Attorney general candidate Andrew Thomas is blasting his Republican opponent, Tom Horne, for hiring a high-level administrator despite a 1992 conviction for embezzling about $1.7 million from his former employer.
Thomas said he would not have hired Donald Houde, who serves as Horne's chief technology officer for the Arizona Department of Education. He distributed a U.S. News & World Report story that detailed Houde's story. According to that report, Houde was 38 when investigators found he had created fake vendors to collect payments from his Denver-based company, Mile Hi Cablevision. The report states a new supervisor wondered how Houde could afford "three expensive cars and a mansion with Waterford chandeliers" on his salary.
Houde, who did not return several calls seeking comment, served prison time after pleading guilty to felonious theft.
He was first hired at the Education Department as a consultant in 2005 and was later given a permanent position.
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Horne said Houde has served his debt to society and has been effective in his post, noting he was successful in securing a $6 million federal grant for education technology.
"His problems were many years ago," Horne said, adding Houde disclosed his past when he was hired full time. He said there are controls in place to ensure financial accuracy, noting that a contract administrator and the procurement department supervise every contract.
Thomas countered that the nature of the crime should have precluded Houde's ability to oversee personal information of students and teachers. "It's not as though it was a minor indiscretion in his youth," he said.
He said as Maricopa County attorney, he did a criminal background check on potential employees and if an offense turned up, "that was almost always an automatic disqualifier."
Both took the opportunity to use the incident to highlight ongoing criticisms of their opponents.
Horne said Thomas was trying to distract voters' attention from an ongoing state bar investigation of him for allegedly abusing his prosecutorial powers to punish political enemies. Thomas has said the investigation is politically motivated, but the heat was ratcheted up Thursday with the release of grand jury documents that interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said shows Thomas had a clear intent to prosecute political enemies.
"Here he is, going after a helpless, nonpolitical employee who's doing a fabulous job," Horne said. "That's an indication of how vicious and irresponsible he is."
Thomas, meanwhile, is using it to repeat one of his favorite characterizations of Horne as a "con artist," reminding voters of Horne's lifetime ban with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The penalty stemmed from a case in the 1970s when he submitted incorrect financial documents for his investment firm, which ended up in bankruptcy.
Because he didn't disclose that bankruptcy on several annual corporate filings, saying it slipped his mind because it was 40 years ago, the Arizona Corporation Commission has opened an investigation, as a result of a complaint by the Thomas camp.
"Birds of a feather flock together," Thomas said.
Reporter Rhonda Bodfield: 573-4243 or rbodfield@azstarnet.com
