Congressional subcommittee calls to end oversight in Maricopa County

PHOENIX (CN) — Maricopa County Supervisor Debbie Lesko appeared before a Congressional subcommittee Friday to request the end of a federal monitorship over the county sheriff’s office while admitting she doesn’t know the extent to which the sheriff’s office has complied with orders to end racial profiling.

“There are so many different paragraphs that I don’t know the compliance of all of them,” the Republican told the subcommittee, hosted in the Arizona Senate building.

U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona hosted a subcommittee hearing titled “The Monitoring Racket: The Grift that Keeps on Giving” to build support for the county’s recent bid to end the federal monitorship, citing allegedly exorbitant but unsubstantiated costs.

Despite repeated warnings from U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow, Lesko on Friday repeated the false claim that the county has spent more than $350 million complying with Snow’s orders since 2013. An independent audit put the figure closer to $60 million. Although Snow invited the county to justify its estimate, officials have declined, arguing in court that he cannot bar supervisors from making false statements without violating their freedom of speech.

Among other reforms, Snow ordered the sheriff’s office to eliminate signs of racial bias in its annual traffic stop reports for three consecutive years and to clear a backlog of more than 2,000 internal civil rights abuse investigations. Annual reports have shown no bias for two straight years, though quarterly reports still do. The backlog has dropped below 500 cases, but has not been fully cleared.

During the two-hour sworn hearing, Lesko alternated between saying the sheriff’s office was in full compliance and claiming it was “close enough” but unable to reach 100% because of “moving goalposts.” She said she could point to examples of the monitor shifting standards, but did not provide any.

Biggs, a Republican, asked whether Snow has changed his orders since 2013.

“All I know is there have been lots of modifications," she said. “I don’t know if that’s the court or what.”

The subcommittee also heard testimony from John Riches, vice president for litigation at the Goldwater Institute, which filed a brief in support of the county’s motion to end the oversight.

When asked directly, Riches said it’s “hard to say” whether goalposts have been moved.

“I’m not an expert on that particular issue,” he said. He later added that he’s “not familiar with the entire arc of the litigation.”

After the hearing, Biggs told reporters that Snow moved the goalposts by requiring internal affairs investigations to be completed within 180 days and no longer granting extensions. In fact, Snow’s third injunctive order in 2022 required investigations to be completed within 65 days after the county failed to reduce the backlog. He later relaxed that requirement in 2024 to 180 days, aligning it with state law.

Snow first issued an order in 2013. In 2016, he entered a second permanent injunction after finding then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio in civil contempt for largely ignoring the initial order, adding reforms focused on misconduct training and investigative practices. A third order tightened investigation deadlines, while a fourth later relaxed them and required an independent staffing study of the Professional Standards Bureau, which handles misconduct investigations.

The goals of Snow’s orders have remained the same.

Neither Lesko nor Riches gave a straight answer when asked whether the monitor was ever needed beginning in 2013.

Felix Garcia, a Phoenix resident and member of the sheriff’s five-person community advisory board, said the monitor was necessary in 2013, but the sheriff’s office is in a better place now than it was.

“The people support the sheriff’s office,” he told the subcommittee.

Riches argued that payments to the monitor, and how that money is spent, are disclosed only to the federal court. He argued the expenditures, which the county claims total more than $30 million in taxpayer funds, should be subject to public records laws, though the accuracy of that figure is unclear.

No date has been set for oral arguments on the county’s motion for relief from judgment. Raul Pina, also a member of the community advisory board, said the county has already approved $700,000 for a Ninth Circuit appeal if the motion fails.

Two Republican Representatives, Troy Nehls of Texas and Russel Fry of South Carolina, sat on the subcommittee. Biggs said he invited Congressional Democrats, but they didn’t show.

Neither Lesko nor the sheriff’s office replied to requests for comment.

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