Pinal sheriff’s e-mail to Arpaio may be illegal

Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez is asking his Maricopa County counterpart Joe Arpaio not to bad-mouth him before the upcoming election.

Vasquez, a Democrat, sent Arpaio, a Republican, an e-mail on Aug. 14 asking the politically popular Arpaio to be nice to him when Arpaio addresses Vasquez's constituents at a community meeting in October.

The meeting is to be held at Saddlebrooke, a large upscale housing development north of Tucson.

"I respectfully ask that you not speak about me or my department in a negative way," Vasquez asked Arpaio.

Vasquez also asked Arpaio not to support Paul Babeu, a Chandler police officer and Republican who Vasquez likely will face in the Nov. 4 general election. In the e-mail, Vasquez noted that Babeu, in his role as a Chandler police union official, "slammed" Arpaio for arresting a Chandler police officer for leaving his police dog in a hot vehicle, and the dog later died. The officer, Sgt. Tom Lovejoy, was recently acquitted on the misdemeanor charge.

"Because (Babeu) didn't do you any favors I ask you not do him any and help him in his campaign," Vasquez wrote.

Vasquez sent the e-mail from his county e-mail account, an action that appears to violate state law prohibiting the use of public resources for political campaign purposes.

Yvonne Reed, director of communications for the Maricopa County elections department, said campaign laws clearly state that elected officials cannot use county resources to talk about election issues.

Joe Kanefield, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, said an e-mail from a county e-mail address regarding an election could violate state law, which reads: "A county shall not use its personnel, equipment, materials, buildings or other resources for the purpose of influencing the outcomes of elections."

Vasquez did not return phone calls seeking comment on this story.

Mike Minter, a PCSO spokesman who is also active in Vasquez's campaign, also did not return a phone call. But Minter said via e-mail, also sent on Pinal County's e-mail system, that Vasquez sent his e-mail to Arpaio because Arpaio had spoken negatively of PCSO in the past.

"At the time the e-mail was sent there was no thought of it as an ethical issue but simply protecting his department," Minter said in the e-mail. "There was no intent to sway an election, but, to protect an agency."

"Employees of PCSO expect their leader to stand up for them when they are unjustly talked about," Minter said. "Especially by individuals who do not have the facts about the many good things they do."

For his part, Arpaio said the message was unnecessary and unusual. "I've never seen, had a politician write to me and take these indirect shots at their opponent," Arpaio said, adding that he has never met or spoken with Vasquez.

Arpaio said he'd already planned on endorsing Babeu and that Vasquez's e-mail did not change his mind.

"Why wouldn't he come and meet with me and talk with me?" Arpaio said.