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Last week New Times published a long article under the joint bylines of owner Jim Larkin and executive editor Michael Lacey ridiculing the subpoena, which they called a “breathtaking abuse” of the Constitution by Arpaio, county attorney Andrew Thomas, and special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik. Arpaio’s a lawman notorious nationally and frequently reelected locally for a penal philosophy that that has him blessing inmates with chain gangs, pink underwear, and green bologna. In 2005 New Times posted Arpaio’s home address on its Web site–an apparent violation of an “arcane Arizona law,” Larkin and Lacey conceded in their article, though their reporter had found the address by searching online.
Eventually Wilenchik and Thomas convened a grand jury. Describing themselves as performing an act of “civil disobedience,” Larkin and Lacey itemized the subpoena in all its astonishing detail, thus exposing themselves to charges for writing about an ongoing grand jury investigation. Sure enough, they were promptly arrested and spent a night in jail. But the next day Thomas–who may have aspirations for governor–not only dropped the charges against New Times but fired Wilenchik. “There have been serious missteps in this matter,” said the county attorney.
