Arizona is rich with outlaw-lawman history. Anyone who knows anything about me knows about my love of Tombstone history and my research and books about Wyatt Earp and Tombstone. Because of this I find the exploits of “legendary” Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio very interesting. His conservative admirers, who are legion, like to compare him with Wyatt Earp. Unfortunately, after getting to know Sheriff Joe and his keystone kops, one realizes there is a Tombstone analogy with Sheriff Joe, but it isn’t Wyatt Earp. Fact is, there’s another famous (or infamous) Tombstone and Cochise County lawman who is Sheriff Joe personified – Cochise County Sheriff John Behan! In fact, if you know anything about Tombstone during those wild and crazy days of the early 1880s, you will know that John Behan controlled a huge political, legal, and publicity machine. He was corrupt, charming, loved the press, and completely incompetent. Yep – that’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio! Want to know more, just watch both Tombstone & Wyatt Earp. You’ll soon get the picture.
Over the years a few publications in Arizona have had the courage to take on Joe Arpaio and expose the abject incompetence and the cruelty in the way he has treated inmates and the way he has trampled the rights of those who are incarcerated in Maricopa County. Also there is the matter of nearly a million dollars in investment money Sheriff Joe never bothered to disclose. Yep – just like John Behan.
When Arpaio stood yet again for election in 2004, New Times’ relationship with the sheriff was 12 years old.
Sheriff Arpaio hid nearly $790,000 in cold hard cash in three real estate investments that former New Times staff writer John Dougherty discovered in July 2004, in the middle of a heated primary election.
Arpaio stashed an indeterminate amount of cash in another six parcels of commercial and residential real estate.
With more than a million dollars invested, how could there not be questions?
Columnist Dougherty wondered how a public servant surviving on a $78,000 sheriff’s salary and a government retirement check could afford such an investment portfolio.
It was not a pointless query. In 12 years overseeing (at the time) a $140 million law enforcement empire, Arpaio had never suffered a thorough audit by the county.
Perhaps the sheriff inherited a fortune from a distant relative.
A paper trail that should have been public would have reassured voters.
But the normal public real estate records maintained by the government were not available when it came to Sheriff Arpaio.
He used an arcane statute meant to conceal home addresses of law enforcement officials to shield his investments….”
Now Sheriff Joe has decided to abjectly trample the Constitution by running rough-shod over the Phoenix New Times, their editors, reporters, and ANYONE who has EVER linked to four specific articles about Sheriff Joe, or even read the articles online. Yep – if you (and I) have even clicked on those articles, they want the New Times’s stored cookies. They are going to investigate EVERYONE who has read those articles. I suspect they are also going to start combing the internet for anyone who blogs against America’s favorite lawman. I don’t know about you, but this is absolutely terrifying and absolute chilling.
Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin write
It is, we fear, the authorities’ belief that what you are about to read here is against the law to publish. But there are moments when civil disobedience is merely the last option. We pray that our judgment is free of arrogance.
These are the issues as we understand them.
In a breathtaking abuse of the United States Constitution, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and their increasingly unhinged cat’s paw, special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik, used the grand jury to subpoena “all documents related to articles and other content published by Phoenix New Times newspaper in print and on the Phoenix New Times website, regarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio from January 1, 2004 to the present.”
Every note, tape, and record from every story written about Sheriff Arpaio by every reporter over a period of years.
In addition to the omnibus subpoena, which referred to our writer Stephen Lemons directly, reporters John Dougherty and Paul Rubin were targeted with individual subpoenas.
More alarming still, Arpaio, Thomas, and Wilenchik subpoenaed detailed information on anyone who has looked at the New Times Web site since 2004.
Every individual who looked at any story, review, listing, classified, or retail ad over a period of years….”
Why? Several years ago Sheriff Joe’s home address was printed at the bottom of an opinion column on their web site, along with some fascinating information about some commercial real estate Sheriff Joe was evidently trying to hide from public view! The only way to handle this is to just quote directly from the New Times.
