Today, Arizona State Representative John Allen (R LD15) filed a complaint with House leadership against Representative Rob Robson state (R LD18), for stealing signs during his bid to be elected to the 52nd Legislature. Allen requests that Robson be removed from the House floor and his vote be suspended for one week for each offense.
Allen alleges in his complaint:
First, on August 9 at approximately 9:45 p.m., Robson and an “unnamed associate stole a sign belonging to Mike Richardson a precinct committeemen of LD 18 that was on the northwest corner of Dobson and Warner Road. The Circle K, located at 2020 West Warner Road provided surveillance video to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and it was shown a white Nissan Titan pickup truck drop an unidentified person on the street corner. The person came by to pick up the unknown person. In the investigation conducted by Detective John Graham of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, a witness, Mr. Christian Herre, identified Mr. Robson as the driver of the white pickup truck in a photographic lineup. He also provided another video of the event that clearly shows truck in question had a personalized Arizona license plate, “Robson.”
This violated A.R.S. 13-1802. Theft Section A.1. and because the sign was worth less than one thousand dollars it was a class one misdemeanor. I have included the Sheriffs report and the two videos.
The second offense occurred during Mr. Robson’s interview with Detective Graham on Monday, October 18, 2014. Mr. Robson was asked for his driver’s license so that the citation could be issued he refused. He refused to provide it. This violated A.R.S. 13-2403. Refusing to aid a peace officer, also a class one misdemeanor. This violation is evident in Detective Graham’s report on page 5, Paragraph 2, also attached.
I realize these are not the most heinous of crimes but, they are not victimless and both go to the heart of everything a legislator should hold dear. Freedom of speech and the rule of law.
Richardson first reported Robson and political ally Sen. Jeff Dial have been removing and destroying signs for some time. He reported that there “have been in excess of 130 signs missing or destroyed. According to Richardson, the signs in question were the “public information signs that point out who voted for the Obamacare Expansion debacle thrust upon our state with the red “Arrow of Truth. The arrows were pointed at the Robson Dial signs to inform the public of who it was in LD18 that did the dirty deed to Arizona and the AZGOP.”
Robson was re-elected with the help of Governor Jan Brewer who funded the campaigns of the handful of Republican legislators who assisted her in passing Medicaid expansion in the middle of the night during Special Session she called for that purpose.