Tempe:The Outlaw Libertarian That Ran For Office In Arizona : AZ IMC

A man’s bizarre odyssey to infamy
By Le Templar, Tribune
July 3, 2005

Yuri Downing
Yuri Downing was looking for some fast money on a cool March evening this year as he drove the dark, narrow road through Indian farmlands just east of Scottsdale.

A buddy had told Downing he scored $5,000 after cashing a pair of forged checks at Casino Arizona. In on the scheme from the beginning, Downing agreed to meet at a lonely spot about a mile south of the casino to get his share of the loot.

But the other guy never showed. Then Downing saw patrol lights flashing in the rearview mirror of his white Mercedes. He knew he was in trouble.

A loaded pistol was wrapped in a towel on the passenger-side floorboard. In the trunk, mixed in with piles of clothes, were hundreds of contraband documents, including stolen utility bills and fake Mexican identification cards.

The IDs featured Downing’s photo and a variety of different names.

The man who once spent more than $40,000 on a state Senate race in the East Valley suddenly looked more like a garden-variety criminal.

In 2002, Downing, the son of a prominent Tucson politician, was more likely to be found at a political debate, his car full of campaign brochures that touted the law school graduate as the perfect Libertarian. Or maybe at a posh Scottsdale nightclub, picking up tidbits for a slick and successful entertainment magazine he’d helped start.

But Downing’s failed legislative bid was a dubious adventure that turned into a disaster.

He had temporarily dropped out of sight in January this year after pleading guilty to a felony charge of misusing tax dollars in his 2002 campaign. He didn’t report to probation officers and missed his required drug testing.

State prosecutor Edward Noyes, frustrated that Downing wasn’t living up to a plea deal, asked a judge to keep Downing behind bars until he was formally sentenced.

But Downing’s family and close friends rallied — as always — to his defense, promising to post a new bond and find him a job.

"Yuri certainly isn’t a harm to society," Jeffrey Dunn, owner of two Scottsdale restaurants, testified in court. "He would give his shirt off his back to anyone who needs help."

So in April, the judge agreed to let Downing go. He warned him to follow the rules this time.

Instead, Downing walked out of a Maricopa County jail and disappeared.

His friends and family say they have no idea where he is. And, if he doesn’t come forward before Aug. 10, his dad, state Rep. Ted Downing, DTucson, stands to lose $18,000 in bail money.

CLEAN ELECTIONS FRAUD
For the 2002 election, Yuri Downing had wanted to make a splash as a Senate candidate seeking to represent Tempe and southern Scottsdale. He figured he could easily get on the ballot as a Libertarian because only a handful of voter signatures were required.

He also realized he could get access to more state campaign funds if he combined his efforts with other candidates. So he recruited friends Trevor "Trey" Clevenger and Paul DeDonati to run with him as a team.

Downing served as the master strategist and key decisionmaker for all three campaigns. And he determined how to spend the $101,000 in taxpayer funds collected by the three.

Downing insisted every dime he spent was within the bounds of the law, but state elections officials said it looked more like a three-month-long party. By July 2004, he had been indicted on six felony counts and ordered to repay his share of the money.

Six months later, Downing pleaded guilty to one of the charges against him. Then he faded from public view.

It turns out the Clean Elections debacle was just the start of a downward spiral for the 34-year-old Downing. Intrigued by the blatant — and seemingly easy — misuse of public money in the state’s fledgling campaign finance system, the Tribune looked into Downing’s past and present and his flaunting of the law.

Most of Downing’s friends either won’t talk about him or ignored requests for interviews. To tell this story, the Tribune reviewed election records and other state documents, police reports and depositions, and attended several court hearings while Downing was in custody.

Police investigators say Downing likely has a methamphetamine habit. Since his felony conviction, they have linked him to a stash of illegal automatic weapons and an identity theft ring that is under federal investigation.

But other than a series of traffic tickets, Downing only has been charged for his role in the wild spending spree of the three Libertarians.

Downing continues to generate fierce loyalty among family and friends who describe him as bright and generous, eager to debate and willing to fight government bureaucracy on its own terms. Clevenger said his friend has been badly misjudged.

"He’s a good man," Clevenger said at an April 6 court hearing. "If there’s anyone out there who needs help, he will do it."

‘A GREAT MANY PARTIES’
Downing earned a political science degree from the University of Arizona in 1993, and then enrolled in law school at Arizona State University. He dropped out just before graduation, but later received his law degree in May 2002.

In the meantime, Downing wandered between Phoenix and Tucson, searching for a career and drifting deeper and deeper into the Scottsdale party scene.