And given the diva-like drama that Arpaio attaches to even the mundane, you can add to the grand jury tension the paranoia of a Keystone Kops assassination “plot” against “America’s toughest sheriff.”
Behind these operatic and public developments, an ethical stain has spread over the secret proceedings of the grand jury.
Special prosecutor Wilenchik has sabotaged the integrity of the investigation.
Not content with using the hidden power of sweeping grand jury subpoenas, the government’s lawyer attempted to get the ear of the sitting judge — out of earshot of New Times’ attorneys.
Special prosecutor Wilenchik used a politically potent emissary in a behind-the-curtain attempt to set up a meeting between the judge overseeing the grand jury and Wilenchik.
In a hastily called hearing October 11, the judge labeled Wilenchik’s attempt to set up an ex parte discussion “absolutely inappropriate.”…”
But – this is the worst of it. And, quite frankly, anyone who is an admirer of Sheriff Joe should reconsider their admiration of him and realize how absolutely chilling these developments are – if allowed to stand. The implications for anyone who even reads the internet are horrifying and reek of something that would happen in China, not the US. Remember – this is going to the Grand Jury for an investigation. Does this imply that someone like moi who is writing about Sheriff Joe can be called to the same Grand Jury? Clearly it is an attempt to squash any critical reporting and expose of Sheriff Joe, the conservative favorite.
The pertinent section of the secret grand jury subpoena reads, in part: “All internet web site information for the Phoenix New Times internet site related to the web pages . . . [four specific articles on the sheriff]. The information should include, but not be limited to: The Internet Protocol addresses of any and all visitors to each page of . . . [four specific articles on the sheriff]. . .”
Energized, perhaps, by this mugging of Constitutional safeguards, Arpaio, Thomas, and Wilenchik then shot the moon. The grand jury subpoena also demands Web site profiles of anyone and everyone who visited New Times online over the past two and a half years, not merely readers who viewed articles on the sheriff.
The subpoena demands: “Any and all documents containing a compilation of aggregate information about the Phoenix New Times Web site created or prepared from January 1, 2004 to the present, including but not limited to :
B) the total number of visitors to the Phoenix New Times website;
C) information obtained from ‘cookies,’ including, but not limited to, authentication, tracking, and maintaining specific information about users (site preferences, contents of electronic shopping carts, etc.);
D) the Internet Protocol address of anyone that accesses the Phoenix New Times website from January 1, 2004 to the present;
E) the domain name of anyone that has accessed the Phoenix New Times website from January 1, 2004 to the present;
F) the website a user visited prior to coming to the Phoenix New Times website;
G) the date and time of a visit by a user to the Phoenix New Times website;
H) the type of browser used by each visitor (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, etc.) to the Phoenix New Times website; and
I) the type of operating system used by each visitor to the Phoenix New Times website.”
Special prosecutor Wilenchik wants this information on each and every New Times reader online since 2004….”
The Feathered Bastard (our favorite liberal site) has news that Sheriff Joe’s co-horts, the County Attorney, etc. are being investigated by the AZ State Bar.
“There is a correct way to question a judge’s actions, and that is through the appellate courts or the Commission on Judicial Conduct, and not through the media.” Are Thomas and Wilenchik on their way to being sanctioned somehow by the State Bar? That would be an incredible development, but then it’s already incredible that the State Bar on its own would begin investigating a sitting a County Attorney….”
For more information on why these two are being investigated, consult The Phoenix New Times. Evidently they tried to ‘get to’ the Judge Baca and try to influence how she ruled in the grand jury investigation of The Phoenix New Times.
Were it not for Judge Anna Baca’s impeccable character, her willingness to short-circuit the conversation with friend Carol Turoff at the same time that she made a record of the approach, Wilenchik’s brazen tactic would never have surfaced.
And yet he remains the special prosecutor.
There will be many questions about our decision to make public the secret machinations of the special prosecutor armed with grand jury powers.
Consider this: When the wife of a senior member of County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ management team feels free to contact the sitting judge, and when the special prosecutor who initiated this idea of an ex-parte meeting sees nothing wrong with conduct his own profession prohibits, we feel compelled to shed light upon these remarkable proceedings.
