Thread: AZ-Supervisors asked to rein in Arpaio

Supervisors asked to rein in Arpaio
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.24.2008
PHOENIX — Hundreds of protesters packed the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chambers in hopes of persuading the board to end the controversial immigration sweeps of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
The critics also want the supervisors to better monitor lawsuits related to his office and to more closely examine his emergency response times and jurisdictional reach.
But since Arpaio is elected by voters, the supervisors cannot tell him how to set policies or how to enforce laws even if they wanted to.
The protesters came out Wednesday with a group called Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability — a new coalition of community groups, labor unions and religious leaders who are regularly appearing before the supervisors to vent about Arpaio.
Arpaio said he’ll continue to arrest illegal immigrants regardless of the critics and protesters are wasting their time by complaining to the supervisors.
“Don’t go to the board and think the board is going to tell this sheriff — or any elected official — what to do,â€

Wow! Their intelligence is showing, isn't it?

Do these "activists" ever ask themselves WHY Sheriff Joe gets re-elected every single time, and by landslides at that?

Isabel Garcia is the one who needs to go, why aren't they after her for her hateful and violence-inciting behaviour?

Sheriff Joe Arpaio : Every state needs a hundred just like you, totally:
PRO-AMERICAN and by the law.

I guess those arguing for the ouster of Sheriff Joe do not read the newspapers! The citizens of Arizona should thank God they have Sheriff Joe. Those who don't like him and his efforts can move to San Francisco or Los Angeles where their beloved sanctuary policies have resulted in the murders of a combined FOUR wonderful, productive and LOVED American citizens!

Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability — a new coalition of community groups, labor unions and religious leaders who are regularly appearing before the supervisors to vent about Arpaio.

This rather sounds like a cabal of radical, open border zealots whose views about amnesty and illegal immigration are rejected by a large majority of Americans.

Supervisors are asked to rein in sheriff
Arpaio critics pack meeting, hope to end migrant sweeps
by Yvonne Wingett and Jourdan Rassás - Jul. 24, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic


Jack Kurtz/The Arizona Republic

Martin Fierro was able to discretely display a sign critical of the sheriff (he disguised it as a manila folder) at the County Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday. Signs are not allowed in to the Board of Supervisors meetings


Hundreds of critics of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio packed the county chambers Wednesday to try to persuade the Board of Supervisors to put an end to his controversial immigration sweeps, to better monitor lawsuits related to his office, and to more closely examine his emergency response times and jurisdictional reach.

The protesters are using the supervisors' routine meetings as vehicles to speak out and be heard by the media. Their attempts likely are in vain: Arpaio is elected by voters, and the supervisors cannot tell him how to set policies or how to enforce laws, even if they wanted to.

The protesters came out with a group called Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability, a new and well-organized coalition of community groups, labor unions and religious leaders who are regularly appearing before the supervisors to vent about Arpaio.

"We can't imagine that given the most recent evidence on racial profiling and reports of rape victims' complaints going uninvestigated by the Sheriff's Department, that you all still think we don't have a problem in Maricopa County," said Donna Gratehouse, an Ahwatukee insurance agent.

She referred to a recent investigation of the Sheriff's Office by the East Valley Tribune, which uncovered slow response times on emergency calls, falling arrest rates and excessive overtime costs as the agency has focused more on illegal immigration.

"Now more than ever, we need strong and independent leadership from the Board of Supervisors," Gratehouse said.

Arpaio would not comment on the newspaper's stories, which document his office's evolution into an immigration-enforcement agency and the hidden costs to taxpayers. He said only "you can't always believe what you read in newspapers," adding that data and statistics provided to the paper were "misinterpreted."

Arpaio told The Arizona Republic that he will continue to arrest illegal immigrants regardless of the critics and said protesters are wasting their time by complaining to the supervisors.

"Save your gas, or if you want to spend your gas, go to college and learn a civics lesson as to the role of the sheriff who people vote for," Arpaio said. "Don't go to the board and think the board is going to tell this sheriff - or any elected official - what to do."

During Wednesday's meeting, speakers said they worried the Sheriff's Office was using racial profiling to arrest immigrants, which could lead to lawsuits and cost taxpayers money.

Last week, four U.S. citizens joined in a federal lawsuit that alleges the Sheriff's Office is targeting Latinos to investigate immigration status by using unfounded traffic stops, racially motivated questioning and baseless arrests in a series of crime sweeps. The four claim they were stopped and mistreated by sheriff's deputies because they are Latino.

A sheriff's spokesman has said deputies do not racially profile.

Several Arpaio supporters said they are pleased with his policies and credited him for doing something about illegal immigration.

"He's doing something that is unpopular right now," said Susan Swartz of Tempe. "They're out rounding up people that are here illegally. They ruin people's lives. Joe and his (deputies) . . . are doing one heck of a job, considering how unpopular it is. He is sending a message."

Protesters also hoped to sway the supervisors to disapprove donations from people who have given about $36,000 to Arpaio's efforts to enforce immigration laws. Arpaio's supporters started to write checks to help fund his immigration-enforcement efforts in May, after Gov. Janet Napolitano redirected $1.6 million from the sheriff's efforts to a state-led fugitive task force.

The supervisors must procedurally accept the money before the sheriff can receive it, and on Wednesday, the four Republican supervisors accepted an additional $6,500. Mary Rose Wilcox, the board's only Democrat, voted against accepting the money, saying she thinks it will be spent on immigration policies she does not support.

On Wednesday, the supervisors also agreed to pay $140,000 to a teen who claims she was sexually assaulted by sheriff's Deputy John F. Springfield while he was on duty. Springfield no longer works for the county.

The Sheriff's Office has paid out more than $30.5 million in verdicts and claims that were settled to defendants and their attorneys since Arpaio took office in 1993, according to county figures.

Protesters started lining up in a queue fashioned out of yellow caution tape for the supervisors meeting long before it began at 9 a.m.

Mari Alvarado, a Phoenix resident and member of the Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability, has opposed Arpaio for years.

"He's always had the same mentality," Alvarado said as she waited for the meeting to begin. "You have to respect your constituents. His constituents are not just those who have given to his campaign - they're every single Maricopa County resident, documented or not."

Once the supervisors meeting filled to the 217-person capacity, the remaining 100 protesters moved their demonstration to the sidewalk outside of Arpaio's offices at the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix. An eerie silence lingered as the protesters marched in a single-file line to the building without speaking. There, they were greeted by a deputy who locked the door to the building.

After the two-hour meeting, protesters staged a news conference.

"You have a Board of Supervisors who are subservient to the sheriff (and) showing they work for the sheriff," said Randy Parraz, a leader of the organization.

"Our question to them (is), 'What is your threshold for injustice?' "


Reach the reporter at 602-444-4712 or yvonne. wingett@arizonarepublic.com.

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