Carefree Truth
Issue #654, June 11, 2018
Michael Wright approached the podium following the Mayor. "As the attorney for the Town of Carefree, I'm compelled to address you tonight to describe and explain in detail what occurred, and why, relative to term limits. But more importantly, I must inform you of the illegal action and perjury of Michael Farrar."
"First a little background. Carefree is a non charter form of government. That's a very important distinction. That's why we're a town and the others are cities. As a non charter form of government, we have very limited municipal powers."
On March 8th, 2011, at a special election by virtue of an initiative, the issue of term limits was put on the Carefree ballot. It passed and became part of the Town Code. It required any council member or mayor who served 3 consecutive terms to be "termed out". Nothing could be done to challenge that between 2011 and now because of the "standing" requirement in the law.
2 Councilmen are now termed out. John Crane asked Mike Farrar to to join him in challenging the legality of term limits. Mike Farrar passed and announced he was running for Mayor, as he is entitled to do. John Crane elected to challenge the validity of term limits.
On April 20th, John Crane filed a Special Action asking the Court to invalidate term limits. That type of Special Action is entitled to a priority fast track because as we are moving into the election cycle, it must be determined before May 30th, when the ballots are struck and submitted to the printer.
Mr. Wright stressed that it is important to understand that the Action was accompanied by an application for an Order to Show Cause and a verified Complaint signed by John Crane. When the Town received the Complaint, the Town entered an appearance of all the main defendants. John Crane sued the Town and named every Council person in their official capacity, not as individuals or personally. The distinction between official capacity and personally is very important.
As none were sued personally, the Order to Show Cause hearing was attended by Gary Neiss and by John Crane with his attorney. Because it was clearly a legal issue, the Judge set a fast track for the briefing schedule. John Crane's attorney filed a compelling brief. Mr. Wright put together a vigorous defense, as best he could, to try to defend Carefree's term limits. But Carefree is a non charter town. After the pleas were all filed, the Court ruled in favor of John Crane and entered an injunction stopping the Town from enforcing term limits. Mr. Crane was allowed to run as a candidate for Council.
"Well, that apparently didn't sit well with Michael Farrar. So, what did Michael Farrar do? Number 1, he refused to recognize the distinction between official capacity and personal, and he filed a confusing Motion to Reconsider the Court's ruling. That's an illegal document. He didn't have the right to file that document. Michael Farrar, personally, was not a party to the lawsuit. If he wanted to file something on that lawsuit, he'd have to file a Motion to Intervene, as a party to assert whatever he wanted to assert. But instead, he filed this Motion to Reconsider."
"But it's very troubling in that the pleading that he filed with the Court on June 2nd, entitled the Motion to Reconsider, an Objection to the Judgment, is filed by Michael Farrar with his personal address at the top. And then he states, on the very first line, 'Defendant Council member Michael Farrar respectfully files this Motion to Reconsider for the following reasons. As an elected representative of the voters it is my duty to represent the wishes of the voters'. He goes on, 'The Carefree voters overwhelmingly voted for term limits'. It's very confusing as to what capacity Michael Farrar was trying to present this motion for reconsideration. Because the only party of this litigation at this point that could file a Motion to Reconsider is the Town of Carefree."
Mr. Farrar did not consult with Mr. Wright in any respect, and Mr. Wright was not aware that Mr. Farrar was going to file that pleading. "But that's not the worst of it. If that pleading had been solely directed to, 'The Judge made a mistake, and here's the legal reason he made a mistake, and so you should reconsider the ruling', that's what not he filed. He filed a political document under the guise of a Motion to Reconsider. He attempted to mislead the Court." "The pleading that he filed was illegal, it was frivolous, and it's tantamount to what we term vexatious litigation with an ulterior motive, namely to enhance his political stature and demean and smear the Mayor and others in his run for mayor."
Mr. Farrar's Motion to Reconsider is posted on his FaceBook page. He sent emails to Rod deSzendeffy and to Constance Bedell, letting them know that he had filed the Motion to Reconsider that day, and that he would also be preparing a press release to submit to the Sonoran News. This makes it public record.
