Since the first day he became Maricopa County Sheriff in 1992, it seems someone has been calling for Joe Arpaio to step down. Many do so because they are human rights advocates, and "America's Toughest Sheriff" has clearly breached the protocols of basic decency. It's well documented that inmates have been beaten, tortured, and even murdered while in the Sheriff's custody. The blatant cronyism in Joe's World is also too much for some, even the law-and-order crowd. Why, for example, won't he investigate his deputy Paul Chagolla, who recently threatened a reporter?
Others are fed up with Arpaio's vindictive, vengeful nature -- a blowhard who harasses, indicts, and sues political enemies who block his pathway to a police state, including judges and other elected officials -- even their secretaries. And regardless of political parties, everyone should be concerned about the endless string of lawsuits that have been filed against Arpaio for his agency's false arrests, racial profiling, inmate mistreatment, and other illegal and unethical exploits. So far he's cost taxpayers in Maricopa County more than $50 million, and pending lawsuits total millions more. Then there was his misuse of $100 million that was intended for inmate services, but which Joe stole to satisfy his immigration hardon. He and Steven Seagal needed a big tank, it seems.
Many of these crimes and fuck-ups came to light last year when Frank Munnell, a former Arpaio Deputy, released a blistering report that laid bare the cronyism, political crimes, financial felonies, harassments, petty legal muggings, and other pieces of dumbfuckery that characterize the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO). An "investigation" by Arpaio wannabe Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu cleared the Sheriff of most wrongdoings, but the Munnell memo led to the firing of Arpaio's top deputies. And it raised this: either Arpaio was in on the crimes (and they were crimes), and therefore was equally corrupt, or he didn't know about the bad shit and was therefore a terrible manager, considering how long it went on and how close it was to him and the duties of his office.
Forget about the Sheriff's hardcore politics and bigotry for a second, he's just not a good lawman. While Arpaio runs around, often with TV cameras in tow, catching Mexican burger flippers and car washers, violent crime in Maricopa County has increased as the rest of the state experiences a decrease. Oops. The national story that broke this week about Arpaio botching more than 400 sex-crime investigations in the town of El Mirage has again put his dismal track record back in the news.
In El Mirage alone, officials discovered at least 32 reported child molestations -- with victims as young as 2 years old -- where the sheriff's office failed to follow through, even though suspects were known in all but six cases. Many of the victims, said a retired El Mirage police official who reviewed the files, were children of illegal immigrants. Arizona Republic
Who'd have guessed: "children of illegal immigrants." Arpaio has been on TV locally apologizing for his tragic blunder (a new tactic for him), but former El Mirage Assistant Police Chief Bill Louis isn't having any of this "apology":
His callous comment of "if there were any victims" shows his arrogance and the insincerity of his so-called apology. Arpaio knows full well there were many victims and he knows their identities. In 2008 the sheriff received a full written account of all the cases his office failed to investigate in El Mirage. Arizona Republic
Today, then, the chorus of voices demanding that Arpaio step down grew by one: Arizona Congressman Ed Pastor joined fellow Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva and a growing list of state legislators calling for Joe Arpaio to take a long walk:
"I stand united with my constituents and town officials of Guadalupe in support of the Guadalupe Resolution calling for the resignation of Sheriff Joe Arpaio," Pastor said. New Times
Guadalupe is a small square-mile community wedged between Phoenix and Tempe that is mostly Hispanic and Yaqui. It's a poor but vibrant and culturally rich part of the Valley, and when Arpaio tried to conduct one of his infamous immigration sweeps there in 2008, the young Mayor wasn't too happy about it, and told the turdhead to get lost.
Meanwhile, Arizona's Courageous Senators Show Spine. Not.
In case anyone thinks the old guy (he's 79) doesn't still carry weight among the state's GOP, Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain were not as pointed in their criticism of the sex-crime flub, issuing this mealy-mouthed joint statement:
"We are concerned by the recent press accounts of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office's handling of alleged sex-crimes cases, some of them involving children. Victims of abuse not only deserve the respect of law enforcement, but their rights must also be protected throughout the criminal justice process. Laws that we have championed are intended to give a voice to victims of crime. We intend to support state and local authorities' requests for any additional assets from the Justice Department that are necessary to properly investigate and prosecute these and other cases, including those which need to be investigated by other law enforcement agencies." Arizona Republic
Yup, they are "concerned." In other words, it wasn't Arpaio's "fault," he just didn't have enough "assets" to investigate and prosecute the perps. There's a not-very-veiled hint of course that the problem is Obama's DOJ -- never fail to shift the blame. Arpaio responded:
"I appreciate the offer of assistance by Senators McCain and Kyle [sic] to help this office and other major law enforcement agencies in the valley that currently have the same problem we did back in 2007."
In other words again, lots of sheriffs' offices are in the same boat. Our fuck-ups are not unique, we're not the only bumbling fools with a badge. Stephen Lemons and other reporters think otherwise:
If the sheriff can find one law enforcement agency in the Valley -- or the entire country, for that matter -- that has the same problems the MCSO had with investigating sex crimes between 2005 and 2007, we would be absolutely stunned. New Times
The thing is, the El Mirage sex-crime disaster is not new news. Arpaio was told about the 400+ overlooked investigations and prosecutions three years ago, and at the time he had the balls to criticize the El Mirage police force for making the report public! Then Arpaio said he'd launch an investigation. Again, that was three years ago ... nothing done, no probe, no results, no apologies until the media made a stink again.
Meanwhile, two Federal probes of Arpaio are underway, now in their 1,088th 1,089th day.
UPDATE: Change.org has started a petition demanding Arpaio's resignation. Sign here!