Quartzsite Town Manager Alex Taft was placed on administrative leave today by a majority of the Quartzsite Common Council. The details were discussed in executive session, behind closed doors. Taft is going to remain on the payroll, but must hand over keys and other town property while on leave. She will be checking in with the Town each morning from …

This article is the active post on this subject at Parker Live. Further news on the subject will be added in the form of updates at the bottom. ———- “I believe that we are being blocked by the Town administration from having our special meeting. This is our only recourse.” – Mark Orgeron The Quartzsite Town Council adjourned every item …

The Town of Quartzsite’s procurement of private investigators to find evidence of voter fraud in the last election is authorized by state statute, according to a statement sent Friday to Parker Live by Town Manager Alex Taft. The statement says the Town investigation is working on finding evidence that voter fraud occurred in the May election, which elected Ed Foster, Mark …

Quartzsite Council Member-Elect Mark Orgeron has filed a legal complaint against the Town of Quartzsite Common Council challenging their refusal to seat him after he was elected to the Council in May. Orgeron alleges that the Council voted to disqualify him from taking office – even after some of them had been voted out – on the basis that he …

A lot has happened in Quartzsite over the past few days in the ongoing feud, and you should be covering it. Yesterday Mayor Lizarraga wanted the winners of the recent election seated, and adjourned (perhaps inappropriately) the meeting, and now allegations are emerging that the town attorney Martin Brannan assaulted Lizarraga in the hallway. Today the council had a special …

A letter sent by La Paz County Attorney Sam Vederman to the La Paz County Board of Supervisors regarding cases deriving from Quartzsite Police Department has received a scathing reaction from Quartzsite Police Chief Jeff GIlbert. In the letter, Vederman says he is not prosecuting misdemeanor cases originating from QPD because Gilbert informed him in a memo in June 2011 …

The first unofficial results of the Quartzsite General Election are in, and they say that anti-administration candidate Ed Foster took 56.97% of the vote in the race for mayor, with 42.27% of the vote going to his competitor Jerry Lukkasson. This will be the second time Foster has served as mayor. Last time, he dissented from the rest of the …

Charges against former Quartzsite mayor and candidate Ed Foster were reportedly dismissed in court this morning. The charges, which Foster has maintained were politically motivated, were being handled by a Special Prosecutor for the town, Tom Jones. Jones received the case because Town Attorney Martin Brannan stepped down from the case after Foster’s attorney moved for his disqualification. After reviewing …

As a front page story in today’s Arizona Republic reported, La Paz County Attorney Sam Vederman has asked the FBI to step in and investigate the town of Quartzsite. Parker Live received a copy of the letter this morning. In it, Vederman expresses his concern about recent events in the town, citing various cases as examples of what he says …

Local attorney Matt Newman is apparently refusing to do further business with the Town of Quartzsite, “at any hourly rate”, calling the current administration “tainted.” This comes after Public Defender Michael Frame refused to work on cases involving the Town’s Attorney Martin Brannan, citing conflicts of interest and what he believes are politically-motivated actions against his clients by Brannan and …