Sheriff Joe - #366

#366 SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO
MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF IN ARIZONA

Sheriff Joe has been in the annals of GOP Cocksuckerdom for some time.

Not only is he violently anti-immigrant but Sheriff Joe really likes that
"America's Toughest Sheriff' moniker. He takes it very seriously, doing a
lot of public stunts like roundups of illegal immigrants that don't
necessarily help catch violent criminals but get his name out there.

Arpaio also looks upon himself as something of THE authority in
Maricopa County and he doesn't like it very much when that gets
gainsaid, like it did late in 2009, when Maricopa County Supervisor Don
Stapley put auditors in Arpaio's office to monitor spending.

Not only did Stapley do that but he cut into Maricopa County Prosecutor Andrew Thomas' habit of wanting outside attorneys to do county work--outside attorneys that were his political backers. Thomas happens to be a fellowtraveler of #366.

Enraged, Arpaio tried humiliating Stapley by first arresting him in a parking garage in 2008 and charging him with over 118 felony and misdemeanor counts, most of them dealing with charges that Stapley did not include required information on his financial-disclosure forms. That case collapsed when it turned out there was no such law. No prosecutor would take the case.

Thomas wouldn't let that stop him, he went to a Washington D.C. power-lawyer couple, Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who were ubiquitous during the Monica Lewinski Scandal of the late 1990's. The pair cost $295 an hour for out-of-court fees, and $475 an hour for in-court fees. This threat didn't work either, as the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors told Thomas in a letter that it was denying
permission to hire the pair.

Black with fury, Arpaio, who has a reputation for retaliating against people he believes to be his enemies, startled everyone by promptly arresting Stapley AGAIN, this tine in court while he was waiting for the charges from the first case to be dismissed. No outcome on that case has been reported but what HAS been reported is that the FBI is now investigating Arpaio for using his office to conduct vendettas against people who criticize him; more than two dozen complaints, so far. In fact, Stapley's lawyer, Paul Charlton, compared Arpaio's modus operandi to that of an Eastern European dictator who dealt with dissent by have the outspoken shot as a lesson to the others.

Unable to do ANYTHING about the FBI, Arpaio instead focused on Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe. Donahoe made several rulings that Arpaio simply didn't like and Arpaio and Thomas charged him with bribery. Thomas even admitted that there was no evidence of bribery against Donahoe.

Arpaio announced he would cooperate with a Department of Justice probe into his behavior but he's done that before

Last month, (March 2010) Arpaio withdrew a lawsuit he'd filed against Maricopa County supervisors, county judges, and their lawyers, in which he screamed that all of them conspired to thwart a sheriff's office probe into the construction of a new court tower. Arpaio HATES the tower and has opposed it for years.

With thanks to the Arizona Republic, AZ.com and TPM Muckraker.

S. Olson