Salon.com > Joe Arpaio

Arpaio goons sent to Hawaii for important birther investigation

Tue, 22 May 2012 18:57:00 +0000

Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County and living embodiment of everything vile and rotten in contemporary American society, has been hard at work investigating whether the president of the United States is an American citizen, which the president is, case closed. Or rather, case closed for people who don't make a living stoking racist paranoia. For Arpaio, the more evidence we have that Barack Obama's biography is precisely what he's always said it is, the stronger the likelihood that this conspiracy goes all the way to the top. So now he's got his agents traipsing around Hawaii, trying to stir up trouble.

TPM rounds up the news, from the Arizona Republic and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: A deputy from Arpaio's "threats unit" and "posse" member Michael Zullo arrived at the Hawaii Department of Health Monday demanding proof of the existence of a document we've all now seen a thousand times. From the Star-Advertiser:

Sheriff Joe’s world crumbles

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:52:00 +0000

PHOENIX--With fresh calls for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to face a federal criminal trial, many are predicting the end of his controversial career. What few people realize outside metropolitan Phoenix is how much Arpaio’s world has already fallen apart around him.

One-by-one, Arpaio’s closest allies have been forced from power or severed support, leaving the combative 79-year-old sheriff seeking his sixth term increasingly isolated and vulnerable as emboldened foes sharpen their attacks.

The latest Arpaio political supporter to fall is former Maricopa County attorney Andrew Thomas, who was disbarred April 10 for engaging in unethical conduct to intimidate and smear his and Arpaio’s political adversaries.

A stinging 247-page opinion written by a three-member Arizona state Supreme Court disciplinary panel supporting the disbarment ruling also concluded there was “beyond reasonable doubt” that Thomas had violated federal civil rights laws.

While Thomas, a Republican, has not been criminally charged, the opinion made it crystal clear that his unethical and allegedly illegal conduct was the result of his “unholy collaboration” with Arpaio, also a Republican, to use their law enforcement powers to retaliate against critics.

Sheriff Joe’s anti-fed crusade

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:00:00 +0000

The only thing surprising about Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s pistol-whipping of the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday is that anyone is shocked to see him thumbing his nose at the feds.

“This doesn't surprise me at all,” says Alfredo Gutierrez, a former state legislator and longtime Latino civil rights leader in Phoenix. “It shouldn’t surprise anyone who has been following Arpaio over the last 20 years.”

Arpaio announced Tuesday that his office would not accept the federal monitor that the Justice Department demanded as a condition for a settlement regarding allegations of widespread police discrimination against Latinos.

“None of us agreed to allow a federal monitor to come remove my authority as the elected sheriff of Maricopa County," Arpaio said. "I feel that turning my office over to the federal government would be a dereliction of my duty."

The breakdown sets up the likelihood that the Department of Justice will file a lawsuit against MCSO, which Arpaio said on Tuesday he welcomed.

Politically astute and a master of media manipulation, Arpaio never misses an opportunity to dust off his best John Wayne impression and cast himself as the courageous lawman calmly plunging into the firestorm to protect genteel citizens. No stinking judge, flimsy court order or federal bureaucrat is going to stop him from delivering Joe’s Justice.

Sheriff Joe takes another hit

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:32:00 +0000

The clock struck at 1,095 days and 11 hours today for Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Ariz. -- or, at least according to the ticking icon on the Phoenix New Times home page that had asked readers for years: "How long has Sheriff Joe been under investigation by the feds?"

That investigation culminated Thursday when the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice released its long-awaited report, which found a "chronic culture of disregard for basic legal and constitutional obligations" in Arpaio's office. Drawing from tens of thousands of documents and over 400 interviews with sheriff's department personnel, inmates and experts, the report documented "a widespread pattern or practice of law enforcement and jail activities that discriminate against Latinos," resulting in gross violations of constitutional rights.

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez threw down the gauntlet for Arpaio at Thursday's press conference, giving him until Jan. 4, 2012, to accept DOJ's measures to take "clear steps toward reaching an agreement with the Division to correct these violations in the next 60 days," or face a lawsuit. Perez expressed DOJ's willingness "to roll up our sleeves and build a comprehensive blueprint for reform of MCSO," adding, "if the will exists" on Arpaio's end.

Sheriff Joe and Herman Cain find each other

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:15:00 +0000

Herman Cain likes to make a lot of "jokes" on the campaign trail, about how he'd "defend" America's border with Mexico. For a while, it was going to be alligators protecting us from Mexicans. This weekend, Cain decided a better joke was an electrified border fence, in order to electrocute all the illegals to death. (Funny!) Not a joke, presumably: Cain's proposal to use military troops "with real guns and real bullets" to ... shoot immigrants, to death.

Cain is talking a hard line on immigration because that sort of talk appeals to rabid conservatives. It is even more attractive an issue for a candidate like Cain because establishment Republicans like Mitt Romney (and Rick Perry) have spent a number of years trying to actually win Hispanic votes, forcing them to ... moderate their language and policy proposals. Cain has no pressing need to moderate his message on any issue, because he does not expect to actually be the Republican Party's presidential nominee. (See also: Why Cain felt comfortable being the official candidate of totally undisguised bigotry against Muslims, as a means of attracting attention, earlier this year.)