Stupid AG Terry GOddard was a former tax and spend socialist Mayor of Phoenix. - the webmaster

from: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0505goddard05.html

Staff cuts hurting public, AG says
Workload mounts as agency's budget dwindles

Nena Baker
The Arizona Republic
May. 5, 2003 12:00 AM

The state's top lawyer may be the most frustrated man in state government.

Since being sworn in Jan. 6, Attorney General Terry Goddard has worn a path between his Washington Street office and the state Capitol, passing by dozens of empty offices once bustling with assistant attorneys general and legal investigators.

Goddard's mission: to ensure he won't have to lay off more workers as Arizona struggles to balance its budget. Republican legislative leaders want to cut $2.6 million from the agency's current $22.89 million budget. This comes on top of a $1.5 million cut ordered by the Legislature in January that meant Goddard had to pink-slip 55 top-level employees less than a month after he took office.

Whereas other large agencies had programs, services or capital expenditures from which to cut, the attorney had only people, he said.

It was a painful beginning for a man elected to office with big plans to fight crime, curtail scams and protect the public from unscrupulous business practices.

"Unfortunately, the cuts have diminished the capacity of the Attorney General's Office in the area of consumer protection, civil rights and criminal prosecutions," said Goddard, 56.

When Arizona was rocked by the highest gasoline prices in the country last month, for example, consumers turned to the attorney general for help.

But Goddard said his office's inquiry "is not an adequate full-scale investigation. There's either dysfunction in the market or there's collusion, but I don't know that we'll be able to get to the bottom of it."

He said he simply doesn't have the staff.

Between layoffs and vacancies left unfilled, the Attorney General's Office is down about 120 positions from when Goddard's predecessor, Gov. Janet Napolitano, held the post.

"You can't have that number of layoffs without some consequences, especially because General Fund cuts come out of what most people consider the core function of the office," Napolitano said.

Of the 900 remaining employees, two-thirds do the legal work for other state agencies, which pay their salaries.

That leaves about 300 employees, paid for by the General Fund appropriation, to represent the public's interest in civil and criminal matters.

For a man who ran for office promising to be the people's lawyer, the layoffs have made it especially difficult for Goddard to carry out his vision.

"That's got to be the most disturbing thing, to come in as a new attorney general full of energy and you don't have the resources you thought you had," said Tom Prose, the chief assistant attorney general who will retire this summer after 29 years with the agency.

Some of the area's hardest hit by staffing cuts are:

Elder fraud. The sole investigator assigned to the unit was let go. As a result, the state has not made any financial recoveries on behalf of senior citizens this year despite an increasing number of complaints.

Real estate licensing. The unit that investigates and prosecutes complaints against Realtors and brokers shrank to one attorney from 2.5 full-time positions.

Major consumer fraud. Four strong cases will not be prosecuted because of a shortage of attorneys, investigators and paralegals.

The Better Business Bureau of Central and Northern Arizona said consumers are hurting because of cutbacks at the Attorney General's Office.

"Major fraud cases are getting lost," said Elaine Hugunin, president and chief executive officer. "With scams, you need to hit it early and hard, and the AG's Office can't do it now."

The Better Business Bureau has received more complaints since Goddard's staff was cut. It attributes the rise, in part, to consumer complaints being turned away by the state agency, Hugunin said.

On the criminal side of the Attorney General's Office, appeals lawyers are handling double and triple caseloads. Goddard said he wonders when a convicted murderer will go free because a swamped appeals attorney misses a filing deadline.

As for agency initiatives, Goddard outlined 10 goals for his first 100 days in office; however, budget and staffing cuts put some out of reach.

A new immigrant assistance office is being set up using volunteers instead of staff.

A specially trained corporate fraud prosecution unit has yet to be put in place.

A unified state water resources defense plan remains in the works.

At the same time, however, the Attorney General's Office succeeded in winning fines and judgments totaling nearly $70 million, Goddard said.

The office obtained 51 indictments against a Phoenix chemical disposal facility and its workers suspected of trafficking chemicals used to make methamphetamines.

House Majority Leader Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, said he's not convinced Goddard's office has been compromised or that it should be exempted from future cuts.

"There are a lot of things that we have responsibilities to do that we should prioritize," he said. "We have to look at getting funding that we believe is adequate to (Goddard's) agency and every other agency and try to balance the jobs that they have to perform with the resources that we have."

Napolitano, however, has a different view.

"The intent should be to at least hold the line," she said. Her proposed 2004 budget would keep the office's funding status quo.

Reach the reporter at nena.baker@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8256. Robbie Sherwood contributed to this report.

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