And make no mistake: Special prosecutor Wilenchik sees nothing wrong with what he did.
Judge Baca told the prosecutor that it was “absolutely inappropriate.”
“With all due respect,” argued Dennis Wilenchik, “it was absolutely appropriate.”
It is little wonder that special prosecutor Wilenchik found nothing inappropriate about his ex parte contact with Judge Baca; his instinct to engage in subversive tactics underscores his lack of professional ethics.
On October 3, precisely one week before Turoff phoned Judge Baca, Wilenchik smeared Superior Court Judge Timothy Ryan in an orchestrated campaign that is part of County Attorney Thomas’ anti-illegal immigration strategy….”
A few weeks ago, Wilenchik went after Judge Timothy Ryan over his rulings on the legality of some of Arizona’s new anti-immigration laws and the legality of some of Sheriff Joe’s antics regarding ‘racial profiling’ when it came to establishing standards that law enforcement must meet when establishing the protocol of determining if a person is legal or not.
Although Arpaio was forced to change jail policy, the confusion underscored the need for coherent and reasonable guidelines while considering bail for suspected illegal aliens.
Wilenchik addressed the issue with such outlandish hostility that there were immediate calls for complaints to be filed against him with the state Bar.
Although Wilenchik’s role as hired gun was highlighted by his inability to answer questions from Judge Ryan about the cases in dispute, he nonetheless attacked the judge’s questions as “self-serving.”
Tellingly, County Attorney Thomas, though unhappy with certain rulings and conduct of Judge Ryan, neither appealed the decisions in question nor asked for judicial review, which are the legal routes for redress.
Instead, members of the news media were notified in advance that they should attend a hearing in Judge Ryan’s court. At the hearing, Wilenchik made the incredible demand that Ryan step down from all cases.
Rather than proceeding through normal legal channels, Wilenchik’s ad hominem attack marked the beginning of a three-day public assault on the courts by Thomas, highlighted by the grandstanding demand that all 93 judges in Maricopa County be replaced by out-of-county judges.
The presiding judge of the county Superior Court, Barbara Mundell, denied the motion, noting that “no facts to establish bias or prejudice of any, and certainly not all of the 93 judges” was put into evidence.
Still pending, as we went to press, was the effort to remove Judge Ryan individually.
Lost in Wilenchik and Thomas’ tactics were the people involved in the cases. As Judge Mundell noted, all the victims, witnesses, and defendants would have suffered unnecessary hardships and delays under Wilenchik’s preposterous motion.
Of course, the idea to strike Judge Ryan and his 92 colleagues in Superior Court was pursued with little regard for legal victory but maximum regard for publicity value. And the execution of this media ploy was both heavy-handed and vicious, playing fast and loose with anti-immigrant prejudices.
The same kind of heavy-handed unscrupulousness by Wilenchik was reported by New Times reporter Paul Rubin in the lawyer’s recent defamation defense of Sheriff Joe Arpaio …”
Before this is over, this whole issue could end up being one huge Constutitional mess that ends up in the SCOTUS. I trust my readers will grasp the absolutely chilling implications of what Sheriff Joe and his associates are attempting to do. How long are conservatives going to keep up their constant approval of this man? When are they going to open their eyes and demand accountability? Just because there is a “R” by a person’s name doesn’t give us license to ignore their faults.
DID SIMCOX THREATEN ARPAIO?
This is just way too good to let go. Seems like Sheriff Joe (our very own American version of the Sheriff of Nottingham) is now accusing Minuteman leader Chris Simcox, among others, of plotting to kill him. I am not kidding!