Downing told state officials during a 2003 deposition he tried several ways to break into the business of bringing people together to drink and dance. Over the years, he took jobs passing out fliers to promote upcoming events, advising friends who wanted to start a bar or restaurant, and even was a partner for a couple of years in a former Scottsdale nightclub called Mecca.

"I’ve been involved in a great number of parties," Downing said two years ago.

Downing might have found real success with a 2001 venture, if his ill-fated legislative bid hadn’t sidetracked him. He had joined with several young investors to create a new magazine called 944, which focuses on celebrities and the glitzy nightlife of Scottsdale, Tempe and other parts of the Valley. Downing and the magazine’s current managers disagreed on the extent of his contribution, but he clearly was involved from the beginning.

"We were a bunch of young people trying to start a magazine and we brought in this stranger who claimed he was brilliant and really knew the industry," said Andrew Bailis, 944's production director.

Bailis said Downing offered his help on the magazine for free, and his involvement ended once the 2002 campaign for the state Senate began. But the magazine listed Downing as a contributing editor as late as March 2003.

In his July 2003 deposition, Downing said it was mere coincidence he rented an office for his legislative campaign just across the street from the magazine’s headquarters in downtown Scottsdale, and a couple of miles outside of the district he wanted to represent.

944 has taken off since Downing left, expanding to San Diego and launching a third edition last week in Las Vegas.

THE 2002 CAMPAIGN
While getting on the 2002 ballot was easy, collecting enough $5 donations to qualify for campaign public funds turned out to be more difficult. But Yuri Downing and his partners managed to get their funding a week before the September 2002 primary. They set out to spend all of the money.

Downing described the constant bar-hopping, campaign payments to friends and picking up the tab for dinners from central Phoenix to Tucson as part of an "unorthodox" approach to attracting the youth vote.

"I was essentially out seven nights a week, seven days a week doing this strategy, going to night clubs," Downing told state officials in 2003.

This campaign was supposed to be a warm-up for 2006, when Downing wanted to run for governor as a Libertarian or independent candidate. His younger brother, Demitri, hinted in an interview last week at what might have happened if Downing had access to the minimum of $1 million that gubernatorial candidates receive as Clean Elections candidates.

"Why not have the most creative, innovative campaign you can imagine?" Demitri Downing said. "Why not? The taxpayers are paying for it."

But the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission was deeply troubled. In April 2003, the commission ordered Yuri Downing to repay all of his campaign funding of $41,155, while Clevenger and DeDonati were required to repay about $15,000 each.

Downing tried to fight the commission on his own, without hiring an attorney. In December 2003, he finally dropped his appeal and accepted the commission’s order. But he hasn’t repaid the state any money.

‘SOMETHING JUST SNAPPED’
In July 2004, a state grand jury indicted Downing on six felony charges that described the entire 2002 campaign as a fraud. Downing faced up to 46 years in prison.

Demitri Downing said his brother was devastated.

"Something just snapped in him. I think he just said, ‘Forget this. Forget doing the right thing.’ "

Prosecutor Edward Noyes agreed to let Downing plead guilty to one felony count of perjury. That means he can never run for office again. Noyes also agreed to probation instead of a prison sentence, but asked the court to send Downing to county jail for four months.

As a first-time offender charged with a white-collar crime, Downing had been free for months without posting a bond. His attorney convinced Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Hotham to delay his sentencing hearing, scheduled for Jan. 26 of this year, because Downing "was having a mental crisis." But Hotham required Downing to check in weekly with the county probation office and to start drug testing.

Downing didn’t follow the judge’s order, and missed a March court hearing. Noyes told the judge that Downing had said he didn’t take the required drug tests "because there was no point, he had drugs in his system."

That prompted Hotham to issue a bench warrant on March 16.

Meanwhile, a month earlier, Phoenix police had pulled a number of illegal automatic weapons from a self-storage unit. A report accompanying the search warrant identified Yuri Downing as one of four people who had access to the storage space.

Phoenix officers also said in the report that Downing appeared to have a daily meth habit.

On March 28, the night he was arrested in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, police had set up a sting. Two men at Casino Arizona were caught with forged checks in their possession. The men told police the checks had been supplied by Downing, so the cops asked one of them to arrange a meeting with Downing.

The pistol hidden in the car brought a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. But Downing has not been charged in connection with the Mexican IDs or the stolen utility bills.

Once in custody, Downing was kept in isolation by Maricopa County jailers, allowed to see only the lawyer hired by his family. Six weeks later, Hotham revealed during a court hearing that Downing was cooperating with an FBI task force looking into possible connections to an identity theft ring.

