Mr. Chapman has no education, work experience, or qualifications to serve as a judge in our community. He is a decertified former police officer (permanently barred from serving as a peace officer in the state of Arizona) with two DUIs in the past decade. He relies on political fodder and smear campaign tactics and has violated several sections of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct, demonstrating his inability to execute impartial performance of the adjudicative duties of judicial office.  

Judge Glover has 20+ years’ experience working in the legal profession. She holds an associate’s degree in paralegal studies, a bachelor’s degree in legal studies, and has recently been awarded an $80,000 scholarship to attend law school.

Judge Glover is a pillar of our community who has helped families navigate complex legal matters for the past two decades. She has dedicated her career to expanding access to justice. She founded Maricopa’s first legal document preparer company, offering low-cost legal services to those who cannot afford an attorney.

To maintain transparency and address misinformation, Judge Glover provides the following rebuttal to Mr. Chapman’s libelous letter to the editor:

Rather than accepting responsibility, Glover has attempted to deflect criticism by stating that the court remains open five days per week with staff present.

Mr. Chapman has an interesting relationship with the truth. Judge Glover has never deflected criticism. As set forth below, Judge Glover welcomes criticism. The original allegation made by Mr. Chapman was that the court is “not open every day.” Once it became evident to him that this lie could be easily debunked, Mr. Chapman moved the goalpost to say, “She is physically present in court only two days per week.” This is just another misrepresentation made by a man who claims to be “retired” law enforcement.

Patricia Glover has failed the last two operational reviews conducted by the Pinal County Superior Court. 

Operational reviews are not conducted by the Superior Court. They are conducted by the Arizona Supreme Court, which a candidate for Justice of the Peace should know.

Only one operational review has been conducted during the period in which Judge Glover presided over the Western Pinal Justice Court. These reviews are not a pass/fail standard. They are evaluations intended to assist courts with improving their administration, case management, and financial management.

Prior to Judge Glover’s appointment, the court had been seized by the Supreme Court. Judge Glover successfully got the court unseized only three months after her appointment.

She then welcomed the Arizona Supreme Court to conduct a review so that she could properly evaluate the court’s shortcomings and areas of improvement.  

The review did exactly that, and Judge Glover and court staff have been working diligently to implement changes to policies and procedures to improve court operations.

Now, Mr. Chapman wants to mischaracterize the review and mislabel Judge Glover’s ingenuity to mislead our community.

She is physically present in court only two days per week.

Judge Glover is the first and only judge to preside over the Western Pinal Justice Court who has opened the court calendar to more than two days per week. Mr. Chapman attempts to use the transition period while Judge Glover was in training to deceive the public into believing the judge is not available.

Judge Glover is available to the court Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (with a break for lunch). Judge Glover is also available when she is on call (which is a 24/7 rotation between the six Pinal County Justices of the Peace). When not on the bench, Glover is still working. Much of what judges do is behind the scenes, i.e., drafting orders, reviewing pleadings, ruling on motions, and working on community outreach.

When Judge Glover is not physically present at the court (e.g., attending mandatory training), arrangements are made for a pro tem judge to cover hearings, or alternatively, Judge Glover is available telephonically for walk-ins.

We do not send anyone away from the court Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except we do close for lunch from noon to 1 p.m.).

Judge Glover has also taken the initiative to pursue additional training and build connections with judges throughout the state of Arizona to learn about programs (e.g., Veterans Court, Mental Health Court, Drug Court, etc.) that we can hopefully implement in our community in the near future.

While having staff available is required, the issue identified is leadership and the need for the elected Justice of the Peace to be physically present, available, and actively managing the court. 

With this remark, Mr. Chapman not only insults Judge Glover’s leadership, but he also attacks our wonderful court staff.

Judge Glover has served in a managerial position for multiple law firms and businesses in Arizona and has extensive experience hiring and supervising staff. When a leader possesses skills to efficiently recruit, hire, and train support staff, the leader need not chain her staff to their desks and micromanage every aspect of their day-to-day operations.

The staff at the Western Pinal Justice Court is hardworking and quite frankly, overqualified and underpaid for the services they provide to our community.

Mr. Chapman’s attacks on our court are reckless, antagonistic, and ignorant at best.

Last month, Glover announced she is now attending law school full time online.

This strangely negative remark about being accepted into law school came shortly after Mr. Chapman publicly insinuated that Judge Glover should be at home taking care of her husband and children.

Judge Glover proudly announced she has been awarded an $80,000.00 scholarship to attend a part-time online law school program. It is unclear if Mr. Chapman intentionally misheard the announcement or if this is just another example of his exaggeration of truth.

Contrary to Mr. Chapman’s distortion of reality, being accepted into law school with a scholarship is a notable achievement and is representative of Judge Glover’s ongoing dedication to the legal field, a trait we should hope to see in a judicial candidate (rather than a decertified peace officer who holds a degree in a completely unrelated field).

Judge Glover’s law school classes will be completed in the evenings and weekends. It will not adversely impact Judge Glover’s ability to fulfill her obligations to the court and our community.

The citizens deserve a Justice of the Peace who shows up, works full time, and ensures the court operates efficiently.

Agreed, and that is exactly what our community has with Judge Glover. Judge Glover is the only judge who has presided over the Western Pinal Justice Court who has not had the court seized. In fact, she successfully got the court unseized only three months after taking office. She inherited issues from the prior seizures, which she and her amazing court staff have worked tirelessly to improve.

Mr. Chapman has zero qualifications to serve as Justice of the Peace. His only campaign promise is to “show up,” but showing up does not get the job done. A person can show up to the airport five days per week. That doesn’t mean we should allow them to fly the plane.

Judge Glover takes great pride in her work. Unfortunately, she inherited many issues from the court being seized (prior to her appointment), but she and court staff are making tremendous improvements.

We still have a lot of work to do and hope the community will entrust Judge Glover to get the job done. 

Patricia Glover
Justice of the Peace for Western Pinal County Justice Court