Seems like Sheriff Joe and Putkin have a heck of a lot in common:
1. They both think people are out to off ‘em
2. Both try to silence journalists who try to expose ‘em
3. They both try and take out their opposition
4. Both have their own version of prison camps
Yep – lots in common! Sheriff Joe has decided that Chris Simcox and his merry little minutemen, among others, including an immigration rights activist, are trying to do him in, mostly for publicity. According to the Phoenix New Times
Seriously, this isn’t the first time Arpaio has done the assissination thing, keeping disabled and disturbed kid in jail for 4 years, even ignoring the man’s request for an attorney. So, this is nothing new. Inquiring minds in Phoenix and Maricopa are asking if Sheriff Joe is losing it, or is this more of the same old same old? Our new favorite liberal site The Feathered Bastard, has all the juicy details.
…$330 is certainly a pittance in comparison to the $500K the MCSO reportedly spent on the investigation. But that only adds insult to injury: MCSO bigwigs fell for a penny-ante grifter’s verbal three-card Monte, and they’re STILL falling for it. Chief Black, head of Arpaio’s special ops, told the Rep, “We’re still investigating. We still don’t believe it’s over…We still continue to believe the threat is out there.”
To quote the Geico caveman, “What!?” In the MCSO report, the CI tells them, at one point, that he’s been offered $10,000 by the drug smugglers for his role as a translator, but refused receipt of the payment. Then he turns right around and asks his MCSO handlers for $100. Didn’t this make anyone a tad suspicious? What was the CI’s motivation in all this? He doesn’t want to get paid $10K, but he needs $100 for expenses? Puh-lease!… Joe’s “Selective Enforcement Unit,” which seems like Joe’s personal Praetorian Guard, is suckered in by these James Bond-ish daydreams where hit squads are studying shaky surveillance video of Arpaio and divvying up their not-so-incognito attire, like Jordache shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, Nike tennis shoes, etc. The MCSO even does its research of the Los Zetas crime group on Wikipedia! Wow. Now that’s really sad, people. Some of their other info. on Los Zetas comes from the uber-right moonbatt site WorldNetDaily; conservative fruitcake William Gheen’s ALIPAC site; and wacko wing-nut Alex Jones’ PrisonPlanet.com. That’s right, you can rest easy at night knowing that the MCSO gets info. from a man who believes 9/11 was an inside job and that world leaders worship Satan up in Bohemian Grove. (That would be Jones, mind you.)
The MCSO comes off as a deeply paranoid and delusional organization. As well as just plain dangerous. It didn’t take much for them to try to tie in Elias Bermudez into this “conspiracy to commit murder” investigation. They even have a copy of that Arpaio-as-Klansman pic Bermudez sent around a couple of months back. (See, “Grand Wizard Arpaio,” August 23, 2007). They definitely wanted to take him down. You’d think the informant’s canards linking Bermudez to nativist Minutemen would have caused an arched eyebrow, or two. But no. And that’s where you come off believing that these Rosco P. Coletranes are more menace than comedians. Like Reno 911 or Super Troopers, but with the power to waste big taxpayer bucks and chase chimeras while real criminals get away with murder. Be afraid, people. Be very afraid….”
Now for the serious commentary on the subject: Seems like the Maricopa Co Sheriff’s Office spent a half million dollars during the past 6 months to protect Arpaio Chris Simcox and an immigration rights activist. Yep, you read this correct.
The informant, claiming to be a translator for cartel leaders, said he witnessed a down payment of $1.5 million for the slaying. In all, 88 employees have played a role in the investigation since it began in mid-March. The Sheriff’s Office racked up about 16,720 hours of work on the case, plus nearly $82,000 in credit-card bills for gas, meals, airfare and motel rooms, including those for Sheriff Arpaio. Detectives staked out border crossings, hid Arpaio in hotel rooms and chased leads from Connecticut to the Arizona-Mexico border. People identified by the informant said they had never heard of the plot. The president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps was incredulous at the idea his group would have been involved….
