My experience on first meeting Joe (Arpaio), though not as momentous as Jon Beydler’s (referenced in his Dec. 14 column), reinforces your impression of this publicity hound. Joe had just been elected and he and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors were in court as defendants — recalcitrant defendants. It was Federal Court. Years before either he or most, if not all, of the Supervisors had personally been elected, an ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) law suit on prison overcrowding had resulted in the entry of a consent decree which bound them as successor figures. Our county was not at all good at housing its numerous prisoners. We were housing more than twice the number of prisoners as the jails, mostly of federal design, were supposed to house. Joe was mad. Just who did this judge think he was to threaten Joe? His attorney had to take him outside of the court room to settle him down. It was embarrassing for the other defendants to be associated with such an unruly co-defendant.
The issue was, will the Federal judge hold Joe and the Supervisors in contempt of the consent decree which their predecessors had agreed to regarding building more jail space and several other issues related to the treatment of prisoners?
At that time I had another friend who was an employee of Joe’s. He worked as a prison guard. His stories of prisoner mistreatment were horrifying. Prison guards knew that when prisoners were mistreated, prison guards were in jeopardy of retaliation. They did not like the new rules Joe had set down! The judge was threatening to jail Joe and the Supervisors. In an attempt to help them see reality, he ordered each to take a tour of the jails. I recall how shocked Betsy Bayless was upon seeing conditions at both the 1st Avenue and women’s jails. But Joe was not the least bit concerned. After all, bad guys are bad guys and do not deserve humane treatment!
A day or two later, I was with the friend who had succeeded the ACLU attorney. He was the one who had invited me along to court. We were in the office of Joe’s attorney (Joe had his own attorney). But Joe was too important to be there personally, even though we were just across the street from Joe’s own office. Not much was accomplished. But we did get a hint as to what the attorney was going to recommend Joe do. Since the consent decree only applied to pre-trial detainees, Joe was going to house only pretrial detainees in his jails. He would create more space elsewhere for those who have been sentenced.
Months later, and working under the advice and counsel of Joe’s rather brilliant attorney, tent city was created. And naturally Joe took all of the credit for himself. However we all knew different. In effect, that Federal Court Judge made Sheriff Joe famous but Joe’s attorney deserved the credit.
Following shortly thereafter, we got Joe’s pink underwear, chain gangs out doing publicity — work which cost more money for guards that hiring the work done privately would have cost — baloney sandwiches and alike. Joe was in his element. Joe bragged that he had reduced the cost of housing prisoners from around $70 per day when he took office, to about $30 after his changes were put into effect. Whoever was Joe’s publicity agent was easily as brilliant as Karl Rove! But I hear that today the cost is back to $70 and Joe is in trouble for spending money outside of the budget.
And then there is the commissary. Rather than providing prisoners paper, pencil, envelopes and stamps, Joe opened up a commissary to sell those supplies as well as other materials including some candy bars and sodas. The cost per item was enormous. The covered up scandal was in regard to who pocketed the proceeds. There were no books to audit! And don’t forget that lawsuit brought against Joe over the death of a pretrial detainee? Is Joe an executioner? Settling that suit cost us all a bundle.
No, folks, Sheriff Joe needs to go. It’s not at all about law enforcement. Rather as both Jon and Rich point out and as many deputies know all too well, it’s all about Joe. Sure Joe is the toughest Sheriff in America. But tough is not synonymous with effective. He’s one of the most ineffective men I have ever met. If you recall, three years later one of his subordinates ran for sheriff against him. Many subordinates wished Joe had lost. It’s publicity that gets him reelected. And my friend is now a deputy sheriff in another county!
Dale Whiting
Chandler
Arizona Willie posted at 10:48 am on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
A few years back in Usenet News Groups in Arizona discussions, there were some people who were very outspoken and critical of Sheriff Joe.
They claimed they had personal experience with him.
They did.
Turned out they had been arrested ( twice ) and spent time visiting Joe's establishment.
Everyone complaining about Sheriff Joe should be required to establish whether or not they have ever been arrested by Joe.
That tends to establish where one is coming from :)
People who have been arrested understandably don't like him.
They aren't the kind of people Joe is nice to.
Rodini posted at 11:04 am on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
Right on Dale...there is NO SHERIFF anywhere in America who needs to be muzzled and put out to pasture worse than our Joe Blow Hard!
He is a menace to democracy and has cost Maricopa County far more than he is worth in cow manure!
Leon Ceniceros posted at 2:06 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
LOL...."WHO LIFTED THE ROCK" ????
Folks, here we go again...the Liberals, the Socialists, the Democrats, the Communists...the Ultra-Left Wing Loonies.....all smell...."blood in the water"...so here we go with the ....Letters to the Editor Campaign again.
The Maricopa County Attorney just determined that there was..."NOTHING ILLEGAL ABOUT THE FIESTA BOWL TICKETS AND TRIPS"....but that was ...."SUPPOSEDLY" the main reason that the Mormons, the Catholics, the Democrat Party and the Hispanic/La Raza-istas...went after...Russell Pearce.
WE KNOW THE "REAL" REASON THAT ALL OF THESE GROUPS ARE GOING AFTER ....SHERIFF JOE...IT'S THE SAME REASON THEY WENT AFTER ...RUSSELL PEARCE................SB 1070.
If you put Sheriff Joe on one side of the Scale of Life and put the A.C.L.U, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and all the other Pro-Illegal Alien Amnesty activists.......on the other side of the Scale............SHERIFF JOE WOULD WIN...HANDS DOWN.
