The Massachusetts transplant has only been Sheriff of Pinal County in Arizona since 2008, but bullet-headed Paul Babeu rocketed to national prominence when he co-starred in the "complete the danged fence" ad during Senator John McCain's 2010 campaign.
It didn't matter that Babeu's district is nearly a hundred miles from Mexico; here's John McCain walking with him along the fence near Nogales, stirring up fear. The Senator, who was facing a stiff primary challenge from tea party darling JD Hayworth, once supported immigration reform, but you won't hear that word in the ad. McCain brought along Babeu as a uniformed escort because the actual Sheriff of the County they're walking through, Tony Estrada, does not support SB 1070, more fence building, and many of Arizona's other red-meat immigration laws.
With SB 1070 in the news daily during that hot summer of 2010, Babeu's face and name began to appear alongside Sheriff Joe Arpaio's, his anti-immigrant hero. Like the PR-mugging Arpaio, Babeu never saw a TV camera he didn't like. He became a regular on FOX News, parlaying his sudden exposure into political capital, and his name was soon tossed about as a possible congressional candidate. Today he followed through on that frightening possibility:
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu announced on Wednesday his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 4. The first-term sheriff said he plans to focus on illegal immigration, high unemployment and the federal deficit.
Babeu, who quickly rose to national prominence as a leading advocate of tough border security and immigration enforcement, announced in October that he was considering running for Congress. Arizona Republic
What else should we know about Sheriff Paul Babeu? In addition to whitewashing an investigation into his pal Joe Arpaio's crimes and misdemeanors, try this on for starters:
During the height of SB 1070 fanaticism in July 2010, Babeu appeared on the racist radio program "The Political Cesspool" out of Tennessee. The Sheriff's publicist later fell on his sword, saying it was his fault for booking Babeu, but the producers of the show said the Sheriff clearly knew about their "paleoconservative," "pro-white" agenda:
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu knew what kind of radio program he was going on when he appeared on a "pro-White" show July 10, the host alleged today. James Edwards, who hosted the interview along with Eddie Miller, said Miller spoke with Babeu and his spokesman multiple times before the interview... "For him to act as though he had no idea of our ideology is a lie," Edwards said in a written statement on the show’s website. Arizona Daily Star
Co-host Eddie Miller said of Babeu at the time, "Of all the people we’ve interviewed on this radio show, I would say the only people that came close to getting me this excited was Dr. David Duke." Forget the convoluted grammar, that's some compliment!
During the interview the Sheriff called Miller "a great American" and regurgitated the standard GOP talking points about an "invasion into Arizona" that is causing "some of the highest crime rates in all of America." Similar to Governor Brewer's "headless bodies" malarky, Babeu's comment is just plain wrong. Stephen Lemons at New Times noted that FBI crimes statistics show crime is down in Arizona since Obama took office, specifically in Babeu's Pinal County. And while Barack Obama has sent more resources to the border than George Bush ever did, Babeu spewed the usual claptrap about the President "not securing the border."
Then last spring Sheriff Babeu thought he hit another immigration home run, but it soon went foul. One of his deputies, Louie Puroll, claimed he was shot in the desert by Mexican drug runners just one week after Brewer signed SB 1070. With the state gripped by protests and media stories, Babeu appeared on numerous TV and radio programs, locally and nationally, using his deputy's shooting as "proof" that we need the "papers please" law. In addition to "The Political Cesspool," he appeared on wackjob Alex Jones's show, all but accusing Obama of treason. FOX News in particular ate up the story of a lone deputy shot in the desert while tracking smugglers, as you can see in their hair-on-fire coverage that evening:
Soon, however, reporters began pointing out problems with Deputy Puroll's story. For instance, after they supposedly shot the deputy, what happened to the drug runners and their stash? Police helicopters were on the scene immediately, yet there was no trace of the smugglers and nowhere to hide. Forensic evidence also didn't mesh with Puroll's tale. Nonetheless, Sheriff Babeu continued to use the shooting as justification for SB 1070, a higher and longer fence, and tougher immigration enforcement.
Within days, though, Deputy Puroll's story unraveled, it was proven to be a fabrication, and he was fired. Sheriff Babeu never apologized for exploting the lie -- and other whoppers he told during the SB 1070 debate -- to justify more assaults on our civil liberties, and to bolster his eventual run for Congress.
Happily, State Senator Russell Pearce, author of SB 1070, was recalled last November and Sheriff Joe Arpaio is in deep doo-doo following a Department of Justice report that named his office the most corrupt in US history (not to mention the hot water Arpaio is in for botching more than 400 sex-crime investigations). With Arizona's key racists sidelined, it appears Sheriff Paul Babeu is stepping up to claim the top spot.