused on recruiting the best candidates we could," said Manoil, who stated that fundraising will be the primary focus of the party until the election.

Gerald Richard and Tim Nelson, the Democrats vying for their party's nomination in the Maricopa County attorney race, faced each other at Central High School Tuesday night at a debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

It was again apparent that both Nelson and Richard are close on a number of issues. On topics ranging from warrant enforcement to juvenille justice, human smuggling and the decriminalization of marijuana (both said they're vehemently opposed), the differences in their views most frequently came down to nuance rather than substance. 

Dan Saban, the Mesa Police Department veteran and former chief of police in Buckeye, left halfway through, proclaiming his ambivalence.

"It's a tough choice," he said, praising both as qualified and stating his confidence that the eventual primary winner will beat incumbent Andrew Thomas.

Throughout the debate, both emphasized the strengths of their resumes, and more sharply defined themselves as candidates.

This weeks Winners & Losers is a day early because we know you won't want to leave on vacation until you have read it.

Dan Saban: Campaign photoIn the contest to see who can raise more money in the Maricopa County sheriff faceoff, it’s no contest. Joe Arpaio wins hands down. If the money hunt was an actual race, Arpaio would have lapped opponent Dan Saban close to nine times by now.

As of June 1, Arpaio had raised in excess of $430k for his election bid, and began the second part of the year with $358,357 in the bank. In the first five months of 2008 alone Arpaio raised a whopping $121,127 – more than many serious congressional candidates can manage.

By contrast, Saban, who ran against Arpaio in the 2004 Republican primary and has returned as a Democrat to take another shot at him this year, raised under $50k in the first reporting period. Though he asserts he raised $13k in June, when he “really started” his fundraising efforts, that pace still isn’t quick enough to close much ground between he and the incumbent sheriff.

According to Saban, though, that has something to do with Arpaio playing dirty.

And don't forget to vote on this week's Cartoon Caption Contest. Voting ends this Friday at noon.

Democratic candidate for Sherriff, Dan Saban, has challenged Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to seven debates from July through October. Saban is proposing the candidates meet in Anthem, Guadalupe, Sun City, Sun Lakes, Wickenburg and twice in Phoenix. Saban is giving Arpaio until July 1st to accept. If Arpaio does not accept the challenge Saban plans to have town hall meetings in the locations stated to answer questions from the voters. 

Maricopa County Sheriff candidate Dan Saban is accusing Sheriff Joe Arpaio of misrepresenting facts to make his office look better.  Last week Arpaio appeared on John Hook’s Newsmaker Sunday FOX10 show defending the $43M the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has paid in lawsuits. During that appearance he claimed the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department paid out more than $400M in lawsuits over the past five years.

Saban’s campaign contacted the LASD Civil Litigation Unit who claimed the number was closer to $60 million than $400 million.

When Maricopa County Sheriff candidate Dan Saban submitted his qualifying signatures today, turning in over three times as many as he needed to get on the ballot, he did so without the backing of the Buckeye Police Association, which represents the officers of the police department he headed until a week ago.

Yet Saban doesn't believe BPA's endorsement of his rival, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, or for that matter the endorsement of Arpaio by the Phoenix Law Enforcement Agency, is that great a liability. For Saban, it’s a slew of other endorsements he's garnered that are far more important to his campaign, and he says he has the 8,000-plus signatures to prove it.  

Democrat candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff, Dan Saban, will submit more than 8,000 signatures tomorrow.  2,480 valid signatures are required by June 4th for Saban to obtain ballot status against Sheriff Joe Arpio.