…According to the informant, two Minutemen leaders met with the administrator for a Mexican narcotics ring. The informant told sheriff’s deputies that the Minutemen wanted Arpaio killed to “rally more support for their cause, which is to secure the U.S.-Mexican border and stop illegal immigration.” They purportedly agreed on a price of $3 million in cash, with an advance payment of $1.5 million. The informant said Elias Bermudez, a Phoenix immigrant-rights advocate and talk-radio host, served as an intermediary in the plot. Bermudez said he never heard of the plot until he was contacted by investigators….”It’s pure fabrication,” Bermudez said. “I told them I had no reason to have the demise of the sheriff. . . . The idea of me and the Minutemen trying to hire someone to do this is outlandish.”
Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, expressed bewilderment when told of the informant’s story. “Wow, that’s quite a rich plot,” he said. “Look, Joe Arpaio is like a hero to us as Minutemen. Why would we want to go against the toughest sheriff in the country?”…”
HE HAS SERIOUS OPPOSITION, TOO
The punch line? Well, it seems as though Robert Daniels’ was misdiagnosed. Had Sheriff Joe allowed the man to receive normal medical attention and humane treatment, this would have been avoided. The problem is the Constitution doesn’t matter to Sheriff Joe. Neither does humane treatment of prisoners. This isn’t a conservative issue or a liberal issue. It is an issue about competency and outright human decency. If Arpaio did not know how badly this man was being treated, then he should start cleaning house and get rid of the people who were responsible for this abject disaster.
I love it when Joe Arapio looks bad. Sorry, but that’s my opinion. This time he’s literally lost a high profile inmate, Robert Daniels, who absconded to Russia to get away from the long arm of the High Sheriff and get treatment for TB. Or – another mis-diagnosed case? The more you think about this case the worse it looks. What Arpaio allowed to be done to this man either through abject incompetence or complete lack of concern is deplorable and should be considered actionable.
Blogger News Network
Declared by Maricopa county Arizona health officials to be suffering from a deadly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis Sheriff Arpaio placed him in solitary confinement in a Maricopa county jail ward in August 2006…Daniels who faced becoming one of many in a long list of inmates who die while in the Sheriff’s custody. Avoided a lingering death when the national media attention focused on an Atlanta lawyer suffering a similar condition….Fearing the potential of losing another multimillion dollar lawsuit related to the sheriffs ongoing pattern of human rights violations. The county over the sheriffs objection permitted Daniels to travel under armed guard to Colorado for medical treatment. The Sheriff in interviews after ward expressed the attitude that somehow Daniels was responsible for the negative national publicity and vowed to find a reason to place the Russian born American back in his jail.
… It is also reliably reported by Doctors in Colorado who treated Daniels that Arizona county medical authorities misdiagnosed Daniels to begin with and he in fact did not suffer from the deadly type of T.B which the sheriff claimed justified his solitary confinement. Had the sheriff simply allowed medical staff at the county hospital to give Daniels appropriate medical care he might still have both lungs….”
Unacceptable treatment.
Democracy Now
NOTE: I don’t like Joe Arapio. I think he is an incompetent bully. That said, I am going to try an attempt to be ‘fair and balanced. I think the best way, once I get into his re-election campaign, is to turn it over to the Sonoran Alliance and let them defend him. Red State Arizona
The Feathered Bastard, rapidly becoming one of our favorite liberal spots, loves to take on Sheriff Joe. Don Saban has recently announced he will be running against Sheriff Joe this year. The Feathered Bastard has a juicy interview with Rick Romley about Saban, the last election, and more failings of Sheriff Joe.
I don’t think he’s the right person for the sheriff’s office. I’ve had my personal disagreements with him. Well, “professional disagreements” is a better term. The [Scott] Norberg case and so forth. I think it would serve our community very well for there to be a change in office.Note: Norberg was an MCSO inmate who died in custody. His family sued and eventually scored an $8.25 million settlement.] Was the way Saban was trashed in ’04 by Arpaio’s side a factor in your endorsement? Quite honestly, I was aware of it. I didn’t know the intimate details. Being trashed though is just one of the considerations I put into my decision-making process. I’ve seen quite a bit of that out of the sheriff’s office in the past. Whenever there’s an opponent against Joe Arpaio, Joe gets mad. Joe Arpaio’s very angry and if you look at all his press conferences and releases, he’s mad anytime anybody says something [about him]. He’s taken it out personally, whether it was the Norberg family where they lost a son, calling him a drug addict, almost like he deserved to die. He seemed to me to be very cavalier about it. And there are other times where that occurred. Although it was a factor, it wasn’t a primary factor….”
