County Attorney Allister Adel is a vote for the status quo. That's why she has to go

Unquestionably, the most consequential race in Arizona is for Maricopa County attorney.

And no. It isn’t because Allister Adel or Julie Gunnigle will make history as the first woman elected to lead Maricopa County’s criminal justice system.

That’s a nice touch, for sure. But not as consequential as their approach to the job, which will almost certainly have life-changing effects.

Adel, the Republican appointed to the job in October 2019, represents the same old tough-on-crime and cops-can-do-nothing-wrong attitude.

She replaced Republican Bill Montgomery, who by the graces of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, now sits on the state’s Supreme Court.

You can thank Adel, Montgomery and their predecessors for the packed jails and prisons in Arizona where most of the inmates just happen to be people of color.

Adel refused to file charges against cops

It just so happens, too, that the top prosecutor and almost everyone else pulling the strings of the county’s criminal justice system are mostly white putting mostly people of color behind bars. More on this later.

But first, let's talk about Adel's cozy stance with cops, as illustrated in two high-profile cases. She declined to file charges against the police officer who killed Antonio Arce, the 14-year-old shot in the back while holding a toy gun.

And most recently, she declined to file charges against Arizona state trooper George Cervantes who killed Dion Johnson, a Black man who Cervantes said threatened him with a gun.  

Adel defends those and other decisions by saying she’s doing her job, which anyone can see is to prosecute the bad dudes and gals, and to defend the cops.

This really is one of the sharpest differences between her and her Democratic rival Gunnigle.

It's still the same broken system

Gunnigle was accused of fanning the flames when she called Adel’s decision not to prosecute Cervantes “an act of cowardice.”

Whether it was “an act of cowardice,” as she called it, or “political courage,” as my colleague Robert Robb called it, the result is exactly the same.

The fact is things haven’t changed much under Adel and her predecessors. Cops are likely to walk away, thus police unions back her, and the mostly white prosecutors keep putting mostly people of color behind bars.  

How different would Gunnigle really be if she, too, is white? For starters, she’s willing to take a deeper look at the root of the problem that lands so many behind bars. And she’s also willing to look at police behavior and not merely take their word for it.

Gunnigle graduated from Northern Arizona University and University of Notre Dame Law School. She worked as a prosecutor in Indiana and Illinois before returning to Arizona.

Her willingness to look at justice reform isn’t an indication that she’d soft on crime. It means she’s willing to examine the county attorney’s office – the third largest prosecutorial office in the country with 360 prosecutors.

Gunnigle would at least try to change that

Things can’t remain the same at the nation's fourth largest trial court where the overwhelmingly majority of prosecutors – 84% – are white.

Maricopa County is home to roughly 4.5 million, of which 45.5% are people of color. All levels of the justice system – from judges to public defenders to the court of appeals – are predominantly white, according to an Arizona Republic analysis.

Meanwhile, the majority of inmates inside Arizona’s prisons were convicted in Maricopa County. And yep, the majority are people of color.

Does anyone seriously believe it’s OK to keep a criminal justice system where mostly white prosecutors keep putting people of color behind bars? Gunnigle is willing to look at that and reexamine the system.

Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1.