I initially thought the headline meant that there was a good chance that felony charges would be brought against Arpaio. My disappointment is severe
Having lived in Phoenix from 1997-2003 I saw a lot of news about Arpaio and it always seemed like he was beating his chest over some new initiative to make prison as horrible as possible for the prisoners or some new get tough on crimonals which usually involved some very “loose” interpretations of the constitution to make the program not seem as questionably legal. He seemed to be very proud of his tent cities in the desert and in interviews he usually came across as some kind media whore with a holier than thou attitude that instantly made me think he was a giant douche nozzle. Having seen him in national news stories a few times since hasn’t done anything to change my attitude about the guy.
Sheriff Joe is a piece of work. I was employed by Maricopa County several years ago in a position to meet him, his right-hand man Henderson, and many others (including Jan Brewer and Joe Stapley).
Arpaio once had bobblehead dolls of himself made and he sat outside the court buildings autographing them. Somehow I neglected to pick one up. The write-up misses several of his other antics, including many of his lieutenants who were smuggling illegal aliens and drugs and his purchase of an anti-aircraft gun in the days after 9/11 (the flight path of planes taking off and landing has them pretty close to the county complex downtown). Oh, his people also choked a mentally disabled man to death and he installed a webcam at the jail’s intake so you could watch the brutality live as it happened. I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire.
But the citizens of Maricopa County keep on electing him. Of course, they also keep electing criminals and idiots governor… Jan Brewer, Evan Mecham (impeached on obstruction of justice) and Fyfe Symington (convicted of bank fraud). And, of course, such fine Senators… McCain (who would qualify as a North Vietnamese ace for the number of aircraft he lost), John Kyl, and Jeff Flake.
It wasn’t just the blast-furnace heat that caused me to leave.
Hahaha… Nicely put! I moved to AZ as Mecham was being thrown out. And good ole’ frat-boy Fyfe. Man, good times. Go read the comments on the link, if you want to see how fucked-up Maricopa County residents are.
I have a friend that lives in Phoenix, AZ and I repeatedly have to ask him how he can live in that shithole. Especially since he travels a lot and works 100 percent from home otherwise. There has to be a better place than that hell on earth.
I am very confused by the initial link to http://seanbonner.tumblr.com/post/76385412666/the-best-time-to-drink-coffee-according-to-science-i which seems to have nothing to do with this story.
I checked out the root directory of the site, but I don’t see another post that’s about Arpaio or anything.
Try the link at the bottom.
Best part is the fact that the large majority of inmates in tent city haven’t even been convicted yet.
I worked on Paul Penzone’s campaign last year and I was really upset when he lost. Mr. Penzone was a former cop, and a very smart man – not a politician, and certainly not a celebrity. At one point, I watched Mr. Penzone during an event as he walked over to a cooler and got his own water. Sheriff Joe never would do that. Penzone was just a regular guy and former cop, and I really, genuinely liked him – I’ve met a LOT of politicians and he was very different. NORMAL.
I am an Arizona native and live in one of the bluest parts of Phoenix. I promise you that Arizona is fAR MORE than this ass hat.
Yeah, that goes to that root directory I mentioned. I didn’t find anything related to this there. It’s also a crazy design - once you scroll too far down, it just starts repeating forever, with no hint that you reached the end, or that you need to click somewhere for older posts.
But if I’m (entirely likely) just being an idiot and missing it, where should I be looking on Sean’s site?
There is a facebook group, “People against Sheriff Joe Arpaio” which has been very active in discussing Arpaio’s criminality for years. You can find out much more about Arpaio’s maleficence there.
I’ve lived in Maricopa county and thankfully only had one direct (rather chilling) run in with Arpaio’s cronies, which I’d rather not discuss, as it’s minor compared to the life ruining things that have happened to people who have spoken out against this corrupt demagogue. Have no doubt, this Sheriff is a vindictive racist of the lowest sort.
Cory, could you PLEASE fix the main link in this article so that it doesn’t point to some guy’s Tumbler entry linking to an unrelated Oatmeal coffee article?
And have more care in the future, please.
Oh, I know.
But we also have family that lives there (they are old) and I’ve spent time on many different occasions and - no offense - but I hated pretty much every second of it and couldn’t wait to get home…
We also have friends that live in Chandler, and other than her awesome pool/spa… also hated it.
Sometimes the cronies can testify against the larger target for reduced charges. We can but hope.
“Arpaio’s bid to quash the FBI investigation and his campaign against local politicians have cost Arizona taxpayers over $44M to date.”
Yay! Score one for the legal profession!
I used to work as an advocate for rape victims (which meant I could legally be present when police or medical staff were asking the victim questions) so I know exactly how frustrating it is when the police and victim(s) know the scumbag deserves to rot in prison but the district attorney says “not enough to be certain of winning, so we’re not going to prosecute.”
I applaud the FBI for spending years on this. All we can hope is that the federal prosecutors’ denial to move forward (at this time?) has lit a fire under their bellies and they’ll come back with ten times more proof.
You shouldn’t, the story is on azcentral.com and the links seemed to have been fixed in the meantime. Perhaps my reply was in the middle of the edit with one fixed and the other not?
With all the lawsuits Jumpin Joe Arpaio looses, I wouldn’t be surprised to read that people are going to his jurisdiction in the hopes of being abused in order to make a few million.