ARAPIO = THE COWARD OF THE COUNTY?
The Phoenix New Times
Heretofore, this tweeter’s just figured Joe for a cruel, power-mad asshole. But more and more, he’s been pandering to the nativist crowd, including a recent appearance at one of the regular Thursday-night prejudice powwows at Rusty Childress’ Kia dealership, wherein members of United for a Sovereign America do everything but don white robes, burn crosses, and, uh, you know, lynch some beaners.
Oddly, at the Childress meeting Arpaio attended, Joe mentioned that he felt some compassion for illegals, but this sentiment garnered scorn from the Childress chowderheads, as was reported previously in The Bird (“Arpaio, Compassionate?,” August 16). Deep down, Arpaio’s an equal-opportunity sadist, but his doings of late have nudged him over to bigot Russell Pearce’s camp….”
“My information is that for some reason or other, the sheriff feels that I might be part of a conspiracy to take his life,” he said.
As wild as it sounds, it would not be the first time Apraio’s pulled such a stunt. Anyone remember James Saville, the poor schmuck whom reporter John Dougherty wrote about in New Times (“The Plot to Assassinate Arpaio,” August 5, 1999)? The sheriff’s office unsuccessfully attempted to entrap an 18-year-old parolee in a fake bomb plot. Four years later, a jury acquitted Saville, who turned down a plea deal while waiting for his day in court.
And Saville was a guy who’d never done anything to incur Joe’s wrath, unlike Bermudez. The whole thing’s beginning to smell like a ploy to conveniently hobble one of the Sheriff’s most persistent critics.
V FOR VENDETTA
The Bird feels for Bermudez because there but for the grace of that great winged deity in the sky goes this ink-slingin’ egret. Recently, as regular readers of The Bird’s bloggin’ buddy, Feathered Bastard, know, Arpaio flack Paul Chagolla insinuated that this jocular jaybird may be jailed should he ever stop by in person to pick up copies of requested public docs….”
Arpaio is the darling of the conservative news and of FOX, where his heavy-handed and unethical if not downright illegal ploys are ignored. If news agencies profile him to his disadvantage or expose the many problems with the MCSO he threatens them. He has had reporters arrested. No tactic is too petty or over-the-top. And, he keeps on getting away with it.
Saban’s lawsuit against Arpaio over the matter began in Superior Court on August 20. Whichever way it goes, it should serve as proof of the vindictiveness and meanness Arpaio and his cronies continue to display toward anybody or any entity refusing to bow down to them.
The sheriff’s spitefulness was further highlighted with the determination of the MCSO not to send press releases to the tiny West Valley View, even after being bitch-slapped by two courts! Cost to the public coffers? Oh, an estimated $100K.
Arpaio’s regime regularly forces Maricopa County’s taxpayers to foot the legal bill for unnecessary injuries and deaths that occur in its facilities, sometimes to the tune of millions a pop. But the MCSO doesn’t care, even when the taxpayer’s tab is a direct result of something really pathetic, like removing a newspaper (the WVV) from its e-mail list….”
Increasingly paranoid, Arpaio routinely uses his police powers to illegally investigate political opponents and silence any employee and, in some cases, any private citizen, who dares to criticize his office.
At the same time, Arpaio refuses to comply with Arizona’s public records law, flagrantly ignoring my requests for routine records concerning the financial operations of the jail. My demand for the financial documents relating to the jail commissary comes on the heels of my discovery that Arpaio has invested an inordinately large amount of cash ($800,000) in three commercial real estate ventures. His spokeswoman insists that nothing is amiss here, but Arpaio refuses to divulge the details of these transactions….”
Delfino says he asked one of the SWAT officers what happened to Dre and was told that the dog had been “neutralized” with the fire extinguisher. He asked the officer if the dog had attacked anybody, and the cop said no.
