Protesters hope to force Arpaio out of offices
by JJ Hensley - Sept. 17, 2008 03:20 PM
The Arizona Republic
Tired of being ignored, they've taken their message to his doorstep.

More than 50 chanting protesters, playing music and carrying signs disparaging Sheriff Joe Arpaio, clogged the sidewalk outside the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday in an ongoing effort to draw attention to Arpaio's immigration-enforcement tactics and pressure the bank to not renew the county's lease for Arpaio's office space on the building's 18th and 19th floors.

Members of the group have gathered on the sidewalks near First Avenue and Washington Street for the last three weeks, but the protests have spread to other Wells Fargo locations around the country, and have started to draw in protesters from outside the Valley who are upset with Arpaio's methods.
"We're here to let him know we're not criminals," said Jose Morales, a Washington D.C. resident who flew to Phoenix to join the protests. "I think what he's doing is not right. That's what made me fly here from Washington. It's racial profiling, and we're not going to stand for it."

Arpaio said county administrators chose to put his staff in the building and he had no control, but he does appreciate the attention the protesters bring.

"I love it. They're building up my polls," Arpaio said. "They're trying to get rid of a tenant, me, by protesting. It's disgusting how far they will go to make me stop enforcing illegal-immigration laws."

In the string of Arpaio-related protests that have bubbled up in the last year - starting with the scene outside Pruitt's Furniture and extending to crime sweeps and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meetings - the action outside the Wells Fargo building has become the most persistent and could turn into the lengthiest.

Organizers say they have no plans to abandon their two-hour weekday vigil outside the bank tower until the lease is broken on the space the county leases for Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement breaks the agreement that allows Arpaio to perform immigration-enforcement functions.

Those efforts, which have swept up U.S. Citizens and immigrants in the country legally along with illegal immigrants, have put the Sheriff's Office in the spotlight.

Organizers wanted to shine some of that light on Arpaio's landlord, Wells Fargo.

"We see that as Wells Fargo aiding and abetting crimes against humanity," said Kevin Greathouse. "They've not only permitted, they've accommodated the sheriff and the County Attorney."

Arpaio and dozens of his administrative staff since Oct. 1, 1998, have been based in the 18th and 19th floors of the bank's building. The agency occupies 31,250 square feet of space, at $19.20 per square foot, or about $600,000 yearly.

An additional $12,000 is tacked on each month - $144,000 each year - for utilities, property taxes, insurance, elevator and plumbing maintenance, roof repairs, pest control, landscaping, cleaning costs, and other services.

County Attorney Andrew Thomas' lease is virtually identical.

The protests are the work of a coalition of local organizations opposed to Arpaio, including Puente, a group that helped organize the day-labor center in Phoenix's Palomino neighborhood and led protests outside of Pruitt's Furniture last year.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoe ... 17-ON.html