The Wisconsin recall story is still much with us, and the recall of Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce will be in the headlines here until the November election -- and after, no matter what the result. Our resident media suck-hound, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, wants in on the recall business too; specifically, he's exploiting the recall narrative to puff up his victimization status. Last week some a-hole was arrested for threatening to kill the Sheriff, so he uses dipshit stupid stuff like that to throw a criminal blanket over all his opponents. It rubs right up against McCarthyism. In today's fundraising email he smoothly pivots from Democrats to the crazies:
I won't surrender to Obama, left-wing politicians, thugs or the daily death threats I receive! New Times
There's a bunch of that language in the fundraiser, which Steve Lemons takes apart tonight in New Times. Lemons includes screen shots of the message and a much longer dissection of the Sheriff's lies and overreaches, but here's a slice:
Not that there isn't plenty of reason to doubt it otherwise, but an e-mail blast sent out yesterday signed by Joe rails about a non-existent recall effort against the sheriff and berates (without naming him) challenger and Scottsdale Police Department Lieutenant Mike Stauffer for making "outrageous and criminal allegations" about him.
Neither of these claims is apparently true. I know, shocking that Arpaio would have an issue with truth-telling, eh? New Times
It's lies. The Arpaio appeal says there's "a fully organized effort to RECALL me," and "left-wing agitators" are organizing all kinds of nasty shit. Recalls are in the news, gotta climb on that media train! Lemons notes there is no recall of Arpaio in the works. If there were, he points out, the County's Elections Director would know about it, since recall drives must file with her. She's heard nothing about it. But it sure makes for good copy!
Another big fibber: Arpaio blasts his opponent Lt. Stauffer for saying the Sheriff "stole $100 million from the taxpayers," because this accusation is "FALSE and SLANDEROUS" -- in big uppercase letters! But Arpaio did do that, it's just a fact. Why not say it? It's ironclad evidence of the Sheriff's mishandling of taxpayer's dollars for his own agenda. It must be part of the campaign, but if you raise it Arpaio slams you in his letters for being part of a socialist conspiracy, just like the left-wing dictators in Obama's DOJ who are investigating him. Can't imagine why. Let me try: More million-dollar lawsuits against this bozo than any elected official; big stacks of cash gone missing, showing up in the Sheriff's tanks and other cool toys; a department steeped in intimidation and lawlessness.
Beyond the roughly $50 million Arpaio has cost taxpayers in lawsuits and legal services, the redirection of $100 million intended for prisoner services to his immigration task forces and other pet projects is one of two things, neither of them good. Either, as Arpaio claims, it was a $100 million clerical error and misunderstanding, in which case he, being the Big Kahuna, is responsible for running a pretty inept shop. Or it was intentional, as his former bookkeeper alleges -- in other words, definitely wrong, probably illegal. News broke this week that the County Manager believes the total will go well north of $100 million. Oh, goodie.
The Sheriff can't close his email blast with blowing these familiar dog whistles:
The Hollywood Left, the Obama Administration, radical open-border activists, liberal politicians and every other extreme left wing group out there ... "
That has to hold some kind of record for packing the most red meat into the fewest syllables. I mean, except for a "the" and one or two short phrases, every word there passes the Pavlov's Dog test for exciting the hate glands of Glenn Beck's audience. Arpaio's people.
The Sheriff has a healthy war chest of at least $2.8 million, maybe more. As Lemons notes, though, he's stepping up to take advantage of the fake recall victimization schtick because the more cash he has, the more he can expand and deepen his power base. That foundation has been chipped away lately, since the Frank Munnell memo was released. The former deputy's 2010 bombshell kicked off a shitload of investigations into the thuggish behavior that drove the Sheriff's Office, leading to the firing of two top deputies and a long list of other headaches for Arpaio. It was a corrupt, ruthless, vengeful regime, but to hear Arpaio talk about it, to criticize him for operating a costly and crooked operation puts you in bed with Mao or Tim Robbins. So he plays the heroic victim to scam dollars from scared blue hairs in Sun City.
The hysterical nature of Arpaio's fundraising e-mails is both ludicrous and par for the course. They're meant to draw in as much out-of-state cash as possible. And, sadly, there are a lot of folks gullible enough to fall for Joe's appeals, even when those appeals are little more than a patchwork of paranoid prevarications.
Joe Arpaio's Latest Hysterical Appeal for Cash, and His Non-Existent Recall