As smoke filled the house and Kush’s efforts to save the dog failed, he finally fled from the burning home and was immediately thrown to the ground and his hands and feet were cuffed by four SWAT officers.
Meanwhile, Trisha Golden continued frantically to call for Dre to flee the house.
“We were like screaming for Dre, and [a deputy] turned around and said, `Why don’t you shut the fuck up?!’” Trisha Golden says.
I couldn’t reach Eric Kush or Gabrial Golden for comment. But Kush, a biking and skateboarding enthusiast, told KTVK-TV Channel 3 that sheriff’s deputies thought it was hilarious that his dog had burned to death in the fire.
“As they’re hog-tying me, they have the nerve and the audacity to laugh at me and say, `Did you hear that dog screaming upstairs?’” Kush told Channel 3. “I don’t know how they have the audacity and the heart to say something like that.”
Eric Kush is not an intimidating fellow. He’s about five-feet-six-inches tall and weighs about 125 pounds. There was no indication he had taken anybody hostage or was endangering the neighborhood.
In fact, neighbors say he is a friendly and easygoing guy. His only legal blemish was the outstanding misdemeanor warrant.
If MCSO truly believed they were facing a madman armed to the teeth with armor-piercing bullets that would cut through the flimsy chicken-wire and stucco walls of homes in the neighborhood, they didn’t have the sense to alert neighbors to get the hell out of Dodge….”
Arpaio did not have jurisdiction over the region where they unleashed the flames of hell. It was a City matter. And, Arpaio did not have the decency to even contact the police to give them a head’s up.
“…As fire spread throughout the house and engulfed the dog, the SWAT team soon had another crisis erupt.
The armored personnel carrier was pulled back from the house as the fire raged. But a deputy apparently failed to set the brakes on the heavy vehicle and it began rolling down a hill and smashed into a parked car.
The combat vehicle caused at least $4,000 damage to Julie Madrigal’s car. The 44-year-old mother and her 9-year-old daughter had already been terrified by the tear gas assault as they fled from their car and ran into their house. At least Madrigal and her daughter weren’t in the path of the carrier as it careened down the hill.
“I heard three shots as we were running in,” Madrigal says. “I thought, `Oh my God. They are shooting at us.’ I didn’t know what was going on.”
Madrigal says she watched the house burst into flames and moments later was shocked to see the “tank” roll down the road toward her car….”
FINANCIAL QUESTIONS
Not only is Arpaio incompetent, but his financial practices are questionable. No one dares prosecute him for it. If this were a Republican in DC, they would be in jail by now! Examples:
Again, the specific procedures, as per MCSO’s policy manual for transporting inmates, requiring paperwork stating, at the minimum, the inmate’s name, classification and reason for the transfer, were not followed either.
Court dates came and went for Patrick at Maricopa County Superior Court, while he sat in Navajo County Jail. He had no way to contact his attorney and neither county took responsibility for transporting Patrick to his court appearances.
Judge Granville acknowledged Patrick’s sixth amendment rights had been violated, but he never found Arpaio or anyone else responsible.
By court order, Patrick, held since November 2003, was transported back to Maricopa County Jail to await trial, which has now been given a “New Last Day” of Sept 9, 2005.
Arpaio calls everyone in jail “crooks.” Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was granted emergency orders by U.S.
District Court Judge Earl Carroll placing Driving Hawk, who still works for Arpaio in internal affairs, under a restraining order and receivership for his part in a nationwide $88 million investment scam.
In its complaint the SEC states, “The Defendants directly or indirectly, singly or in concert with others, in the offer and sale of securities … employed devices, schemes or artifices to defraud; … obtained money or property by means of untrue statements of material fact or omissions and … engaged in transactions, practices or courses of business which operate or would operate as a fraud or deceit.” Arpaio sees nothing wrong with Driving Hawk’s continued employment or assignment to internal affairs.
