Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio seems to be getting a little tired of being under attack by the Arizona Republic and instead of surrendering to those that by ink by the barrel, he has decided to take the bull by the horns and wrote a Special to the Republic article fighting back.
What follows is Sheriff Joe's Special to the Republic.
The real witch hunt is vs. Sheriff's Office
by Joe Arpaio - Sept. 26, 2009 12:00 AM
Special for the Republic
The Arizona Republic's editorial on Wednesday suggests that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office should be removed from the investigation of Don Stapley because of a political dispute between the Board of Supervisors member and myself ("Sheriff must be removed from Stapley case").
What nonsense.
As usual, the paper's Editorial Board fails to mention some very pertinent points that run contrary to their assertions.
First, the Maricopa County Anti-Corruption Enforcement Unit was started by County Attorney Andrew Thomas and me in 2007 with the aim of fighting political corruption and white-collar crime.
It is the duty of both offices to follow up on any and all leads pointing to the possibility of such crimes.
Turning their backs on information out of political favor to a fellow elected official would be tantamount to dereliction of duty.
Additionally, our offices are not the only law enforcement agencies to investigate elected officials.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat and apparent darling of The Arizona Republic Editorial Board, over the years has also investigated several of Arizona's elected Republican officials for various crimes.
Goddard's investigations often were not earth-shaking. Charges were minor, many were reduced, and still other cases were found not guilty. Why doesn't The Arizona Republic shame Goddard for his poor record as it so willingly does County Attorney Thomas and me?
The newspaper also makes the claim in its editorial that I only go after my political enemies, such as County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, former county schools Superintendent Sandra Dowling, Stapley and Goddard.
The fact of the matter is this: None of these officials were my adversaries when the investigations against them launched. To say that each one was a friend of mine would go too far; it's true, because in politics, a person has no friends. But they were by no means my enemies.
The paper also makes the claim that my deputies went after Dowling on a Sunday morning, replete with armored SWAT team members and three helicopters. The search warrant was executed on a Wednesday evening, not a Sunday morning; there were no armored SWAT members present and no sheriff's helicopters were called to the scene. The fact is that the Dowling case was indicted by Goddard, with the final decision being made by prosecutors. It was not my doing.
The paper constantly criticizes me for orchestrating political witch hunts, and yet it fails to write about what a huge political witch hunt is now going on against me. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are investigating me and my office. Why? Because politically they disagree with how I enforce illegal-immigration and corruption laws in Maricopa County.
The Arizona Republic has joined forces in the witch hunt and has printed numerous misleading headlines, editorial commentaries and negative news articles relating to illegal-immigration and corruption cases.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander, except at The Arizona Republic, where writers and editors always make me out as the evil villain of Maricopa County. They have done this now for 17 years, and sadly, there is no end in sight.
Joe Arpaio is sheriff of Maricopa County
This is just like the ARMED TAKEOVER OF PHOENIX PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL.
ReplyDeletewww.CharterSchoolReform.com
I am about to start crying. Arpaio's heartfelt plea to let him continue his personal vendetta should be granted. After all, there are no criminals in Maricopa County because (except for the 36,000 unserved felony warrants) they have all been brought to justice by Arpaio. He deserves to have open season on whomever he wants to put in jail. Start with Stapley and then the ACLU and then Acorn and the lawyers and the citizens who use the New Times website and anyone else who thinks this is a democracy. Long gone are the days where liberals suggested that all God fearing Americans should line up and kick Jerry Falwell in the behind. Conservative now a days means Fascist and don't you forget it. Sheriff Arpaio, who won't disclose how he had the money to buy three Scottsdale commercial properties for cash, should be able to go after anyone he wants. Hypocrisy is for thinking people, not for those in Maricopa County. After all, Stapley had the audacity to cut Sheriff Arpaio's budget -- HIS BUDGET for goodness sakes. Stapley is an enemy of the state. After I voted for Sheriff Arpaio for dictator, I don't want any fuzzy headed "liberals" screaming for fair trials or unbiased law enforcement. I just want an Arpaio television station so I can be spoon fed press releases by him all day long and see who else he's mad at. Go Joe! You be the Hitler America's never had so far.
ReplyDeleteBack when Joe first went up for election, I, a Law Enforcement professional was totally against him and I continued to be against him until about 3 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI had believed Joe was a racist pig, and a buffoon, yet another embarrassment to Arizona. He had Liberals running for cover and those that worked hard to get him in office (conservatives) sat back and smiled believing they had their golden ticket. While it seemed he was only after the Dem/Libs the Rep/Cons were happy and got bolder then ever. They happily accepted the lawsuits and fighting that ensued. If you were to take a list of the lawsuits and go through them you would see very few have merit, but, they are a drain on your tax dollars. Joe thrived until his proponents realized he was an equal opportunity hater (if you break the law you go to jail). Now that Joe has both sides against him it is just plain getting stupid, I keep waiting for Joe to break the law to do something wrong and I can’t find it. I see all Maricopa legal entities running scared and attacking him to take the focus off of their wrong doing.
One of the big things they like to spout is all of the un-served warrants in the county.. big whoop… yes the number sounds high but, lets take a look at all the stats in the country and I am willing to bet Maricopa County’s stats are probably better then most other counties in America.
I think it is high time we private citizens stepped up and back Joe. Start paying attention to what is really happening. Every entity is afraid to side with Joe because they are afraid they wont get re-elected. So, even though Joe is doing right even the Fed’s won’t stand and publicly back him. The last issue with the computer password if a federal issue. It is not something you play with, free access is not granted. It is a highly regulated system, Law Enforcement must be trained and certified to have access to the information. There are a couple of main levels, a terminal operator and those that can request the info from a terminal operator. There must be a legal reason for each and every inquiry. The ICJIS system is very important to law enforcement and if there are violations to its use, access will be taken away. This has happened to many law enforcement agencies usually the terminal operator ability will be suspended for a year or two during which time the agency must depend on another agency for assistance. Hopefully they will have learned their lesson and will keep better control over the system. So, again Joe was right.
All of us normal people should stand and back Joe, check the facts and let our voices be heard. Stop allowing our fears of being lumped into the group of right wing racists conservatives, get in the way of real issues.
I still believe Joe is a media buffoon, but hey, we cant all be perfect.