Burton’s Viewfront page Sheriff Joe Arpaio
September 7th, 2007 ·
Maricopa county Sheriff and political boss Joe Arpaio obtained a victory in his civil defamation suite, The Boss was being sued by Buckeye chief of police Dan Saben who accused the sheriff of leaking false rape information against him when he ran against the sheriff in 2004.
The Judge an Arpaio loyalist pretty much directed the jury to find in the sheriffs favor during charging instructions. Several members of the jury voiced regret afterward and went so far as to say they would vote for chief Saben if he ran against the boss next time.
Meanwhile the Chandler police union lashed out at the Boss for his behavior in the continuing Lovejoy saga.
The sheriff made a very public spectacle of arresting and booking much decorated veteran Chandler police K-9 officer Sgt. Tom Lovejoy after his police dog bandit died in officer lovejoys patrol car.
The Sgt had just returned home from an overtime assignment when his son was in a car accident. Per policy he used his personal car to attend to his sons accident and Bandit was forgotten in the patrol unit and died from exposure to Arizona’s brutal summer heat.
Initial public reaction to Lovejoy and the dogs death was very negative till the facts of the case came out, By that time the sheriff had already interjected his opinion into the case and was committed to his statement of swift justice or backing off which the Sheriff does not do.
The Sheriff’s nightly media and soundbite moments of late reveal a rather bellicose old fellow. He seems to be getting even nastier, However the 75 year old political boss is as popular as ever with the local lap dog media, mouth breathers and rank and file neo-Fascist’s who call Phoenix home and shows no sign of slowing down with reported plans for a Fox reality show in the works.
While I doubt officer lovejoy will fall victim to one of the sheriffs infamous “in custody death” incidents, and few lawyers feel the dogs death will get much beyond an initial hearing, The Chandler police union like Chief Saben is risking a great deal by voicing criticism of the Boss on his own turf.
In other matters the Sheriff is dealing with he apparently directed his handpicked legal begal, County Attorney Andrew Thomas to begin ramping up the smear tactics against Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.
The Sheriff and Attorney Thomas announced some time back the Attorney General had become a target of one of their super double secret special investigation to which the Attorney General simply laughed and announced his office would no longer be taking any crap or messages from the sheriff, which really got the Boss upset.
County Attorney Thomas, Referred to as Boss Arpaio’s boy wonder by local pundits and radio personalities is being groomed to assume the leadership of Arpaio political machine which suffered serious setbacks when his people in the Arizona congressional delegation lost last November and more recently with the announcement by Rick Renzi he would not seek another term in congress.
Rep. Renzi who was regularly ranked in the top five most corrupt members of congress by the non-partisan watch dog citizens for ethics and responsibility lost his immunity when the GOP lost the congress. He is currently facing several investigations into campaign finance and old fashioned swindling.
While it may be the sheriffs want of National power and influence is fading the Sheriffs hold on Mariciopa county politics is as diabolical and loathsome as ever.
The Republic offers more coverage on the sheriffs ongoing dispute with the A.G
P.S Burton
You can E-mail Burton editor@phoenixsentinel.com
1/26/08 I received a call from Sheriff Joe, “America’s toughest Sheriff” He asked me to vote for Mitt Romney.
Please ask sheriff Joe to focus on law enforcement in Arizona instead of calling the citizens of Florida.