Those of us in the blogger community were shocked
to see that the disciplinary judge threw out Rachel Alexander's appeal of a
suspension of her law license. This is terrifying to us in the conservative
blogger community, because these kinds of Alinsky tactics could happen to any
of us. For those of you who have not been keeping up, Rachel has been targeted
by the State Bar of Arizona because she is a well-known conservative blogger in
Arizona. I wrote about it here - http://www.americanfreedombybarbara.com/2012/05/conservative-writer-rachel-alexander.html#more Rachel
was merely a low-level employee in the County Attorney's Office when former
County Attorney Andrew Thomas's political enemies went after him and included
her in their attacks.
Judge William O'Neill, an out of control liberal Democrat disciplinary
judge with questionable motives threw the book at Andrew Thomas, Rachel and
another attorney, Lisa Aubuchon, disbarring Thomas and Aubuchon and suspending
Rachel's license. Judge O'Neill told a former close friend of his, Mark Dixon,
back in 2009 that Andrew Thomas had no right to prosecute judges, and said he
was friends with the judge Thomas was trying to prosecute. Judge O'Neill then
ruled against Thomas on that case and in favor of his friend. Fast forward to
the current bar disciplinary proceedings against Thomas, which were brought
over Thomas attempting to prosecute judges and other officials. Can you say
BLATANT CONFLICT OF INTEREST for that judge to then handle the bar disciplinary
hearing against Thomas? Judge O'Neill should have recused himself from the bar
disciplinary hearing.
Mark Dixon was so outraged by what he saw as overreaching by his former
friend against Rachel and the others that he came forward and submitted an
affidavit in the case, located here - http://www.scribd.com/doc/94920052/Disciplinary-judge-in-Andrew-Thomas-disbarment-was-predisposed-against-him-violated-judicial-ethics. In it,
he states,
We were chatting and Bill began talking about the
Maricopa County Attorney's Office and how they were going after Judge Donahoe.
He made it clear that Judge Donahoe was a friend of his and that the County
Attorney's Office had no right to challenge a judge. He made it clear to me
that judges were too powerful and that he was angry they were criticizing his
friend and investigating a fellow judge.....When I later learned he was
appointed as the disciplinary judge presiding over the Bar ethics hearing of Andrew
Thomas and his deputies, I was shocked at how this could occur.
Dixon went on in the affidavit to relay how Judge O'Neill had
unethically ghost-written pleadings for him in a family law case, a no-no for
judges.
Rachel filed an appeal this week with the Arizona Supreme Court,
located here – https://www.azcourts.gov/Portals/9/Press%20Releases/2012/HighProfilePage/061912AlexanderSpecialActionFiledWithSupremeCourt.pdf. Let's
hope cooler heads at the State Supreme Court prevail. Judge O'Neill said he
threw out Rachel's request for an extension to file her opening brief because
it was filed at the last minute. Huh? Attorneys file pleadings at the last
minute all the time, and judges regularly rubber stamp extensions. Even Lisa
Aubuchon, the other deputy county attorney who the Bar went after and revoked
her license, was granted an extension to file her opening brief. Judge O'Neill
also ordered Rachel not to take any new clients and that her six-month
suspension plus one day (forcing her to take the bar exam again and reapply)
will start on July 23. What Judge O'Neill did demonstrates the out of control
judicial activism of a raging Democrat with a vendetta. There was no other
reason for him to drastically come down on her like that.
For this reason, Michelle Malkin and other national bloggers have taken
up the defense of Rachel's case and made it a top priority. Michelle Malkin
wrote up an article about it here – http://michellemalkin.com/2012/06/09/bloggers-under-fire-arizona-conservative-lawyeractivist-targeted-by-left-wing-arizona-state-bar/. Arizona blogger Barbara Espinosa exposed the witch hunt: She asks
for contributions to Rachel's legal defense, since the Maricopa County
Supervisors will not fund Rachel's appeal (Thomas tried unsuccessfully to
prosecute them, so they are taking out their anger on Rachel). Never before in
the history of Maricopa County has a bar complaint appeal like Rachel's not
been funded. Rachel has been forced to sue the Supervisors to get her appeal
funded; so far she has to file everything herself. You can “like” the bloggers
defense group that has been set up to defend Rachel and other bloggers under
attack by the left here – http://www.facebook.com/NationalBloggersClub.
I'd like to go even further and ask everyone to send letters to
Governor Jan Brewer asking her to intervene and put a stop to this judicial
abuse of Rachel. We need to speak up and defend Rachel, because this could
happen to any of us conservatives, bloggers, or activists. The left will target
our licenses, employment, and anything else they think will silence us.
Rachel's case is so egregious it needs to be brought to the forefront of public
opinion so the public knows what is really going on with the liberal judiciary
and State Bar.
The Honorable Janice K. Brewer
Arizona Governor
Executive Tower
1700 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Arizona Governor
Executive Tower
1700 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007