(Lyn's note: Mr. deSzendeffy was the one who launched and funded the failed recall attempt against Mayor David Schwan in 2009/10. Ms. Bedell is the East coast political consultant currently being used by Mr. Farrar, who was previously referenced by Mayor Peterson when the Mayor was at the podium.)
"Unfortunately, Michael Farrar is so desperate to smear the Mayor to further his distorted political agenda, he resorted to multiple lies and libelous statements against the Mayor, John Crane, me and my law firm. That does not sit well with me." "This is very important because everyone in this room probably understands the difference between liable and slander. Liable is a written statement that is not true. Slander is an oral statement that is not true."
"So, what is perjury? Perjury arises when you have filed a written statement, under oath, with the Court, saying that this is filed under penalty of perjury. Farrar did that! Unbelievable! He filed this plea, and here is what he says. It states at the back of the pleading, 'Respectfully submitted this 2nd day of June, 2018, I, the undersigned, Michael Farrar, hereby declare under penalty of perjury, all the information included herein is true and accurate'.
There are several paragraphs in this Motion to Reconsider that are blatantly false. He accuses John Crane and the Mayor of passing money financing these efforts. And he says, 'By personal knowledge and belief, this alleged Mayor, Les Peterson, provided the plaintiff, Vice Mayor John Crane, the funds to hire an attorney to litigate overturning the term limits of the Town of Carefree'. That statement is totally a lie. It's been refuted by the Mayor. It's been refuted by John Crane. John Crane has submitted an affidavit to the court, refuting that particular statement. John Crane filed, through his attorney, a response to Mr. Farrar's Motion to Reconsider, with the attached affidavit. Anyone can see it." It is a matter of public record at the Courthouse. (Lyn's note: The Vice Mayor's affidavit was also attached to the Carefree Truth newsletter reporting on Vice Mayor Crane's statements at the podium, and can be viewed printed out on our website, www.carefreetruth2.com at the bottom of that newsletter, #652.)
"Next paragraph. He alleged that the attorney for the Town of Carefree Michael Wright, Mayor Les Peterson, and the plaintiff collaborated to orchestrate a litigation against the main defendants to overturn the will of the voters, with the understanding that the plaintiff would repay Mr. Peterson for the attorney's fees and court costs to be paid by the Town once the Court awarded the attorney's fees to the plaintiff."
"Last, but not least, he alleges under oath, 'The Town Attorney, Mayor Peterson, and the plaintiff allegedly agreed, prior to the time the original complaint was filed, that the Town of Carefree, represented by Mr. Wright, would not materially object to the plaintiff's complaint to defy the will of the voters in Carefree'. Then he said, 'Moreover, given that the Town Attorney works for the plaintiff,' (Well, I work for the Town. He claims I have a conflict of interest.) 'see attached Exhibit A'. Exhibit A is an unsigned document from something called Carefree's Future Matters. This was filed without any indication to the Court as to who authored that document. And the document also contains libelous statements." (Lyn's note: Carefree's Future Matters is an email newsletter written by John Traynor, the losing candidate in the failed recall attempt in 2009/10.)
"Michael Farrar, I say this to you. Elections have consequences, and we've heard this over and over again. But I will also submit that political campaigning with actual malice towards your opponent and others also has severe consequences. You have libeled me and my law firm; you have libeled the Mayor; you have libeled John Crane. I refer you to ARS 1327-02. That's the perjury Statute in Arizona. It's a Class 4 felony with penalties of up to 3-7 years. As the Town Attorney for Carefree, I was compelled to request of the Maricopa County Attorney General's Office, Bill Montgomery's office, to investigate these perjurous statements by Michael Farrar, submitted in a public document."
"It's interesting to note that I propose this comment. Michael Farrar is certainly not acting in the best interest of this town, illegally submitting a document, the Motion to Reconsider, which was really a political diatribe with libelous statements and not so much as an effort to convince this Court to reverse itself and its ruling to invalidate term limits. Michael Farrar, I strongly suggest that if you continue with your scorch the earth political statements, ignoring the truth of the facts, that you should resign immediately."
https://vimeo.com/273820024
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
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