Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio wins 6th term
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio wins 6th term
Posted: Nov 06, 2012 3:39 PM PST
Updated: Nov 06, 2012 8:33 PM PST
Tuesday, November 6, 2012 11:33 PM
By FOX 10 News - Staff Report
PHOENIX - The self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America has won a sixth term after facing his most bruising re-election contest.
The race for Maricopa County Sheriff has been an expensive one. Sheriff Joe Arpaio raised $8 million for his campaign, and he faced one of his one of his toughest challengers to date -- retired Phoenix Police Sergeant Paul Penzone.
This race really got dirty. The attack ads between both of these candidates were really harsh.
The domestic violence accusations against Paul Penzone vs. the sex crimes that weren't investigated by Sheriff Arpaio's office – to be sure both candidates are ready for this race to be over.
We caught up with Penzone out talking to voters at a polling site in Phoenix, trying to pick up some last minute votes.
Penzone has been the sheriff's toughest opponent in the sheriff's 20 year career.
According to the latest campaign finance reports, Arpaio has spent more than $7 million trying to keep his job.
"It's out of my hands. I've done my best stayed the course true to who I am. I leave it to the hands of the voters, that's the beat of America, I expect it to turn out well for us but if it doesn't I'm still the same man the following day," said Penzone.
"I tell you one thing, if I am rehired this sheriff will do what he feels is right for the people and I'm not going to back down," said Arpaio on Sunday.
In the county to the immediate south of metro Phoenix, Republican incumbent Paul Babeu won in his bid for a second term as Pinal County sheriff.
Babeu faced Democrat Kevin Taylor and independent Ty Morgan.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio wins 6th term - FOX 10 News - Phoenix, AZ | KSAZ-TV
America's toughest sheriff victorious on election day
November 9, 2012
Jim Kouri
RenewAmerica
Indestructible! That's the word supporters use to describe Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio whom voters reelected to a sixth term on Election Day in spite of federal officials' harassment and illegal-alien advocacy groups campaigning against him.
The octogenarian Arpaio gained national attention for thumbing his nose at President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder who had been attempting to stop the career law enforcement official from arresting and jailing illegal aliens. In fact, the Obama administration began investigating the innovative Sheriff Arpaio almost from the very moment Obama was sworn in as President.
Arpaio's no-nonsense brand of law enforcement and penology won him admirers and supporters in and outside Arizona, especially conservatives.
When Gov. Jan Brewer signed a controversial immigration enforcement law (SB 1070), Arpaio became Brewer's most vocal supporter and defender. The law required law enforcement officers to check the papers of anyone they suspect is an illegal alien. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down other provisions of the law, but the so-called "show your papers" provision was ruled constitutional.
In addition, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano piled on when she threatened Arizona with non-response when sheriffs' deputies or police officers call Immigration and Customs Enforcement thereby necessitating the release of illegal aliens unless they committed another offense.
It is a well known fact that Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, as a local law enforcement agency, is on the front lines of protecting its citizens from criminal aliens including drug traffickers, kidnappers (Phoenix, the nation's capital when it comes to kidnap-for-ransom cases, is located in Maricopa County), and other criminal aliens entering Arizona across the porous U.S.-Mexico border, former New York Police officer Iris Aquino noted.
Sheriff Arpaio, a cop who is hated by the Democrat Party's liberal-left wing, has often said his office "aggressively enforces all local, state and federal laws in order to combat the growing illegal immigration epidemic in Maricopa County."
Arpaio's career is apparently coated in Teflon, with his candidacy surviving a federal investigation into corruption, a lawsuit into civil rights violations, and allegations by Maricopa County investigators that his department misused $99 million in jail funds.
Arpaio's opponent, Democrat Paul Penzone, received about 44% of the vote and Independent Michael Stauffer had about 2%.
During the summer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio began an investigation of President Barack Obama's background at the request of numerous complainants, and he widened his probe of the President's birth records as a result of the discovery of a 1991 document regarding the 44th President's unpublished book, "Journeys in Black and White," as reported on the late Andrew Breitbart's Big Government news web site.
The brochure states that Obama was born in Kenya.
Arpaio said during a press conference that his special investigative unit known as "The Cold Case Posse" already established probable cause that Barack Obama's Hawaii birth certificate is a forgery. He also stated that the President's Social Security and Selective Service (draft) cards are highly suspicious.
America's toughest sheriff victorious on election day
