A Sad History Indeed

Arizona's Civil Rights icon Rev. George Brooks died last month.  We were Freshman together in the Arizona House of Representatives in 1991.  The House seating chart was very formal in those days.  The front row and aisle seats were reserved for senior Republicans.  The middle seats were for second year Republicans and the back corners were for punk freshman Republicans and Democrats.  I sat in the back with Art Hamilton, John Kromko and Dr. Brooks.  I had a great time.

The media tributes to Dr. Brooks all mention the discrimination that he suffered in the late 50s and early 60s.  Indeed, who can read the history of the civil rights movement and not be affected by the overt discrimination, selective prosecution and callous media neglect. 

What the media failed to mention is that worst injustice that Dr. Brooks experienced wasn't in 1959, it was in 1999. 

It's easy for the media to hearken back to the days of segregated lunch counters and talk about what a great man Dr. Brooks was.  That's because the editorial writers were just kids and the Phoenix of the 50s seems like another planet.  But where was the press corp when Dr. Brooks was being hung out to dry in 1999?

If you want to see what prosecutorial overreaching and media nonfeasance looks like, let me tell you a story about the time the local press corp looked at its collective shoes while the guy they are now calling a civil rights icon was fighting for his life in the face politically motivated charges and overreaching prosecution.

The Roosevelt School Board is ground zero in the power struggle between South Phoenix African Americans and Hispanics.  By the mid 1990s, Dr. Brooks had served on the School Board for over 20 years. In 1996, the Board fired an African American school administrator named Charles Townsel.  Brooks was Townsel's lone supporter on the Board.  Frankly, the firing was probably justified, but at the time Townsel viewed it as racial and political, part of an "Hispanic vendetta".  Townsel felt that he had to get more African Americans elected to the Board if he had any chance of getting reinstated, or perhaps more importantly, getting his legal fees paid.

In the 1998 election, Townsel worked to get Rev. Arthur Strong elected to the Roosevelt School Board.  Dr. Brooks served as Strong's Treasurer. 

After Strong was elected it became clear that there were problems with some of the contributions he had received.  Fellow African American Board Member Linda Armstead complained to Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley. 

Romley indicted all three men. 

So let me ask you a question.  When a candidate chooses a 74 year old civil rights icon, and 20 year school board incumbent to serve as Treasurer, do you think he's involved in the day-to-day financial activities, or do you think it's a ceremonial position? 

Romley didn't send Dr. Brooks a strongly worded letter.  He indicted Brooks on 12 felony charges and threatened him with 21 years in prison.

To show you how much Romley overreached, let's take a closer look at the charges against Townsel.  He was indicted on charges of "presentment of false instrument for filing, fraudulent schemes, false voter registration, illegal voting and unqualified signing of petitions."

That sounds pretty serious until you learn what really happened.  Here's how the Republic described the charges in September of 2000.

Prosecutors argued that Townsel's civil right to vote had not been restored because Townsel had not applied to restore his rights in Arizona. Townsel's civil right to vote was suspended after a 1980s tax-evasion conviction in California.

That's right.  Townsel had been convicted of a felony in California 20 years earlier.   Upon his release, his voting rights had automatically been restored in California.  He moved to Arizona and became active in politics.  Prosecutors claimed that Townsel had to apply to have his rights restored in Arizona even though they had automatically been restored in California.  Romley contended that Townsel had committed multiple felonies by simply working on Strong's campaign and voting in the 1998 election.

Give me a break.  That's not prosecution.  That's a witch hunt.  Townsel went to trial on those charges and was promptly acquitted.

But it wasn't over.  The Republic tells us what happened next.

Even with Wednesday's verdict, Townsel is still in the legal woods.

He and the Revs. George Brooks and Arthur Strong, who are school board members, face other felony charges of election and campaign fraud.

In July, a sobbing Townsel accepted then rejected a plea bargain encompassing both cases and decided to take his chances at trial.

