Of all the stories about Mary Rose Wilcox, my personal favorite is the time she took a phantom position with a food service company vying for a spot at Sky Harbor Airport.  She basically sold her “employers” her minority  status so they could qualify under the guidelines regarding racial diversity. I assume she got a chuckle collecting checks and remembering her advocacy on behalf of the racist, I mean racial, favoritism.

She’s been in the public-service-for-personal gain business for a while but surely knocking down nearly $1 million because Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas hurt her feelings has to be her crowning achievement, the cap on a long, glorious career.

The story is wrong on so many levels. I guess the one that galls me the most is the basic notion that elected politicians ever deserve anything from taxpayers on the basis of their “pain and suffering” in office. Politics ain’t beanbag, you know.

What was Judge Neil Wake thinking?  Anyone who has ever run for office and served knows that you are nearly constantly criticized for every thing every day. Your opponents try to get under your skin. It can be very annoying   Sometimes it enrages you. But it’s just part of the deal. It’s stupefying to think that the slings and arrows of the political life are ever compensable.

Of course, supervisor Wilcox burbled that she thought that unwarranted taxpayer largesse showed that justice was served. She was probably even sincere.