You will forgive me for being shocked, shocked I say in my best Claude Rains accent, that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio responded to yesterday's Department of Justice report in a "defiant" manner (sez the Arizona Republic), even suggesting he will not change his policies. How can this be? I mean, he's been the model of cooperation with the Feds since they launched two investigations more than three years ago.
One probe, whose results were reported yesterday at a packed presser, looked into charges of racial profiling and concluded, "Arpaio oversaw the worst pattern of racial profiling by a law enforcement agency in U.S. history." The other, a Grand Jury investigation, is still examining abuse of power allegations that stem from the indictments Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas leveled against their political enemies. The Grand Jury is also investigating illegal campaign schemes, cronyism, kickbacks and other financial scams, and witness tampering. Based on the Sheriff's recent court testimony about these charges, they might want to add perjury to the list.
Arpaio only delayed the racial profiling probe by more than a year and a half, when he refused to turn over documents or allow investigators to interview his inmates. The Feds successfully took him to court over that arrogant stonewalling, and County taxpayers were billed another $1 million for the Sheriff's legal battle. We're used to underwriting Arpaio's court fees, of course; the current tab for the 2,700 lawsuits that have been filed against him is more than $50 million. It will go up. And if the Sheriff doesn't play ball with the Feds this time, it could go up a lot:
[T]he Justice Department could strip Maricopa County's federal funding -- even retroactively -- for a variety of programs if Arpaio does not comply with requests for reform. Loss of federal funding would significantly affect the county's ability to deliver services. For example, federal funding for fiscal 2011 totaled more than $155 million. Arizona Republic
The wormheaded GOP here is captured on one end by Russell Pearce's fundamentalist haters, and on the other by a powerful business lobby. They usually call themselves "fiscal conservatives," except in this case, where Arpaio has cost citizens plenty -- in coin and safety. Still, the factions within the Republican Party generally support Arpaio's police state tactics because he serves their legislative priorities and economic control. You didn't see Republicans call for the Sheriff's resignation after the sex-crime tragedy came to light, like the Democrats did, both in the legislature and congress.
Arpaio himself says the DOJ probe is a politically motivate "witch hunt," whining that he's Obama's "whipping boy." Yeah, the President doesn't have enough on his plate -- he's so focused on you, turdhead. Out of one side of his lying pie hole Arpaio says he'll cooperate with the Feds "the best we can," and at the same time he tosses the goobers a steaming pile of red meat, valiantly claiming that he won't change his tactics -- the ones that are working so well.
Not! In addition to Arpaio's methods being unconstitutional, get this: Every county in Arizona but one has experienced a decrease in violent crime since 2004. The exception? You guessed it: MariKafka County. Rather than tackle the County's huge backlog of arrest warrants, rather than investigate serious crimes, like more than 400 sexual assaults, Arpaio has more "important" business: County lawman Joe Arpaio spends his time organizing posses to investigate Obama's birth certificate; TV personality Joe Arpaio raids cock fights in a tank with Steven Seagal; and Arpaio-as-Patton leads his deputies (often "poorly trained" the DOJ said) in the raids of homes and businesses, violating the shit out of the Fourth Amendment and arresting teenage car washers and burger flippers who are supporting a family.
These are the policies he refuses to change.
Yesterday's DOJ press conference shed light on these policies, the ones Arpaio vows to continue. They include:
• Inside his jails Arpaio's untrained deputies punish Hispanic inmates who don't speak English more than any other group: "The inability of one Latino inmate to understand a command in English can result in the lockdown of an entire house or pod."
• On the outside Arpaio's deputies detain Hispanics 4 to 9 times more often than others: "Without evidence of criminal activity, the deputy arrested the driver for failing to provide proper identification, even though he had shown multiple documents to satisfy Arizona law. He was jailed for 13 days before his citation was dismissed."
• Natch, civil rights advocates who protest Arpaio's methods are arrested, indicted, or otherwise harassed without cause: "In July 2010, an activist who has been vocal in his criticism of Arpaio was arrested and charged during a peaceful protest.... The activist was jailed and not allowed to speak to his attorney."
There's much more to the Department of Justice report, which you can read in its 22-page entirety here, but in general it confirms what we've known all along: the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office engages in racial profiling -- no ifs, ands, or buts. Blatantly bad shit. When Arpaio's deputies "sweep" through a neighborhood, one that just happens to be predominantly Hispanic, and the only people rounded up share a brownish hue, it's hard not to label that racial profiling. We seldom see Arpaio sweeping through Scottsdale, unless he's raiding a car wash or burger stand.
Likewise, when American citizens like Julian and Julio Mora are arrested and detained without cause, merely because they are Latinos doing yard work ("Well, they must be illegals!"), it's impossible not to call that racial profiling. Not only are these tactics unconstitutional, they're expensive: the Moras took Arpaio to court and walked away with $200,000.
The Department of Justice gave Arpaio until January 4 to address his "systematic disregard" for the Constitution. Immediately after the DOJ press conference, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano banned the Sheriff from conducting immigration investigations in his jails. It didn't take the old turd with a badge more than a few hours to respond:
"By their actions today, President Obama and a band of his merry men might as well erect their own pink-neon sign at the Arizona-Mexico border saying welcome all illegals to the U.S., our home is your home," Arpaio said late Thursday after federal officials had unveiled their findings. Arizona Republic
That's right, if you insist on upholding the Constitution in Arizona, you must be an open-border activist who wants to turn over the state to Sonora. Where have I heard that line before? When the 1950 Tydings Committee rebuked Senator Joseph McCarthy for his totalitarian techniques,
McCarthy immediately went on the attack, labeling the report "a green light to the Red fifth column in the United States." He described it as a clear "signal to the traitors, Communists, and fellow travelers in our Government that they need have no fear of exposure from the Administration." Perilous Times
Arpaio often falls back on the same methods, ones that served former Arizona Senator Russell Pearce for six terms, until the old dork's deceptions took him down. Today Arpaio's good buddy Russ is gone from the scene, recalled by the very conservative voters in Mesa, partly because he couldn't stop telling lies long enough to address the real challenges plaguing Arizona. Arpaio is doing the same: deflecting attention from his piss-poor record by dealing from the immigration deck.
Sheriff Arpaio, Senator Pearce, Governor Brewer, and other nitwits continue to stoke the fear about scary brown criminals from the south invading Arizona -- taking our jobs, selling drugs to our children, and doing the nasty to grandma in Sun City. Sure there are problems and they should be addressed in a fair and realistic fashion; these clunkheads only yack about fences, electrified or not, and prosecutions (surprise, surprise, SB 1070 was drawn up by the corrections industry). Inconveniently for the righty hate merchants, however, not only couldn't officials find even one headless body in Jan Brewer's terrifying desert, but recent FBI studies show that immigration is down 40 percent from last year. Crime along the border is also down.
You'll never hear the nativist goofballs admit this as they bellyache about Obama "not protecting us," but this administration has sent more resources to the border than George Bush ever did. Oddly, however, during W's two disastrous terms, when border crime and immigration were higher, you didn't hear hair-on-fire rants from the GOP and, in fact, McCain and other Republicans even talked about "reform." Can you imagine a GOP contender today mentioning that word in a debate? Sheesh, he or she would be booed off the stage, along with anyone who even dared suggest we save dying patients who lack healthcare.
Speaking of the debates, I may have missed it but last night I didn't hear Rick Perry brag up that endorsement he received from Joe Arpaio. Given that crowd, he probably should have.