Arpaio's Running Scared

The powerful Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona and Senator John McCain want Sheriff Joke gone

Comments (0) By John Dougherty Thursday, Jul 15 2004

Saban campaign officials say they have obtained several depositions from sheriff's office employees and others that state they were ordered to do criminal investigations on Arpaio's political opponents.

Looking more and more like the poor man's Richard Nixon reincarnated, Arpaio sooner or later will become the target of a criminal investigation. There's just too much out there to ignore.

Jackie Mercandetti

Banned from Tent City, New Times listened to Glen Campbell's show from outside the fence.

Joe Forkan

In another blow to Sheriff Joe, Senator John McCain is expected to endorse Dan Saban in the September 7 Republican primary.

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But first, someone with prosecutorial balls has to step up to the plate.

Saban personally called the office of Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard on June 29 and asked for a meeting to turn over information he has gathered concerning Arpaio's alleged misuse of his police powers. No one from Goddard's office responded to Saban.

"When I don't get a call back from the attorney general after the information I provided, that's incredible," Saban told me.

I agree. So I called Goddard on July 10 and left him a voice message, asking, "What's up?"

Goddard later left me a voice message, saying he didn't know that Saban had even called his office, let alone the reasons he wanted to meet.

I later briefed Goddard on the situation and, on July 12, one of his aides called Saban, apologizing for not responding sooner.

Saban says he's not waiting for Goddard to take action.

His campaign is now considering several other options, including asking Arpaio-hater and Republican County Attorney Rick Romley to investigate the allegations, or asking the feds to step in and review the matter.

Any intervention by Romley will unfortunately be seen as a personal attack on Arpaio, and could work to the sheriff's advantage.

Maybe Romley could hire former U.S. Attorney Mel McDonald to do the dirty work, as he did when Republican leaders asked him to investigate the state prison hostage incident last winter.

The Bush Administration feds will try to avoid this county political battle, especially since Arpaio, amazingly, is on the president's re-election team.

Goddard's office should seize the moment and at least review the information gathered by Saban's campaign, which has hired private investigator Rich Robertson to bore into Arpaio's pathetic antics.

It's time for Goddard to break ranks with fellow Democrat, Governor Janet Napolitano, who loves Joe.

Otherwise, it's a pretty sad indictment of the entire political structure in Arizona, when a Democratic governor and attorney general refuse to publicly condemn a Republican sheriff who flagrantly abuses his police powers to intimidate political rivals, and who has left a string of dead and injured inside his jail.

Makes me wonder: What has despicable old Arpaio got on the governor?

We'll find out. Sooner or later, we'll find out.