PHOENIX (CBS5) -
Disbarred former county attorney Andrew Thomas sent an email blast expressing his strong opposition to Gov. Jan Brewer's Medicaid expansion plan.
Thomas called the proposal an "embrace of Obamacare" and urged citizens to contact their state legislators and urge them to oppose the measure.
During a one-on-one interview with CBS 5 News, Thomas said he was speaking out because everyone else is afraid to. He also said he was speaking out as a potential candidate for governor.
"I'm going to continue to be engaged. I said all along that I would be. I started out by speaking out about what happened to me and how broken our government is. And now I'm going to continue to focus on this issue because somebody needs to step up," Thomas said.
Thomas said he has not yet made up his mind on whether he will run for governor. He added that he originally was going to make up his mind by mid February, but that time frame has now been extended.
"I've got time to do it. But a lot of people are urging me to do it. I'm taking it very seriously," Thomas said.
Thomas resigned as county attorney to run for attorney general. He lost the primary to current attorney general Tom Horne. He was subsequently disbarred after ethics hearings in which a judge ruled he abused his power and committed perjury.
No longer able to practice law in Arizona, Thomas said he is currently writing and consulting. He also said he has been speaking to many civic groups where he claims he receives standing ovations and complete support for a gubernatorial run.
"I am stopped all the time at the grocery stores, by citizens, by doctors, saying they were outraged at what happened. This isn't just me. And if the liberal elites in this state think that they're going to get away with silencing me when we have Obamacare being embraced, when we have a government that is broken, when we have payouts to people in the county governments still, they're wrong," Thomas said.
Thomas said he believes he has a good chance of winning, should he run. He maintains his innocence and is adamant that he did nothing wrong. He believes he was targeted by the corrupt judges and politicians that he tried to prosecute.
"The reality is I sacrificed my livelihood to fight corruption in this state which is some of the worst in the United States. In Mexico, prosecutors who take on the powerful are shot or blown up. In Arizona they're disbarred. And that has to change," Thomas said.
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