Brad Miller sworn in as new County Attorney

FROM PINALCENTRAL NOAH CULLEN| December 27th, 2024

FLORENCE — Brad Miller was sworn in as the new Pinal County attorney late Friday morning (27th) at the historic 1891 courthouse in Florence, ushering in a moment of change for the county.

He later highlighted freedom of speech, victim’s rights, border issues and fighting for the “small guy” as key areas of focus for his office.

The ceremony on the creaky second floor of the old courthouse was attended by family, friends, campaign workers and supporters.

Miller and the Republican congressman-elect for Arizona’s District 8, Abe Hamadeh, spoke before the swearing-in ceremony to celebrate what they said felt like to them a moment of change, alluding to both local and national trends in Republican victories, most saliently in the reelection of former President Donald Trump.

After the ceremony, everyone gathered at the Florence Community Center to mingle, eat and celebrate.

Miller will take office on Jan. 1.

Pinal County Sheriff-elect Ross Teeple will be taking office on the same day as both offices gain a new leader for the first time since 2017.

“We need to have a lot of confidence,” Miller told the crowded room before the ceremony. “We’ve lost a lot of confidence in our country, sometimes in our elections and other things, but when you look around this room you can see that you can effect change.”

“I never wanted to be a politician, it was never something I aspired to be,” Miller added. “We saw something that needed to change and we got people together with a similar vision and we were able to go in and effect change.”

Miller, who’s also a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, spoke about enforcing the rule of law and bringing respect back to law enforcement.

Hamadeh, who endorsed Miller in June while the two ran for their respective offices, spoke of his support for Miller but also echoed national Republican attitudes in the “American First” tagline.

Miller thanked everyone for being there though he singled out one person to thank most of all, his wife, who also served as his campaign manager.

“It’s amazing how much you can go through and what you can accomplish when you have a very powerful, intelligent spouse behind you,” he said after the crowd looked to the back of the room where she stood. “None of this would be possible without my wife behind me.”

Attendees gathered at the Florence Community Center around circular tables to celebrate the day. Trays of pasta, sausage and bread were set alongside Prime sport energy drinks and water as the crowd swirled around the room loquaciously.

Miller said in an interview that Gina Godbehere will be the new PCAO chief deputy. Godbehere ran for the position of Maricopa County attorney in the Republican primary. She lost to incumbent Rachel Mitchell. Mitchell, who was appointed to the position in 2022 after Allister Abel resigned, went on to win a full term in the general election against Democrat Tamika Wooten.

Godbehere was hired by PCAO as an attorney in September, shortly after Miller won the primary election against incumbent Kent Volkmer. She formerly worked as an attorney with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for 25 years, including prosecuting juvenile and criminal cases. She spent her last year with MCAO as a homicide prosecutor, according to her LinkedIn page.

Since her time at the MCAO but before her new job at the PCAO, Godbehere was a crime victim rights attorney for Legal Services for Crime Victims in Arizona, a nonprofit focusing on victims, particularly of domestic and sexual abuse.

“Why I really wanted her was because she’s very focused on enforcing and protecting victim’s rights,” Miller said. “So, the focus of my administration will be on customer service and making sure we protect the rights of victims.”

Miller had focused in part on border issues during his campaign and expounded on those plans as well.

“One of the things we’re looking into is cross-deputizing any of our agency partners as federal law enforcement officers so we can start enforcing some of the border mission,” Miller said. “We know there’s a lot of crime, lots of drugs, human trafficking and other things happening in the county and we believe a lot of that is related to our open border policies.”

Miller commented on the feeling during the ceremony that his election represented a moment of change, both for local and national politics.

“I think there’s a national desire of people wanting to get back to normalcy, you know freedom of speech, not feeling that they should be afraid of what they say, or what they think or what they believe,” Miller said.

“We had one party that wanted to enforce speech codes, to shut down social media, to have no debate where you can’t talk about anything. And then we had another party that embraced freedom of speech and I think, obviously, I’m on that particular side.”

“And I think the reason why many independents and Democrats voted Republican during this cycle is because they saw the Republican Party as one that says ‘let’s get back to normal,’” Miller said. “Where we go to our jobs and we can say what we want even if you disagree, you can have debate.”

Miller was unopposed in the general election.

Miller said he seeks to protect blue collar workers — the “small guy” — by focusing on economic opportunity in copper corridor mining towns like Superior, Dudleyville and Mammoth. Miller said he is a proponent of reviving those towns by bringing in new mining opportunities.

“If I could snap my fingers and fix something today, I would open up those mines and get people back to work,” Miller said. He said mines would bring money and families back to those areas.

Resolution Copper, a proposed copper mining project outside Superior, signed a “Good Neighbor” agreement with Superior Community Working Group, which considers environmental, social and economic effects of the proposed mining project that could produce nearly 25% of U.S. copper demand, according to a Resolution Copper press release in March.

The new proposed mine would be developed at the foot of the historic Magma Copper Mine near Superior that closed in 1996 after 86 years of operation.

Given other proposed mines in Pinal, copper’s need in electric vehicle manufacturing and their proximity to the Lucid Motors facility in Casa Grande, Miller noted these new projects would be important to the future of EVs in the U.S.

Miller, who announced plans to run for the role of Pinal County attorney back in 2023, said he felt “fantastic” and was thrilled to see a vision he had almost two years ago coming to fruition.

“Today’s just a day of celebration, so we’re happy to be here,” he said.