Two attorneys, Michael Bailey and Andrew Pacheco are being considered to head up the United States Attorney’s Office for Arizona. With Sen. Jeff Session’s confirmation as U.S. Attorney General imminent, behind the scenes campaigns for Pacheco and Bailey have already begun.
During his tenure as Chief of Staff and Chief Deputy under Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Bailey has established a reputation for allowing high profile and complicated white collar and public corruption cases to be swept under the rug. Bailey is a former Maricopa County prosecutor who prosecuted sex crimes cases and homicide cases. According to the Rose Law Group Reporter, Bailey previously spent four years on the faculty roster at a liberal arts college. After leaving the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Bailey maintained a defense practice.
Pacheco, who ran second to Andrew Thomas and handily defeated Bailey in the 2004 Maricopa county attorney race, also served in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. While at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Pacheco specialized in organized crime prosecutions. In 2002 he joined the United States Attorney’s Office. Pacheco resigned from the United States Attorney’s Office in 2004 to run against Thomas and Bailey among others.
Pacheco joined the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in January 2011 where he headed the Forfeiture Section, the Fraud and Special Prosecutions Section and the entire Criminal Division.
Pacheco left the Attorney General’s Office shortly after he authored a report that concluded the Department of Child Safety had policies, under Charles Flanagan, that were “reasonably designed to safeguard children,” while noting there were errors in how it was carried out,” according to The Arizona Republic. Flanagan was brought in by former Governor Jan Brewer to head up a new DCS Department dedicated solely to child safety after it was discovered that under the Department of Economic Security there existed a backlog of investigations into child abuse allegations.
Pacheco’s report did not serve the interests of Governor Doug Ducey, who had only been in office one month at the time. Ducey then fired Flanagan and replaced him with McKay, who has served as a controversial character since taking the post.
Those, who have worked closely with Pacheco describe him as someone who, unlike Bailey, is willing to expose and prosecute corruption no matter how politically unpopular it might be. “Pacheco worked heavily in criminal alien smuggling cases and large scale DTO’s. If I recall, he was recognized for his work on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Bailey’s law firm defended child rapists,” said one source. “Night and day.”