Last week, the Wonk Room reported that Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio filed a civil suit against Maricopa County administrators, elected officials, judges and attorneys who have challenged his authority. Now, Arpaio is asking the Board of Supervisors which is currently battling him in court for $7 million to cover his office’s mounting legal fees. As of July of this year, the state of Arizona was facing a $3.4 billion budget deficit.

In October, supervisors approved a new policy that requires elected officials such as Arpaio to cover their own legal fees when the dispute involves other county officials. The Arizona Republic reports that “lawsuits between county agencies including the Sheriff’s Office, the County Attorney’s Office and the Treasurer’s Office against county administration have cost more than $2.5 million in legal fees.”

Ray Stern of the Phoenix New Times explains that Arpaio’s top political ally, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, had been “waging a Cold War for more than a couple of years” with the Board of Supervisors. A legal memorandum of understanding between the two parties stopped them from suing each other, but Thomas tapped friend Sheriff Arpaio with allegedly incriminating tips. “It would soon touch off an expensive, all-out war between Thomas and Arpaio on one side and the Board of Supervisors on the other,” writes Stern. Stapley was indicted on 118 charges — 52 were thrown out and prosecutors requested the rest be dropped a few months later. Arpaio’s deputies responded with 100 new counts against Stapley.

Arpaio has also been the target of over 2,700 lawsuits — most which stem from his controversial immigration enforcement tactics and jail conditions. The Department of Justice is investigating racial profiling allegations made against the Sheriff’s office and word has spread that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into accusations that Arpaio has been “using his position to settle political vendettas.” As of 2008, the Arizona Bar Association was investigating Thomas.

Earlier this week, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and political ally, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, filed a civil suit against county administrators, elected officials, judges and attorneys who have challenged his authority. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants “conspired to hinder criminal prosecutions and investigations in exchange for funding a $345 million court building.” However, today Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Mundell released a statement calling the allegations “false, frivolous and slanderous”:

None of the judges have received copies of the judicial conduct complaints filed by Chief Deputy Sheriff David Hendershott and have only read about these allegations in news reports. Recently, two of these complaints were posted on a media website.

The allegations are false, frivolous and slanderous. This is the latest attempt to intimidate the judiciary and interfere with the fair, impartial and timely administration of justice. This attempt will fail. The bench of the Maricopa County Superior Court will continue to provide access to the courts, decide cases based upon the law and not politics, protect the rights of victims and defendants and ensure public safety.

Last month, Phoenix’s local KPHO-Channel 5 reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started looking into accusations that Arpaio has been “using his position to settle political vendettas” against those who have been critical of his controversial police tactics, primarily his aggressive pursuit of undocumented immigrants. Mundell was among the well-known Arizona public figures who KPHO listed as having been paid “unwelcome visits” by Arpaio’s deputies shortly after speaking out against the Sheriff.

During the spring of this year, Mundell criticized Arpaio’s treatment of inmates and his failure to transport them to their court hearings. Mundell then signed off on an administrative order aimed at making sure both defendants and victims get their day in court. Arpaio was furious and called the move a political attack. Shortly thereafter, Mundell reported that the Arpaio’s deputies had “mysteriously staked out her home.”