Salon.com > John Dougherty

GOP could blow Arizona

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:17:00 +0000

In 1976, Dennis DeConcini, a young, one-term Democratic prosecutor from Tucson, stormed to a 10-point victory in the U.S. Senate race after Republicans Sam Steiger and John Conlan eviscerated each other in a brutal primary. It was the last time the Democrats picked up a Senate seat in the Grand Canyon State.

As Arizona’s unpredictable monsoon season approaches, ominous storm clouds are appearing that could threaten Republican prospects of holding retiring Sen. Jon Kyl’s seat and once again thrust another relatively unknown Tucson Democrat into the Senate.

Democrats are hoping that former U.S. Surgeon General Rich Carmona, a George W. Bush appointee, will be the lightning rod that finally arouses the long dormant Latino vote and propels Carmona into the Senate and delivers Arizona to Barack Obama. A poll from Public Policy Polling this week showed this as a distinct possibility. Carmona trailed his likely Republican opponent, Rep. Jeff Flake, by just 2 points, and Obama trailed Mitt Romney in Arizona by only 3 points, 49-46.

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.