Maricopa County report: Petersen performed county duties. Should suspension stand?

A report commissioned by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to investigate embattled County Assessor Paul Petersen turned up little evidence of professional misconduct. 

The Board of Supervisors suspended Petersen in October after he was arrested on a deluge of felony charges across three states related to an alleged international adoption scam he was operating out of his private law business. 

Petersen is appealing his suspension, arguing that the criminal charges he faces are unrelated to his conduct as the elected county assessor.

In preparation for Petersen's appeal hearing Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors ordered the county attorney to conduct an investigation into Petersen's work performance.

The report, released Friday, found that Petersen fulfilled all of the obligations required of a county assessor under the Arizona Constitution since he took over the office in 2013. 

"No matter how badly the Board of Supervisors wishes to overturn the decision of Maricopa County voters, facts are stubborn things and today’s report confirms what we have been saying for weeks: Paul Petersen is the duly elected Assessor—and by all accounts, he has performed his duties well," Petersen's attorney Kory Langhofer said in a statement.

However, the third-party investigators who conducted the investigation determined Petersen spent county time and resources to conduct his private business. 

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Petersen used his county computer to store hundreds of private documents, visit adoption-related websites and send private emails, according to the report. He also used his county phone to call OB-GYN offices. Investigators determined Petersen violated the county's technology policies.

The Board of Supervisors is the central governing body for the county, but it typically cannot remove other elected officials, such as Petersen, from office.

However, state law does give the board authority to suspend the assessor for up to 120 days for "neglect of duty."

It will be up to the Board of Supervisors to decide whether his violation of county policies represent a "neglect of duty" by Petersen in Wednesday's public hearing. 

Report: Assessor's office ran well

Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel asked law firm Mitchell Stein Carey Chapman to review Petersen's work performance. Law firm Cosmich Simmons & Brown provided a document review and forensic analysis, and former attorney general Grant Woods oversaw the investigation. 

Investigators interviewed the leadership team in the county assessor's office and found that under Petersen's time as assessor, the office has not missed any statutory deadlines.

The employees interviewed by investigators "generally had positive impressions of Mr. Petersen’s leadership of the office," according to the report. 

Petersen was generally only in the office about twice a week, but  "no person we interviewed expressed concern that Mr. Petersen was unavailable when his input or assistance was needed," the report said.

According to the report, there is no county rule forbidding Petersen from operating his private law business in addition to serving as the assessor, "if it does not interfere with their county employment, pose a conflict of interest with their county duties, or create an appearance of impropriety."

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Individuals interviewed said it's common for county employees to have secondary employment and those interviewed who had worked with other elected officials in the past "believed that Mr. Petersen’s time in the office was consistent with that of other elected officials."

The report noted that Petersen relied heavily on his leadership team to carry out day-to-day functions in the assessor's office. 

"Our impression was that this senior staff is competent, dedicated to the mission of the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office, and confident in each other and their staff’s ability to effectively and efficiently administer their duties," the report said.

Petersen's 20-day absence from the office in October while he was in federal custody did not appear to hinder the operations of the office, according to the report. 

In conclusion, investigators "did not find evidence that Mr. Petersen failed to fulfill any particular statutory obligations of the County Assessor," the report said. 

Adoption work on county time

Employees interviewed by investigators said they were aware of Petersen's private law firm but said Petersen made clear "that his law practice was entirely separate from his work for the county."

Last year, Honolulu Civil Beat published an investigative report calling into question Petersen's arrangement of Marshallese adoptions, which are at the center of the charges he now faces. 

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After the article published, Petersen addressed his management team about it, "reassuring staff that his conduct was legal and that the article should not affect the work of the office," according to the report. 

No one interviewed by investigators had any indication that Petersen was operating his law business on county time or using county resources.

But investigators found evidence that Petersen frequently used his county computer to conduct business related to his private law firm, which is "explicitly forbidden" under the county's technology policies. 

Elected officials are subject to county policies, but they are not subject to the same discipline for violating them as non-elected county employees, according to the report. 

Out of 61,532 documents reviewed by investigators, 856 related to Petersen’s law firm or adoption business, including:

• 82 adoption services agreements 
• 75 ultrasound images 
• 66 affidavits (66)
• 52 pleadings
• 23 law office bank records
• 19 bankruptcy pleadings
• 14 medical records 
• 14 adoption-related court orders/reports 
• 50 partial sections of adoption brochures for adoptive families 

Investigators also found receipts of wire transfers to Lynwood Jennet, the woman Arizona prosecutors believe helped facilitate Petersen's alleged adoption scam. 

They also determined that Petersen used his county computer to visit a number of adoption websites, Utah's Medicaid website, a website outlining immigrant eligibility for Medicaid and a number of other sites that pertained to his private business. 

Investigators also determined Petersen used the county's phone system to call entities unrelated to county business, including:

• Mother Goose Adoption Agency
• Premier Adoption Agency
• Hotels in Arkansas
• Adoption law firms in Oklahoma
• adoption law firms in Tempe
• Appalachian Power
• Services in Arkansas
• Ozarks Electrical Cooperative in Arkansas
• LawPay
• Springdale Water Utilities 
• Arkansas Supreme Court
• OB-GYN offices in Arkansas and Mesa

Neglect of duty?

Investigators did not find evidence that Petersen's private business or his 20-day incarceration had a substantial impact on the assessor's office. 

But the Board of Supervisors could determine that Petersen's violation of the county's technology policies, along with his failure to cooperate with the investigation, constitutes a neglect of duty, according to the report. 

"In considering that question, the board will need to decide whether sustained misuse of County resources while at the office of the county assessor and failing to cooperate with a county-authorized investigation means that Mr. Petersen neglected his duties as an elected official," the report said. 

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County spokesman Fields Moseley said the Board of Supervisors suspended Petersen based on two facts: Petersen was detained by law enforcement and unable to lead the assessor's office and he misused taxpayer resources by using his county computer for his adoption business. 

Both of those facts were confirmed by the report, Moseley said. 

"The board looks forward to hearing Mr. Petersen personally address these facts next week, when he is afforded his fair chance to persuade the board that it erred when it suspended him on these two grounds," Moseley said.

Petersen's hearing is at 1 p.m. Wednesday at 205 W. Jefferson St. in Phoenix. 

Reach the reporter at jessica.boehm@gannett.com or 480-694-1823. Follow her on Twitter @jboehm_NEWS. 

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