GOD BLESS SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO AND HIS DEPUTIES AND STAFF...THEY ARE SHOWING THE WORLD THE REAL "FACE" OF ARIZONA...THE CONSTITUTION-LOVING, LAW ENFORCEMENT-LOVING, AMERICA-LOVING FACE OF MARICOPA COUNTY, STATE OF ARIZONA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Dale Whiting posted at 2:16 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
Ok Willie,
I have never been arrested, not for anything, not anywhere, not anytime, natta! But working for an attorney who was assigned as successor plaintiffs' attorney to that law suit I mentioned, a suit not against Joe, but against his predecessor and the predecessors of the County Supervisors, I did get to see Joe loose his cool before a Federal Judge and witnessed the embarrasment of the others [his co-defendant County Supervisors] and did get an advanced peek at the decision to set up tent city. It was not so much Joe's idea as it was his attorney's idea. But naturally Joe took all of the credit!
And I did have a friend who choose to leave Maricopa County to work as a deputy in another county. As a jailor, he was disgusted with the changes in rules and the attitude Joe manefested to prisoners.
Care to try to audit that commissary selling supplies to the prisoners?
How about you? Are you on Joe's payrole?
bobunf posted at 3:32 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
The voters of Maricopa County have decided they want entertainment rather than professional law enforcement. They've had it for 19 years and results are abundantly clear just in what's come out this month:
Hundreds of sex abuse cases simply left un-investigated. Really worse than un-investigated murders, because murderers are usually one-off people, but sexual predators are almost always serial. 432 so far. How many does it take to get really upset.
The Department of Justice concluding after a 3 year investigation, hampered by the Sheriff's refusal to provide documents and jail access, that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has "The most egregious racial profiling in the United States."
A Federal Judge just granted class action status to all Latinos who have been stopped, detained, arrested or searched in Maricopa County, and enjoined the Sheriff from "detaining any person based only on knowledge or reasonable belief, without more, that the person is unlawfully present within the United States."
Still another inexcusable death in the County Jail, the results of which will play out over the few years and will ultimately cost County taxpayers millions of dollars. Providing a picture of a completely unprofessional law enforcement organization incapable of handling an unarmed mentally ill person without killing him.
Still more additions to the 6,300 lawsuits against the Sheriff (more than 20 times the average for counties of a similar size): a woman shackled to a hospital bed during labor, delivery and post-partum, denied medical care, suffering gross malnutrition to the detriment of the unborn. A typical, and shameful situation in the Maricopa County Jails.
When will the voters have enough of self-serving unlawful publicity stunts on the part of the Sheriff? Of death and sadism in our jails?
samkat posted at 6:45 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
Go Joe. :-)
Slabside posted at 7:48 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
Go Joe![smile]
Dale Whiting posted at 7:49 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
Go Joe? Isn't that a hand cleaner for mechanics?[wink]
Slabside posted at 8:04 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
Perhaps. I guarantee the printed version of your letters are best used in the bottom of a birdcage or for wrapping dead fish.
bobunf posted at 8:16 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
Go Joe far, far away
I feel utterly baffled that anyone can feel that Sheriff Arpaio is acceptable as a law enforcement professional. After all that has come out, and more every day.
Just his treatment of pregnant women.
Or his killing of people in the jail.
Or his obvious blatant racial and ethnic discrimination.
Or his bad police work.
Or his divisiveness - at least a third of our community regarding Sheriff Arpaio and his officers with fear, loathing and the utmost distrust while avoiding any contact to the extent at all possible. The Sheriff has the cooperation typical of a hostile occupying army.
Slabside posted at 8:33 pm on Sat, Dec 24, 2011.
Post hard evidence and factual numbers instead of drive by media accusations.
DemocraticDad posted at 1:38 am on Sun, Dec 25, 2011.
Note to Leon:
In your comment you stated, "The Maricopa County Attorney just determined that there was..."NOTHING ILLEGAL ABOUT THE FIESTA BOWL TICKETS AND TRIPS"....but that was ...."SUPPOSEDLY" the main reason that the Mormons, the Catholics, the Democrat Party and the Hispanic/La Raza-istas...went after...Russell Pearce."
The Fiesta Bowl ticket scandal was the main reason???? HUH????? Citizens for a Better Arizona began the Pearce recall effort in January of 2011. The Fiesta Bowl scandal broke 2 months later in March.
Do you EVER get the facts straight?
bobunf posted at 8:29 pm on Sun, Dec 25, 2011.
Leon, the primary reason former Senator Pearce lost had nothing to do with immigration, the Fiesta Bowl, or even his disastrous handling of the state budget in the areas of health care and education.
The primary reason was the fundamental decency of the American voter. Pearce did not meet that standard starting with his absurd name calling, his fake twitter account, his fake candidate to deceive and swindle Latino voters, his robo-calls to discourage people from voting, his adolescent sign stealing.
It was a filthy dirty campaign. The voters didn't like it at all, and put the perpetrator out to pasture.
As for Sheriff Arpaio, , you don't have to be racist and vindictive to legally enforce immigration laws. So far two branches of the Federal government (including a Bush appointed Judge) have found that he's arresting people because they have brown skin and not following the law in numerous other ways.
Opposing illegal immigration does not absolve a person of all sins. It didn't absolve Pearce and it doesn't absolve Arpaio. There is a balance and both Pearce and Arpaio have gone way, way over the tipping point.
You don't a free pass to do illegal things just because you say, "I'm against illegals."
And, there are, quite frankly, much more important issues.
samkat posted at 3:55 pm on Tue, Dec 27, 2011.
Go Joe anyway you want to define it. :-)
Rational Human posted at 7:12 pm on Wed, Dec 28, 2011.
LOL, you people try to vote him out. We need a good laugh. lol bobunf, you're still a lying mexican with an anti-gringo agenda.