Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 4:37 PM MST
Gordon-Arpaio war of words expands to Washington


Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon's recent trip to Washington included a visit to the office of U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to ask that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "recent actions be reviewed."

In addition to his meeting with the Attorney General, Gordon also met with the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency about reduced Homeland Security funding to Phoenix as well as with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, about making sure low-income residents have access to air conditioning during the summer.

Gordon alleges that Arpaio has disregarded the constitutional rights of legal citizens by performing racial profiling.

On April 4, Gordon addressed a letter to Mukasey accusing Arpaio's office of a racially motivated stop and citation against city employee Jessica Rodriguez and her husband during a traffic stop near Bartlett Lake. David was issued a $120 citation when he drove around a sign signaling closed roads after heavy rains had washed out the roads in the area.

Arpaio's office countered that an investigation into the incident turned up no evidence of racial profiling. The sheriff's office said the complaining witness was a passenger in the vehicle and was not cited.

Recently, some business owners have accused Arpaio of knocking on their doors and asking to see employees' work papers in his hunt for illegal immigrants.

Arpaio said in a prepared release that his office would be sending its findings to the U.S. Attorney General.

"I am sending a copy of my report to the U.S. Attorney General with a suggestion that he may want to look into the actions of this mayor who makes baseless accusations to try to force me to ignore the state and federal laws on illegal immigration," Arpaio said.

Gordon stressed that his disagreement with Arpaio was not about personal animosity, but about "professional decisions and public safety."

He added that Arpaio should focus on making arrests on 1,500 outstanding criminal warrants issued by the sheriff's office.

On Wednesday Gordon invited the national media to Phoenix to see Arpaio's policies on illegal immigrants.

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