plus 1, Prosecutor seeks county-attorney job - AZCentral.com

Prosecutor seeks county-attorney job - AZCentral.com

Posted: 01 May 2010 12:07 AM PDT

Career prosecutor Bill Montgomery formally announced his candidacy for Maricopa County attorney on Friday, promising to "work tirelessly to restore people's faith in government."

Montgomery is a conservative Republican and goes into the race knowing his main battle may be against interim County Attorney Rick Romley in the August Republican primary election, not the November general election called to fill the vacancy left by Andrew Thomas, who resigned midway through his term to run for Arizona attorney general.

Montgomery, 43, is a West Point graduate and a veteran of the first Gulf War and spent most of the past decade working in the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

He ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in the last general election.

Montgomery intends to follow in Thomas' footsteps, especially in the immigration arena.

He referred to Romley as "my likely primary opponent," while noting Romley's criticism of Senate Bill 1070, the new immigration law that makes it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally.

"His fundamental misunderstanding of the importance of arming law enforcement with all the tools needed to fight illegal immigration and safeguard all of Arizona proves he learned nothing while serving as county attorney for 16 years and in the six years since walking away from the office," Montgomery said.

Political insiders anticipate Montgomery will build a campaign that calls Romley a RINO, or "Republican in name only," much like the one Thomas is staging against his primary opponent, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.

Montgomery also criticized Romley's consulting work for Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat, and Romley's support in the last county-attorney election for Thomas' Democratic challenger, Tim Nelson.

When asked who his most serious Democratic opposition might be, Montgomery quipped, "Rick."

After stating that he intended to fix strained relations with other county officials if elected, Montgomery expressed his dismay at learning that County Supervisor Don Stapley had secretly recorded a conversation between the two men in which Montgomery talked candidly about Thomas, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the legal issues among the three.

Arpaio introduced Montgomery at his press conference and confirmed his endorsement for Montgomery.

But other Arpaio supporters also came to the press conference: Five neo-Nazis wanted to "support Sheriff Joe's candidate for county attorney," according to their leader, J.T. Ready.

Montgomery, who has prosecuted White supremacists, tried to get the men to leave, but instead they stood at attention on Jefferson Street, wearing blue uniforms, bulletproof vests and storm-trooper helmets, while shouldering assault rifles.

Republic reporter JJ Hensley contributed to this article.

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