Tim Nelson

The campaigns of Tim Nelson and Gerald Richard, the two candidates running for the Democratic nomination in the Maricopa County attorney's race, continue the barrage of accusations, refutations and counter-accusations they've been hurling at each other.

The latest round of elbow throwing comes amidst charges by the Nelson campaign that Richard "inflated his resume" in saying he was "Director of the Phoenix Police Department" in a press release.  

“That, in fact, was my official title for the last 15 years at the Phoenix P.D.,” said Richard in a press release. “I was the one and only Director, a civilian position at the level of Assistant Chief. In that position I oversaw various divisions of the Department on a rotating basis, just as an Assistant Chief would do.”

It is the relationship between the titles "assistant chief" and "director" that the Nelson campaign contends is the source of their criticism.

"When he uses the phrase 'the director' it implies he had more responsibility than he did," said Joshua Kilroy, Nelson's campaign manager. "There were a number of people, department heads, he was on the same level as. The others have the title 'assistant chief,' though. It's misleading."

This week Tim Bee makes the list as both a winner and a loser, find out who joins Bee on this week's list.

County Attorney candidate Gerald Richard appears to be having his second "endorsement" problem of the campaign.  A few months back Richard had a quote on the news section of his website that said "Saban Endorses Gerald Richard for Maricopa County AG."  Problem was, it was misleading.  When you clicked on the link, it brought you to a blog that made the statement.  While Richard's campaign themselves never said Saban endorsed them, the link with that title implied it.  The blog was later updated to make the correction. 

Now Scott Wong is reporting Richard's campaign is claiming the endorsement of two state Representatives, Ed Ableser and Steve Gallardo, who actually support his opponent Tim Nelson.  Either the candidate or the campaign need to start being a little more careful when it comes implying endorsements

TEMPE -- The Changing Hands bookstore witnessed the first in planned series of debates between Democratic Maricopa County attorney hopefuls Tim Nelson and Gerald Richard, who are competing in a primary to take on incumbent Andrew Thomas. 

Before a crowd of about 80, many of whom literally wore their allegiances to one candidate or the other on their sleeves (yellow shirts for Richard, navy for Nelson), Nelson and Richard debated experience - both claiming the edge in prosecutorial expertise - but generally agreed in their critiques of Thomas and the problem areas they wish to address. After the debate, both spoke about how they would deal with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose policies starkly differ from those proposed by both Democratic candidates.

Richard and Nelson spoke in unison on the need to reduce funding to things like billboards, which both candidates labelled "self-promotion" when done by Andrew Thomas, whose name often prominently appears on anti-drunk driving advertisements. Overall both said that "fiscal responsibility" needed to be restored at the county attorney's office. They also took Thomas to task over the low morale at the office, and vowed to treat deputy county attorneys with respect.

TEMPE -- At a candidate forum Tuesday night, Maricopa County attorney candidate Tim Nelson announced he will be receiving the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Tempe).

The announcement came as Nelson was comparing his credentials to that of his Democratic primary opponent, Gerald Richard. He was ticking off a number of endorsements and named Mitchell, who has not yet formally endorsed Nelson.

Afterward, the Nelson campaign confirmed that Mitchell was set to endorse the governor's former general counsel over Richard, who previously ran the Phoenix Police Department's administrative division.

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

Gerald Richard: Campaign photoGerald Richard ended the 2nd quarter with just over $40,000 on hand, lagging far behind his primary rival Tim Nelson and incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

However, Thomas had the weakest quarter of the three. He managed a relatively slim $39,750.03 for the period from April 1 through June 30, while Richard pulled in $60,004.75. Despite his poorer showing, Thomas is still the leader in the field. He came into the reporting period with over $200k, and has $213,599.12 on hand to start 3Q.

The big winner this quarter was Tim Nelson, who pulled in nearly $207k from April to the end of June. With no money to start with, he has now come within $37k of Thomas's total, finishing 2Q with $177,463.03.