Indeed, the fact that Penzone complied with his order by temporarily turning over his handguns, as is standard, is used against him by the self-righteous Blase.
Blase plays fast and loose with the facts in just about everything she pens about Penzone, in one case actually editing a public document from Penzone's personnel file to fit her accusations.
Social Eye Media
Cowgirl and Penzone hater DeeDee Blase, distorting facts and spitting hyperbole on behalf of Stauffer, Joe's best chance of staying in office.
Related Content
More About
In another post, she suggested, seriously, that a 1994 car accident in which Penzone backed into an inanimate object and caused $300 in damage could be a case of "road rage."
This, despite the fact that the incident's disciplinary report — just about the only one in Penzone's door-stop personnel file — noted that he could not see the "decorative railroad tie" he banged into.
On her Facebook page and on her blog, Blase's gone so far as to insinuate that Penzone might be on the county's so-called "Brady List" of bad officers.
But Penzone is not now, nor has he ever been, on the Brady List. When I presented Blase with a copy of the list online, she scoffed at it, saying Penzone's name must have come off when he retired.
However, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has confirmed to me that officers' names do not automatically drop off once they leave the force.
Late last year, Blase declared herself an independent and formed the National Tequila Party Movement as a sort of Latino reaction to the nativist Tea Party.
So far, Blase's TP seems largely a vehicle for her own aggrandizement.
Registered as a for-profit company with the corporation commission, the Tequila Party has held a "cigar VIP meet and greet" for Stauffer and organized protests of Arpaio at local Catholic churches, supposedly because Arpaio is a Catholic and because the Phoenix diocese does not denounce him.
Stauffer acknowledged the influence of Blase on his campaign in an e-mail he sent her in September 2011, one that Blase blasted out to friends and acquaintances.
In it, Stauffer thanked Blase for "the insight" she gave him, which "contributed in part" to his decision to run as an Independent.
Basically, Blase is a campaign political operative for Stauffer, though apparently on a volunteer basis.
Not that she needs the moolah. In the past, she's told me and others that she can devote herself full time to activism because her husband is a lawyer and she doesn't have to work.
I could overlook Blase's tendency to be a narcissistic media hog if she was not wildly distorting the record of the one guy who might have a chance of taking out Arpaio.
At the end of the day, I'm not pro-Penzone or anti-Stauffer — I'm anti-Arpaio and pro the candidate with the best shot at replacing him. By sliming Penzone with distortions, Blase clearly is carrying H2O for Sheriff Joe.
