It is always the cover-up that gets them in the end. State Senator Rich Crandall is accused of “dirty, shameful campaign tactics” in a sign scandal that could lead to a felony charges.
The Senator is accused of intimidating a witness to protect his daughter from the minor violation of ARS 16-1019, which makes it a class 2 misdemeanor to “knowingly remove, alter, deface or cover any political sign of any candidate.”
This week, Crandall’s daughter and her friend replaced one of State representative John Fillmore’s signs with one of Crandall’s. Representative Brenda Barton, who happened to have a doctor’s appointment nearby, witnessed and photographed the girls replacing one of Fillmore’s signs with one of Crandall’s.
According to the Yellow Sheet, Barton was merely in the East Valley to see her doctor. As she was leaving, she said she saw two girls “with a sign over a sign – Fillmore on one side, Crandall on the other.” “Uh oh. That is not correct. I don’t know what’s going on, but that’s not right,” Barton told the Yellow Sheet reporter.
Crandall told the Yellow Sheet that Fillmore is a “lying SOB” and that they were his poles not Fillmore’s. In response Fillmore said, “As God as my witness, I would say that is not true. I hammered those poles in myself a month ago. Mr. Crandall has never had a sign on that corner.”
While Fillmore was not likely going to press charges against Crandall’s daughter, Crandall got out ahead of the possibility and reportedly threatened Barton that if she acted as a witness against his daughter, she would suffer legislative consequences.
Reportedly the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has been asked to investigate the threats made by Crandall in his alleged effort to intimidate a witness.