Much of the nation learned about Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu in Sen. John McCain’s “complete the danged fence” ad from 2010. As he is in every election, Arizona Sen. McCain was being primaried from the far right, that year by Foghorn Leghorn impersonator former Congressman J.D. Hayworth. The fence ad was Sen. McCain’s way of showing the alt-right crowd that he’s no wuss on immigration—a charge that’s leveled at him every election because he once dared to work with the Gang of 8 on immigration “reform” (which translates as “amnesty” to the Oath Keepers and other bigots, who are not shy about saying in public that McCain should be assassinated—Trump’s kind of people).
Although Sheriff Babeu‘s district is a hundred miles from the Mexican border, there he was with Sen. McCain, walking along the fence near Nogales, talking tough on immigration. The reason the senator isn’t strolling with an actual border sheriff is because most of them don’t support the GOP’s wall-building BS, which is also true of most residents living there.
Sen. McCain would go on to win the 2010 primary and election, just as he won his primary against Kelli Ward this cycle—another lunatic conspiracy jerk who feels right at home on the Alex Jones show. But Sheriff Babeu‘s role in the original 2010 fence ad brought him to the attention of racists everywhere, and he started to appear regularly on Fox News to gripe about all the nasty shit immigrants are doing in Arizona.
Sheriff Babeu obviously saw himself as the heir apparent to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and the two bigoted lawmen often appeared at anti-immigrant rallies together. Sheriff Babeu‘s next step in 2012, then, was a run for Congress in the very Republican District 4, where he seemed a shoo-in. He was also appointed chair of Mitt Romney’s Arizona team. Things were looking rosy for Paul Babeu.
Only problem: The sheriff is gay (strike 1 in this conservative district) and his lover at the time was undocumented (strike 2 in the anti-Latino stronghold). Babeu struck out when the media reported that he had threatened his lover with deportation if he revealed their relationship to the conservative voters in District 4. Strike 3! Sheriff Babeu dropped out of the 2012 congressional race and he stepped down as Romney’s state chair.
Four years later Paul Babeu was still sheriff of Pinal County, and he apparently felt that his scandalous past was behind him—that voters would overlook his despicable behavior toward his boyfriend (who eventually sued Babeu), and that he could build on his nonstop immigrant bashing, and even more Fox News appearances, to cement a 2016 congressional victory. This time he ran in District 1, which Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick vacated to take on Sen. McCain (she lost).
District 1, however, includes a lot of northern Arizona—the Navajo Reservation and Flagstaff—so it’s more Democratic than Babeu’s Pinal County, which was one obstacle for him. Beyond that, the sheriff’s past once again came back to bite him. Before coming to Arizona in 2002, Paul Babeu served as headmaster at the DeSisto School in Massachusetts, where former students and prosecutors revealed that the punishments amounted to child abuse:
A Massachusetts congresswoman came to Phoenix on Monday to tell voters that Paul Babeu oversaw a "place of horrors" while serving as headmaster of a private school for emotionally troubled youths in that state.
It wasn’t just people sore at Babeu complaining; videotape exists of him actually bragging about the horrible treatment at the school. His own sisters even said he was a scumbag and encouraged voters to reject him.
One of the few bright spots Tuesday night was Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio losing his 7th bid for re-election to former Phoenix cop Paul Penzone—by a lot! Joining Joe Arpaio in the loser column was Paul Babeu, who was beaten 51-43 by former Republican turned Democrat Tom O’Halleran.
That’s small consolation, like finding a penny in a dog turd, but at this point I’ll take anything: Two horrible bigots gone from Arizona politics.