After Arpaio totaled his county-owned Ford Crown Victoria in the Osco Drug parking lot in Fountain Hills on Saturday, April 2, the 72-year-old offered more denial.
According to Maricopa County Risk Management Auto Loss Notice’s description of the accident, Arpaio was “attempting to park his vehicle in a parking space when the vehicle would not stop and subsequently hit the curb and ran over a large boulder and century plant.” Deputy R.T. Bierwalter’s narrative states, “… the front bumper was damaged along with the two front tires were flat, the radiator was leaking fluid, the driveshaft was broken in half, the front suspension appeared to be damaged and the rear driver side quarterpanel appeared to have been creased.
Arpaio insists he did nothing wrong and the car was at fault, even though all evidence points to him stepping on the accelerator instead of the break pedal, catapulting the vehicle into the landscaping where a large boulder apparently stopped the car.
Why hasn’t anyone questioned Arpaio’s use of a county-owned vehicle for personal use? Why hasn’t anyone held Arpaio accountable for using a county-owned vehicle and county employees to attend political events, not just locally but in Gila County as well? Why has no one held Arpaio accountable for the money he collects autographing his famous pink underwear? Are tax dollars used to silk-screen his name in gold on those boxers? Where is the cash deposited? Why has no one required Arpaio to provide an explanation as to how he was able to purchase over $750,000 in real estate with cash? Why is Arpaio immune to accountability while others are indicted or go to prison for far less serious offenses? How high does the inmate death toll need to be and how much taxpayer money needs to be converted to his personal use before the attorney general investigates Arpaio? And, why does the legislature lay dormant when impeachment is within their grasp?...”
Follow the funny money.
This profile is from 2001.
There is an Overthrow Arpaio site.
Examples of cruelty under Arpaio:
Charles Agster
Brian Crenshaw
Jeremy Flanders
Scott Norberg
Richard Post
Deborah Braillard
Phillip Wilson
From Scoop:
Jimmy Saville
Live in the Arapio’s jail. Read the entire thread.
Arapio’s tent city even houses people who are awaiting trial and might be innocent.
From the Sierra Times
Ah, but such is the price we have to pay to live in a free society.
In an unanimous decision, a three-judge panel upheld a $635,532 verdict against Arpaio for ignoring “grave risks to life and limb at Tent City.” They didn’t mention the county-sponsored crack cocaine production program Joe created to set up drug buyers a few years back. So a few people die in their detention centers. Who cares? So many court dates, so little time. And hey – this is our Joe. Maracopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio – Toughest Sheriff in America…”
As of 2005 there were 1,500 lawsuits against Arapio.
Do you know the Jimmy Saville story?
Would Arpaio get away with this in New Mexico? Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano thinks not.
To be fair, the Intellectual Conservative paints a different picture of Arpaio.
There is Mother’s Against Arpaio
A profile of Arpaio – Mongral Magazine
From the Arapio Blog
Don Saban ran against Arapio. In an interview for the Arizona Conservative, he said,
4 Comments
An outlaw or banditti is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry, meaning literally “outside the law”. In the common law of England, a judgment declaring someone an outlaw, known as a “Writ of Outlawry”, was one of the harshest penalties in the legal system, since the outlaw could not use the legal system to protect himself if needed, such as from mob justice. drug treatment center
Britain still needs more serious norms… drugs remain a problem hard to control. Drug abuse, drug dealing and smuggling and alcohol problems should be major concerns because these high consumption rates lead to further felonies and crimes.
Drug Rehab Clinic
I will agree with Gordman! The escalating drug consumption/dealing is still a huge problem to rectify.
More and more we attempt to lower the problem by enforcing strong repercussion’s and longer jail time but what about a Drug rehab where they can be DRUG FREE!
Lora
Why is it a facination to the younger generation of these “Outlaws”?
Many seen to think that a harsher penalty would do the trick but in reality is makes them more and more rebelious. At the New York drug treatment center we hear all about how they become more rebelious if penalized. Giving them a safe drug rehab treatment would help them to stay on a safer path.
Lora
http://www.new-york-drug-rehab.org/
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