Paul Babeu Turns Distortion of Truth Into an Art Form

In that article, New Times also exposed the sheriff's poor political judgment in maintaining a profile and racy photos on adam4adam.com, a free website where gay men arrange sexual liaisons. And in sending sexually explicit text messages and naked and half-naked photos of himself — including one in which he's shown with an erect penis — to a man he had never met.

Unveiled next in the media was Babeu's tenure as headmaster of DeSisto School, a private Massachusetts boarding school, eventually shut down by state officials, that was plagued by cases of physical and sexual abuse of students. Former DeSisto attendees, along with Babeu's sister, accused him of having an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old male student while he managed the institution ("Babeu's Suspicious Past," March 8).

A Babeu family portrait.

Babeu in his National Guard uniform.

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• Paul Babeu
• Barack Obama
• Conservative Political Action Conference
• Immigration
• Election Campaigns

In addition, Babeu's office is under federal investigation over allegations that top aides worked on Babeu's congressional campaign on taxpayers' time. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has subpoenaed laptops and other records from Babeu's department.

And there are three investigations of the sheriff or his office that grew out of Jose Orozco's claims — one by the state solicitor general, another by the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys advisory council, and a third by the Pima County Attorney's Office — over e-mails that may have been unlawfully deleted by the PCSO.

Babeu would have the public believe that his decision to end his congressional campaign had nothing to do with any of the scandals in which he and his office are embroiled. Or that he was barely pulling in campaign contributions since his Mexican ex-boyfriend's allegations were published.

As evidence of his failing congressional campaign mounted, rumors abounded that Babeu would knock Henry out of the sheriff's race so that he could take the spot for himself, but Babeu and his campaign manager denied them, saying they were firmly committed to going to the nation's capital.

Finally, the jig was up, and Babeu admitted the inevitable: He was stepping over Henry and running for sheriff again.

Not because he couldn't win the congressional race, he claimed, lying to a TV reporter that — despite all the trouble the Obama administration has caused him — he remained ahead in District Four.

Paul Babeu came to Arizona from Massachusetts in 2002 and, in a few years, managed to maneuver himself into his adopted state's political spotlight. Because he is younger, more charismatic, and more articulate than his mentor, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, he soon was courted by the conservative national media.

Babeu made at least 29 appearances on Fox News, but since the Jose Orozco scandal, the right-wing pundits have stopped calling.

A week before New Times broke the story about the allegations leveled by Babeu's ex-boyfriend, the sheriff was interviewed on The Dennis Miller Show, aired from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., an annual gathering of conservative activists and politicians from across the country.

The two hosts who were sitting in for Miller lavished the smiling Babeu with compliments:

"If [you've watched] the news at all in the last couple of years, what with the border wars going on in Arizona, Mexico, with the anti-illegal immigration law [and] 'Fast and Furious,' you have seen a stalwart defender of all of these issues, a brilliant speaker on behalf of these issues. You know him from his perfect bald head," one of the hosts gushed. "It is! Look at that head! No, that is a great head!"

His appearance on the show was preceded by the national Tea Party Nation's labeling the rural Arizona county sheriff a great "American hero" a couple of months earlier.

Babeu exploited the attention for all it was worth.

Despite lacking evidence to prove the contention, he claimed repeatedly that his was the "number one pass-through county for drugs and illegal immigrants in America!" Then, during his testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on homeland security and border issues, he made a point to mention that he was the "youngest sheriff in Arizona."

And Babeu did achieve a cracked greatness during his time as a national conservative up-and-comer — he became the Great Exaggerator.

It was all about making himself a hero to Tea Party Republicans he believed would put him on the national stage.

His spiel included boasts during speaking engagements that he was a tested "combat veteran" who had saved countless lives. Babeu was a member of the Army National Guard in Massachusetts and Arizona over 20 years, but his service record shows that — despite what he led admirers to believe — he hardly was in bloody firefights with the enemy in Iraq. The reality is, while on active duty in the country for several months, he was a "human resources" and "public affairs" officer.

Similarly, about his time as an officer with the Chandler Police Department, he claimed that he went on "thousands and thousands of emergency calls," a feat that would be impossible for a cop who patrolled the streets for about 3 1/2 years, as Babeu did.

As he has infused himself with valor, he has diminished those he considers political enemies — and President Obama is at the top of his list. During his ill-fated campaign for Congress, he distorted the truth about resources, physical and financial, that the feds have invested in border security.