Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas must love Monopoly. He just invented the real-life “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

In intra-party squabbling too absurd for a soap opera, Thomas charged county Supervisor Don Stapley with dozens of felonies for filing incorrect financial disclosure forms. Thomas did wait until after the election, but Stapley didn’t seem appreciative. The county attorney is legal adviser to the county and its elected officials, but Stapley seemed dubious about getting advice from somebody seeking to convict him. The other supervisors agreed to hire outside counsel for so long as Thomas is prosecuting his ostensible client.

And whom did the supervisors select as their “outside legal consultant”? Thomas’s predecessor, Richard Romley, who before he left office, was engaged in a long-running battle with Sheriff Joe Arpaio that could only be described as nasty.

Who needs Democrats (not that we have any in Maricopa County elected office, save for Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox) to cause trouble when Republicans are so good at fighting among themselves? The infighting provides a welcome distraction from the fiscal difficulties the county, with tax revenue dependent on development and retail sales, finds itself in. Like the ancient Romans, with less bread, we need more entertaining circuses.

For people who found the Romley-Arpaio feud beneath the dignity of both men and the exalted standards of public service in county government, who saw Thomas’ 2004 election as a chance to resolve the friction between the two leaders of county law enforcement, well, you got your wish. The county attorney and sheriff now get along just fine. They just can’t get along with anybody else.

But the most interesting innovation developed by Thomas is his expansion of the law of conflict of interest, which you (and criminal lawyers) could use to advantage. Remember that Maricopa County paid all that money to Thomas’ former employer, Dennis Wilenchik, to arrest the publishers of Phoenix New Times after Thomas declared a conflict because of the paper’s strong, even pungent, editorial stands against him. When arresting publishers turned politically dicey, Thomas rose above supposed principle requiring his recusal and personally called off the investigation.

Now in the Stapley case, Thomas’ office has filed several motions seeking to have the assigned trial judge removed for bias. Thomas claims that the judge has ruled against him in the past, but lots of superior court judges have declined to agree with everything Thomas’ office proposes, and even Thomas’ henchmen (and women) must acknowledge that they don’t have any statistically valid evidence given the small number of rulings involved. Instead, their big claim is that the judge can’t be fair because he made a $390 contribution to Tim Nelson, Thomas’s opponent in November. (Repetitive disclosure: As did my wife and I, and Tim’s wife is one of my law partners.)

Thus, according to Thomas, for a mere $390 you’re irrevocably prejudiced against him. So wouldn’t that mean that a $390 contribution makes Thomas irrevocably prejudiced against you?

If I were a criminal defendant like, say, Don Stapley, I’d start writing angry columns against Thomas and send a $390 check to Tim Nelson to retire any remaining campaign debt immediately. Then you could demand (using Thomas’ own arguments) that Thomas recuse himself and send the case to a more rational, less grandstanding, prosecutor.

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Finally, please excuse a personal note. Along with the other changes at the Tribune, our Freedom Communications overlords eliminated the budget for outside writers, including their “house liberal.” So this column is my last, as it’s a bad idea to work for libertarians for free; it gives them the wrong idea. I greatly enjoyed, and appreciated, jousting with the editors, and with you readers, too, these past nine years. For future installments, however, visit my blog, www.samcoppersmith.com.

Sam Coppersmith, Democratic Party activist and former member of the U.S. House, can be reached at scoppersmith@cgsblaw.com.