grifter [grif-ter] noun: 1. a swindler, see "Arpaio"
Yup, the King of Grifters is at it again, as if he ever stopped. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio circulated another
fund-raising email yesterday to his gullible base, which includes thousands of bigoted bozos nationwide. See, he needs money. Since Arpaio was first elected more than 20 years ago, he's been in and out of court on a constant basis, more than any other public official, which has cost taxpayers upwards of $74 million to cover his illegal and unethical activities—everything from murdering an inmate (Scott Norberg: $8 million) to harassing and indicting a judge (Gary Donohue: $1.27 million).
The case that'll end up costing the most, though, is Melendres v. Arpaio, which found in 2013 that the sheriff's office engaged in racial profiling. So far the county has shelled out about $50 million just to defend this one multi-year case, which Arpaio lost. As a result of the guilty verdict, Judge Murray Snow slapped several conditions on the sheriff's office, which Arpaio promptly ignored and now finds himself facing a contempt of court charge—on his own dime.
Arpaio's toughest test yet will start next week, when Judge Snow presides over the second half of the contempt of court hearing. Things didn't go so swell for Joe last April when the hearing began: Arpaio admitted he was guilty, his lawyer quit on the first day, his deputies turned on him, and he revealed in a bombshell testimony that his lawyer hired a PI to investigate the judge's wife. Pow!
The second half of the hearing was supposed to begin in June, but Arpaio's attorneys filed a motion to remove Judge Snow, who delayed the hearing in order to consider the motion. Arpaio's legal beagles argued that since the sheriff had investigated Mrs. Snow, the judge could not be impartial and therefore should recuse himself. Judge Snow, a GW Bush appointee to the federal bench, said no thanks, let's continue. If the hearing determines that Sheriff Arpaio willfully ignored the court orders following Melendres, Judge Snow will refer the case to a criminal trial, which could land the sheriff's butt in the pokey.
Maricopa County has shelled out tens of millions of dollars to cover Joe Arpaio's police state antics over the decades. At times the county won't defend this numbnut's outrageous behavior, so the legal fees are the sheriff's responsibility. Thus his email:
"In some instances I have to personally pay for attorneys to represent me in these cases," he adds. "I do not have the personal wealth or the wherewithal to keep up with the costly demands of paying for attorneys to defend me."
Really? He doesn't "have the personal wealth" to pay his own legal bills? Don't you love it when wingers talk about taking "personal responsibility," especially when the poor just want basic healthcare or even food, but they're not so keen on responsibility when it's theirs to take. Sheriff Arpaio makes more than $100,000 a year; he's got book deals and speaking fees; he and his wife are millionaires who own some pricey properties; he's got millions in his 2016 war chest and defense fund.
Yet Arpaio's bullshit motions to remove Judge Snow, all of which have been unsuccessful, were paid for by taxpayers (just Tuesday the 9th Circuit denied another request). Arpaio even gave dumbshit "investigator" and professional scam artist Dennis Montgomery more than $100,000 of taxpayers' money to dig up dirt on Judge Snow, Eric Holder and others he believed were part of a conspiracy to take down the sheriff.
Like everything Arpaio touches, the conspiracy was bogus but costly. Just like his investigation of the president's birth certificate. Maybe your county sheriff didn't find that task in his or her job description, but ours did.
Now the nativist birther asshat wants other bigots, many who probably can't afford it, to join his "Joe Arpaio Legal Defense Fund" to pay his attorneys' fees in the contempt hearing. In case they didn't know it, Arpaio reminds everyone in the email that, unlike political campaigns, "THERE ARE NO LIMITS to how much you can give." In fact, he tells them that again in the P.S., where he also reminds everyone in italicized font no less, "I desperately need your help to fight the numerous legal actions being waged against me." His typical victim BS. As if he had nothing to do with these "numerous legal actions." Screw him.
Arpaio's popularity is at 38 percent, an all-time low in a county that elected him six times, each victory more narrow. Arpaio's 2012 win was razor thin, and that was before these stories about Dennis Montgomery and investigating a judge's family surfaced. With more trials and hopefully guilty verdicts on the horizon, the 2016 election can't come soon enough.