These days, Maricopa County officials talk about sensitive issues outside of their offices for fear they’re being bugged. County Supervisor Fulton Brock even warns people at the beginning of phone conversations that someone may be listening in. And shockingly, county officials recently paid $10,000 to have the offices of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors swept for secret recording devices.
It all signals that the ongoing feud between the various branches of the county government has put employees on edge, according to a report by Yvonne Wingett in this morning’s Arizona Republic. Wingett talked with nearly 20 county workers who all said the competing lawsuits, investigations and volatile public statements are disrupting day-to-day business inside one of the nation’s largest counties.