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Another Thomas initiative comes up short

Kyrsten Sinema

The out-of-state, initiated and funded Arizona Civil Rights Initiative was  knocked off the November ballot.

And it’s another embarrassment for Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, the state chairman for ACRI.

State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema and her group, Protect Arizona’s Freedom, went through petitions, then showed the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, which verifies petition signatures for the Secretary of State, that the signatures had a 45.9 percent disqualification rate.

The deceptively worded Civil Rights Initiative was disqualified, which  ends anti-affirmative action advocate Ward Connerly’s effort to sway Arizona voters.

Californian Connery’s organization had pumped more than $300,000 of out-of-state money into the campaign.

This makes Thomas’ third big whiff this year. Among his gaffs was the mishandling of the jailing of New Times executives Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin.
Most recently, the state Supreme Court turned down Thomas’ try to have his office exempted from an Arizona State Bar investigation.

With these three strikes, Thomas shows his vulnerability to voters just before his re-election bid. 

Cynthia Aragon, who helped organize the petitions check for PAF said “hundreds and hundreds” of Arizona volunteers pitched in to weed out the bad signatures.

Now it’s up to voters to weed out bad county attorneys.