Townsel's acquittal should have slowed Romley down, but Townsel was actually a side show.  It was Brooks that Romley wanted. 

Prosecutors consider Brooks the heavy in the case, charging him with 12 felony campaign violations that could result in probation or land him in prison for 21 years, nearly as long as he has served on the Roosevelt School Board.

Even Brooks' enemies were shocked by the ferocity of the prosecution.

Even Linda Armstead, a fellow school board member who tipped prosecutors off to the alleged conspiracy, is surprised at the possible length of Brooks' sentence.

Linda Armstead admitted that her goal in filing the original complaint was to get Brooks and Strong off the Board.

The indictments, prospect of a lengthy trial, and possible prison time must have placed a heavy toll on all three men.   Brooks was 74 at the time and had health issues even then. Townsel was 66.  Rev. Strong was only 55 but had to undergo dialysis three times a week. 

Faced with a 12 count indictment and a possible 21 year prison term, Brooks plead guilty to one misdemeanor.  That's right.  The grand conspiracy, 12 count, rest-of-your-life-in-prison, overreaching indictment was reduced to one misdemeanor.  Dr. Brooks paid a $2,500 fine and agreed to not to run for re-election.

Brooks called a press conference and explained why he pled guilty. 

He entered the plea, he said, after it "became apparent that my wallet was no match for the collective wallets of the Maricopa County government ... In light of that, sometimes in life one must choose the path of least resistance."

How's that for an epitaph?  "Brooks took the path of least resistance."  He certainly never took the path of least Resistance when he faced segregated classrooms, whites only lunch counters or "colored" drinking fountains.  But faced with the prospect of paying tens of thousand of dollars in legal fees and facing the rest of his life in prison, Brooks pled guilty to a crime he maintained he didn't commit, paid a fine and left the school board.  The case reads like 1930s Alabama. 

Where was the Republic Editorial Board then?  Sure, it's easy now to praise Dr. Brooks for surviving in the crucible of 1959.  But the Editorial Board sat on its hands when Brooks was unfairly targeted for prosecution.  Reporters and editorial writers like to think that they would have stood up against the injustice of the 1960s.  But they didn't take a stand for Dr. Brooks in 1999, what makes them think they would have stood up in 1959?

Comments

[John]

We see Goddard doing it today and even Andy Thomas trying to make a name for himself and get free press by going after Russ Jones for some nonsense on his campaign petitions. The prosecutor's office is no place for an ambitious politician. Maybe its time we stopped electing them and started appointing them?

[Timothy]

Maricopa County prosecutes like 40,000 felonies a year, so that pretty much guarantees free press. If I recall Russ Jones admitted committing a crime, and did so in open court, and not because he was threatened with some kind of prosecution. He basically handed himself over.

I would be all in favor of appointing prosecutors, but in exchange we must have elected judges, running in partisan primaries and general elections (not retention elections). It's unAmerican to have both branches getting their jobs in exactly the same way.

[AZGuy]

Wow. Just wow. I had forgotten how bad that whole thing was. Great column.

[ron]

Greg,

Thank you for printing this - this is real news that our community needs to hear.

[Ann W]

Thank you for telling this amazing story. We need to be reminded that it wasn't long ago that these things happened...racial discrimination was overt and common. That is why I get nervous when I hear about communities abandoning de-segregation efforts, and that affirmative action is no longer needed. It just wasn't that long ago that people of color were treated as second class citizens. And, when we start seeing nooses in trees and on college campuses, as we have lately, it is too early to think that these anti-discrimination efforts are
no longer necessary. Again, great history lesson.

[Shane]

Love the photo featuring Herschella Horton, Marion Pickens, Gary Richardson, Keith Bee and is that Mr. Schweikert front and center? Yikes! Does that bring back memories.

[George Green]

This doesn't even qualify as Romley's worst abuse. He stands alone as the only prosecutor to successfully convict a completely innocent man of a brutal rape and murder, not just once but twice. Ray Krohn had not even been guilty of a traffic ticket before Romley sent him to death row.