Phoenix New Times:  “Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas this afternoon struggled to explain his decision to charge the county’s presiding criminal court judge, Gary Donahoe, with three felony counts –bribery, obstructing a criminal investigation, and hindering prosecution.  But Thomas couldn’t offer any evidence to the assembled media scrum that Donahoe actually had accepted a bribe of any sort. Instead, he and Sheriff Joe Arpaio (who stood next to Thomas at the lectern) offered the same vague allegations they have made for nearly a year regarding the county’s planned court tower, currently under construction.  In fact, the county attorney said no evidence exists that the veteran judge personally has received anything in the way of a personal financial benefit during the flap over the $347 million construction project.”