Thread: Arpaio calls controversial raid remarks off-handed, private

Arpaio calls controversial raid remarks off-handed, private
Reported by: Lori Jane Gliha

Last Update: 7/16 10:36 am

PHOENIX – When the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine hit the stands, an article featuring Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio started getting a lot of attention from people in the Valley.

In April, Arpaio allowed a reporter, William Finnegan, to follow him through his daily routine as Maricopa County Sheriff and document his actions and responsibilities.

Finnegan, a contributor for The New Yorker, accompanied Arpaio to a movie premiere, Tent City, and even to the Sheriff's interview on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report in New York City.

The days of observation turned into a twelve page article printed in the July 20, 2009 edition of The New Yorker, simply titled "Sheriff Joe."

"He was a nice guy," said Arpaio, describing Finnegan, but Arpaio said he wasn't completely satisfied with the final product.

"I'm the one that allowed him to follow me around, and if there's any problems, I should take the blame if I'm not happy with the whole article," Arpaio said.

Throughout the article, Finnegan referenced various remarks made by the Sheriff during their time together. Everything from his comments about the red carpet at the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie premiere to comments about getting his face powdered for his appearance on the Colbert Report TV show were printed.

The Sheriff said some of his off-handed, private comments were also published, and he wasn't expecting it.

"Sometimes you say things ... that maybe you don't want publicized," he said. "But hey, I said it. I'm not going to back track if I said it, and that's the way it is."

"The entire interview was on the record," said Alexa Cassanos, a spokesperson for the magazine. "There was no point at which he (Arpaio) was asked to go off the record," she added.

But Arpaio said the comments printed on page 48 and 49 of the magazine were intended to be private.

Here's what Finnegan wrote:

On the way back to Phoenix from the tents, the Sheriff got a call, which he put on speakerphone. Someone named Jim, who sounded like a deputy, was calling from the courthouse. He said he was observing jury selection in a case there. "Sheriff, there was a lady who said, 'Let's put it this way. Joe's my hero.' So the next lady says, 'Joe is not my hero.' Then she says she's the wife of the mayor of Mesa."

"I knew it!" Arpaio said to one of his men. "I never trusted that mayor. He's pro-immigrant. He's never going to fire that chief. We gotta raid Mesa again."

"I was dealing with my Sgt.," Arpaio said, explaining that he thought he was having a private conversation with the chief of his security staff, Sgt. Jim Kempher.

Kempher told ABC15 he was working for the U.S. Marshal's Office in the federal courtroom the day he called the Sheriff.

Kempher said he took the Sheriff's comments about raiding Mesa, "as if he was joking."

"It's me on the phone and I've known him for years now, and it was off-handed," said Kempher.

"I know he was just joking because of the fact that we were talking about the mayor and here's the wife getting up in front of a gallery of people saying that," said Kempher. "And plus, he had that reporter in the car. He was just joking."

"You say things to your own staff," said Arpaio. "Sometimes you don't realize they will be publicized. But, in the heat of the moment, I had a reason for saying that when you look at the big picture."

Arpaio said he would not raid a city based on negative comments someone makes about him.

"I'll tell you one thing, I'd be raiding Phoenix every day every time he (Mayor Phil Gordon) says something bad about me," said Arpaio. "I don't go around enforcing the laws pursuant to what someone says. I go and do it because it's the right thing to do."

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith told ABC15 he was surprised his wife's comments caused the Sheriff to verbally react the way he did.

"She was answering a question that was part of a series of questions to a lot of jurors in a case that involved immigration," he said.

"The person in front of her went overboard and obviously, was a Joe Arpaio fan and made it very clear to the court that he was a fan and that Sheriff Joe was his hero," added Smith.

"Sort of as a follow up, my wife was the next one, and in the line of questioning, she stated that Sheriff Joe wasn't her hero. Simple as that," he said, explaining that he applauds his wife for telling the truth in a federal courtroom.

Smith said the Sheriff's words "are what they are."

"I'm not going to try and dissect what Joe Arpaio says," he said. "I respect things he does when he's increasing public safety and we have disagreements. It's as simple as that."

The Sheriff said he is planning additional crime sweeps in the Valley, but he would not say whether any are planned for Mesa.


www.abc15.com

The Sheriff said he is planning additional crime sweeps in the Valley, but he would not say whether any are planned for Mesa.

GOOOOOOOOOOOO JOE YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!!

It's a shame that Sotomayor's "controversial" comments didn't get this much scrutiny!

one always hears of one crime sweep.
but why not do two or three at the same time and really confuse
all those open border lovers who wont know where to go or who to really look for