Local law enforcement agencies referred questions about Downing to the FBI; a Phoenix spokeswoman for the federal agency said she wasn’t aware of any investigation involving Downing.

At the hearing in April, Ted Downing urged the judge to use an electronic monitoring bracelet to track his son. In the Legislature, the elder Downing had been a supporter of the use of electronic monitoring as a way to reduce jail overcrowding.

Hotham reluctantly agreed to the bracelet, and also ordered an $18,000 cash bond that was paid by Downing’s parents.

Everyone in the courtroom expected the bracelet would be installed while Downing was still in custody, making it hard to slip away. But court officials misunderstood the process, and Downing was set free without it.

He just walked away, and his friends and family say they haven’t heard from him since.

Downing’s parents will lose their $18,000 if he doesn’t turn himself in by Aug. 10. But his father said the money’s not that important; he’s worried he will never see his son again.

"This is the largest tragedy of my life," Ted Downing said. "Who wants to lose his firstborn?"
Contact Le Templar by email, or phone (602) 542-5813

AS A FORMER EMPLOYEE AND FRIEND I CAN SAY YURI DOWNING IS ONE OF THE SMARTEST AND LOYAL PEOPLE I KNOW TO DATE. I'VE ONLY KNOWN HIM FOR A LITTLE OVER A YEAR, BUT IN THAT TIME I GOT TO KNOW HIM WELL. I LOOKED UP TO HIM AS A ROLE MODEL FOR THE THINGS HE TAUGHT ME. SURE HE WAS SKATIN ON ICE BUT WE ALL MESS UP A LITTLE IN LIFE. LITTLE OR BIG. ALL IN ALL HE IS A GOOD GUY. I JUST WISH HIM THE BEST OF LUCK WHEREVER HE IS AND HOPE HE GETS IN CONTACT ONE OF THESE DAYS WITH HIS PARENTS AND FAMILY. GOOD LUCK YURI

ya he should keep running, and did they say that he stole from every one of his friends. but some caught on to him first? thought not. oh and tried to set up his own friends? ya WAS A GREAT FRIEND.well i hope they dont find him. but i have faith they will . i told you to stay out of the game.1year into his 8 second rodeo ride, and let the babys on the roof run your life. yuri, hay! there roof rats,how many times do i have to tell you.? now wake up DO THE FIGHT THING. you'll die behind bars ,your gay .now get out of the closat and turn yourself in,pease

just pointing out "MIKE D's" cowardly attack in attempting to point fingers and childish name calling. WE LOOKED YOU UP ONLY TO FIND THAT YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A FRAUDULENT IDENTITY THEFT LOSER (tsk tsk, at your age, pathetic!!!) http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/criminal/caseInfo.asp?caseNumber=CR2005-112985 found the minute entries in your case very amusing, lying to the court. you wouldnt be claiming to be an "alcoholic" as to divert the attention away from your methamphetamine use and sales would you? you my friend are PATHETIC "those who live in glass houses" (speaking of glass)

Oh my God Yuri, What did you do to yourself? For someone who always thought he had everything under control and was always one step ahead of the game it looks like you weren't as smart as you thought you were. It will all catch up to you eventually its just a matter of when. I want to let you know that I hope everything works out. Everything happends for a reason, I hope you are sober and one day you get your mind back. We all made mistakes, but out of everyone you have the longest road back to sanity and being able to live life again. Julian you are an idiot. Why people stayed by you after all the pain you caused is crazy thats love!? You didn't stand by anyone including me! You lied and used everyone. Including Jeff Dunn who gave you the opportinity to run. As to your character honest what tweeker do you know is honest? Your problems started long before the Election charges. Be a man and clean up your mess. Stop hurting your family, and as far as friends...get some new ones. And above all stop smoking meth. Its still not to late.
Jenn

I knew Yuri back in the day- he was fun and extremely enterprising. I dated him for a long time and nothing I have read here suprises me- tho it makes me sad. That said, I am submitting this without my name- because I dont trust Yuri. He had anti-social tendancies from the moment I met him. SIlly me- I thought it was hot. But I credit Yuri with teaching me everything I DONT want in a man. He is on a dangerous path and I wouldnt be surprised if Yuri came to a violent and sad end.

I knew Yuri for over 5 years and and i can say besides all of the bad press that he has got I wouldent be where ia am today if it werent for him. He showed me a lot and have taken it with me since. I worked with him at Mecca and will never forget those days .. Yuri if you ever read this I hope life is treating you well (ish).And your Family and my self Miss you .