August 13, 2010 Ms. Fran MeCarroll Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Maricopa County Clerk of the Board 301 West Jefferson Phoenix, AZ. 85003 ‘Mr. Richard Romley Maricopa County Attorney 301 West Jefferson Phoenix, AZ. 85003 Re: Notice of Claim A.R.S, §12-821.01 Lisa M. Aubuchon Dear Ms. MeCarroll and Mr. Romley: Please accept this letter as my husband’s and my formal Notice of Claim pursuant to ARS. §12-821.01 against the following public entities and employees: former acting County Attorney/Chief Deputy Phil MacDonnell, interim County Attomey Richard Romley, Paul Abler, Kate Baker, currently unknown Maricopa County Attorney employee who stated to the media his or her opinion about the grand jury presentation on January 4, 2010, Maricopa County Attomey’s Office, Maricopa County, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Donald Stapley. Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, Supervisor Andrew Kunasek, Supervisor Max Wilson, Wade Swanson, County Manager David Smith, and Assistant County Manager Sandi Wilson. We are filing this Notice of Claim in part based on the clearly coordinated and blatantly unethical efforts of the named individuals to smear my reputation and destroy my career asa prosecutor. Yesterday’s statements by appointed interim County Attorney Richard Romley were not only unprofessional and inappropriate, but largely inaccurate and splattered with misleading comments and outright lies. It has become increasingly obvious that interim County Attomey Romley has nearly run out of political targets and now stooped to new lows by attacking my credibility and proven abilities as a prosecutor in a clearly desperate effort to gain any political advantage in the likely final stages of his aging and crumbling legal career. Beyond his failed political attacks against current and former County leaders who today are continuing their relentless pursuit of justice against the very people who appointed interim County Attomey Romley, it is a matter of law that he has clear conflicts of interest arising from his representation of the Board of Supervisors and his appointment by them which under every circumstance should have prevented him from seeking disclosure of sealed grand jury matters, His disclosure of those sealed grand jury matters along with his misrepresentation of what transpired hascaused irreparable damage to my professional reputation as a prosecutor and severe emotional distress and harm to my family and me. Unlike every other personnel action the County has undertaken, Mr. Romley has continued to openly discuss with the media what, by any levels of professional decency should be a private and personal matter with a proven and established prosecutor once promoted and lauded by former elected County Attomey Richard Romley himself, is a so-called “investigation regarding issues related to (my) job performance” including a statement yesterday that the results “would be released soon”. Interim County Attomey Romley is not one to let established County personnel rules, regulations, and protocol interfere with his personal and political interests. Maricopa County and virtually every professional organization allow targets of personnel actions the opportunity to privately respond and address any reports or claims of inappropriate professional conduct or unacceptable job performance. However, Romley has chosen to persecute me in public before I've had a chance to defend myself privately. Of course, there would be no reason for appointed interim County Attorney Romley to publicly discuss my personnel action unless it was for his short-term political gain. This sham personnel investigation began only after he fired me (not to my face, mind you), again in violation of established County personnel rules and regulations. My firing was apparent based on: © notices from insurance providers offering me the option of continuing my coverage despite being a former employee, © getting locked out of the County payroll inquiry system, © return mail stating [ did not work for the County any longer, and © phone calls answered by County employees on my behalf who said I did not work for the County any longer, including one from a member of the State Bar who was calling to appoint me to a committee Despite the lack of even a shred of evidence that I have performed in an unethical or inappropriate manner under elected former County Attorney Mr. Andrew Thomas, the timing of appointed interim County Attorney Romley’s public announcement (just days before the primary election) that results were imminent on an internal investigation that is far from complete reeks of politics. Romley has nearly run out of meaningful targets, so he has decided to throw me under the bus for a few votes. Thave been a government employee for 20 years. I worked for the Arizona Court of Appeals, for Attomey General Grant Woods (promoted to Managing Attorney), and since 1996, with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office; first under then elected County Attomey Richard Romley (who promoted me to Bureau Chief) and then under elected County Attorney Andrew Thomas (who promoted me to Division Chief). I received numerous commendations while working for the Arizona Attomey General’s Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. As evidenced by my exceptional evaluations, I did an outstanding job in my position as prosecutor for both offices. Over the years, part of my job was to enforce policies established by the administration and to implement procedural changes, many of which were directed by Mr. MacDonnell. I executed thosepolicies and strategies as requested, sometimes resulting in friction from others in the office not appreciating my oversight or requirements as their work flowed through my division. I worked with numerous entities to improve workflow and ensure safety for the community. I have been a dedicated County employee from day one and my work has always been ethical and without reproach. In fact, during his last year of his elected administration, Mr. Romley recommended that I be appointed as a city court judge. All of the actions I've taken have been within the scope of my employment, directed by senior County Attomey’s Office management, complied with all legal and ethical rules, and were based on evidence and information supplied by a law enforcement agency. Despite many allegations of a conflict of interest in prosecuting the Board of Supervisors members because of an alleged attomey client relationship, please understand that not once have | ever advised any of the Board Members on any legal issues. As such, Judge Kenneth Fields found there was no conflict of interest in the first Donald Stapley prosecution. In addition, several ethics experts opined there was no conilict of interest. All the applicable case law supported this very premise including State v. Brooks, and despite her negative comments to the media, under oath, Sheila Polk testified that she saw no conflict with Mr. Thomas’ administration taking the investigations into Donald Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox back. Mr. Thomas and [ also sought special prosecutors through requests made of the Board of Supervisors and through pleadings filed with Justice Ruth MeGregor and the Maricopa County Superior Court. Of particular note is that Mr. Romley’s recent, former employer, Terry Goddard, prosecuted several heads of agencies he “represented.” Specifically, Mr. Goddard’s office provided legal advice to David Petersen, Arizona State Treasurer, while at the same time began 2 criminal investigation into his activities and, while the investigation ‘was ongoing, negotiated a disputed $1.2 million dollar transfer from the Treasurer to the Attomey General’s Office. He then proceeded to criminally prosecute Mr. Petersen. Mr. Romley is also aware that, midway through the process, I was assigned to the investigation into Mr. Goddard’s office. Mr. MacDonnell is aware that, approximately one year ago, the responsibility for that investigation was transferred to him and he let it sit idle until Mr. Thomas sent the case to the Department of Justice. ‘You should also be aware that one of the Maricopa County lawyers, Edward Novak, partner of Thomas Irvine, “represented” all of the people at the AG's Office and advised them during the investigation. Mr. Irvine and Mr. Novak worked with Mr. Romley and the Board and on behalf of the Board and are themselves subject of the investigation into the court tower project and the ongoing allegations as to obstruction of justice, bribery, and hindering of prosecution, On April 8, 2010, I was advised by interim Maricopa County Attomey Phil MacDonnell that I was being demoted for “management discretion”, | later found out that Mr. MacDonnell was attempting to obtain the permanent job of County Attomey. As a key proponent in the prosecution efforts against County Supervisors Stapley and Wileox, “management discretion” was clearly a retaliatory act taken by Mr. MacDonnell against