Thomas, county board must start working together again

To the average Maricopa County resident, the monthslong feud between the Board of Supervisors and County Attorney Andrew Thomas has had the flavor of a cat fight combined with an endless series of legal maneuvers that was pushing matters down a futile rabbit hole.

Thomas, at least, has concluded the fight is no longer worth the political damage and lost resources. He is seeking a truce with the board, and offered an olive branch Monday when he announced that criminal prosecution of county Supervisor Don Stapley would be transferred to the hands of the Yavapai County attorney.

There are reasons to believe Thomas did this because his other options were gradually disappearing. But he has acted, and now the Board of Supervisors needs to find a path to rapprochement with Thomas.

The escalating showdown was launched when Thomas' prosecutors sought a slew of felony criminal charges against Stapley on accusations he failed a number of occasions to publicly disclose land sales and other business dealings. Stapley, who is innocent until proven guilty, and his fellow supervisors flatly rejected the idea that other lawyers in Thomas' office could continue to offer unbiased legal advice to the board. This led the board to hire outside lawyers and to strip Thomas of his authority to manage the county's civil litigation.

Thomas insisted that not only could his office handle both roles as prosecutor and legal advisor at once, the state constitution and related statutes required him to do so. He challenged the board's actions in court.

Both Thomas and the county supervisors tried to show the public they are defending sound principle and good government, while their opponent has been subverting the law and wasting huge sums of money. But it has been nearly impossible to sort out who in this mess has been grandstanding on the taxpayer dime and who, if anyone, has simply been doing their jobs under daunting circumstances.

Still, Thomas' stance has found little sympathy so far with county's judges who have been refereeing the dispute. And the recantation of a key witness in the Stapley criminal matter, as reported Sunday by Tribune writer Mark Flatten, creates an impression that the prosecution's case has been somewhat weakened.

So Thomas might be moving to extract himself from a bad situation before it completely collapses. Or he might have realized somewhat belatedly that a mature leader seeks ways to carry out unpleasant duties while limiting the agony for those around him.

It's the Board of Supervisors' turn. The supervisors don't have to like Thomas. But they do have to work with him. The county's ongoing budget problems should provide enough urgency for everyone to overcome personal distaste and act as professionals again.