You'd think "law and order" is the state motto for Arizona, as much as you hear Sheriff Arpaio, Governor Brewer, Attorney General Horne, and their ilk bandy the phrase about. A close second would be "rule of law," which the Governor said was vindicated after the Supremes' immigration ruling last week. Only problem: finger-wavin' Jan got it wrong; the ruling didn't uphold her states rights argument. In fact, it slapped it down big time. Unlike CNN and FOX, which caught their SCOTUS healthcare-ruling boner in 10 minutes, it took Governor Brewer a day to realize she was wrong. Then the SB 1070 ruling wasn't the "victory" for Arizona she originally claimed, it was the end of the universe! OMG, Mexicans will take over!
Kingman, the county seat for Mohave County in the northwest part of the state, is "law and order" nirvana. It's where Sheriff Joe Arpaio goes to find a sycophantic audience of toadies who love his "get tough" policies. My apologies to progressives who live there, but the Kingman area is looney-land. Believe me, you don't even want to know what's going on in those trailer parks surrounded by chain link fences and mean dogs. Camouflage is the required dress code, and an anti-Obama bumper sticker is the norm. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols hung out in Kingman, storing explosives in Michael Fortier's house. In the 2008 election, the county went 66-33 for McCain, and that wasn't just because of the Favorite Son factor; in 2004 they voted 64-35 Bush over Kerry.
Construction is by far Mohave County's largest industry -- oceans of ticky-tacky homes and Big Box parking lots blanket the desert. So when the 2007 housing bubble popped, the county was hit hard: the 5 percent unemployment figure spiked to more than 11 percent, leading to a lot of unhappy, pissed-off mostly white Republicans. The town sent about 20 of these mighty fine people to the state GOP convention in May -- people like delegate Sharon Kay Holmes:
A Kingman woman was indicted Thursday for four felony counts after an alleged armed dispute with a repo man. A Mohave County grand jury indicted Sharon Kay Holmes, 68, on two counts of aggravated assault, one count of unlawful flight from law enforcement and one count of criminal damage. If convicted of the more serious aggravated assault charge, Holmes could face a maximum prison sentence of 12-1⁄2 years. Mohave Valley Daily News
Law and order, ya know. Seems Granny Tea Party Holmes wasn't too keen on the idea of a bank taking her Jeep. As the repo man was hooking her vehicle to his tow truck, she stormed out of the house with a gun, "cursing and threatening to shoot him," then locked herself in the vehicle. When the police arrived, she started the engine and somehow dislodged the Jeep from the tow truck, damaging both vehicles, then led police on a chase through Kingman's back streets until she was captured. She's been in jail since Friday.
It turns out that today, Monday, Holmes' nomination to become a district committeeperson goes before the county supervisors. Go for it, supervisors! Sharon obviously has that good old rugged-individualist GOP spunk. And she's all for law and order, especially when it applies to brown people. I won't link to it, but you'll find her at "Revolution," the Arizona Tea Party website -- like this post about Brewer taking on the Feds over SB 1070:
God Bless you Governor Brewer. We don't have much of a problem in Mohave County, but I have been to Anti-Immigration fnctions near the Border, and we all see the videos of the illegals crossing into Arizona every day. I just hears about the donations for the completion of the fence on Fox News this morning using prisoners to do the construction. Great Idea.
She can't spell and watches FOX News! I never would've guessed. In case Holmes didn't get the message, "I just hears" that the GOP fence-building donation scheme, which was supposed to raise $50 million its first year, brought in less than $200,000. The organizers are now accepting chain link fence.
Another Holmes' comment accuses Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a law official who has criticized the Tea Party's fear-mongering about "illegals," of a coverup in the Tucson shooting of Gabby Giffords. Sharon should know, being the law and order delegate and all.