Comments (0) BEST PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER - 2005

Lisa Allen MacPherson

If dodging and delaying are the hallmarks of a great director of communications, then Lisa Allen MacPherson is the grand master of flackdom. It's MacPherson who is responsible for turning Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio into a worldwide celebrity, with an endless stream of ridiculous publicity stunts meant to advance Joe's tough-guy persona, ranging from pink underwear to starving inmates inside the Tent City jail. MacPherson will stop at nothing in her eternal quest to pimp her media whore of a boss, and is willing to do anything to get Arpaio on television, including help entrap an innocent man charged with attempting to bomb Arpaio's car. (The man was finally acquitted after being locked in the county jail for four years, and has now filed a wrongful-arrest suit against Maricopa County.) MacPherson routinely refuses to provide accurate, timely and -- most important -- honest information about activities of the fourth-largest sheriff's office in the nation. But despite her title, Arpaio didn't hire MacPherson to direct communications. He hired her to make him famous. And she's succeeded beyond Arpaio's wildest expectations. How many other county sheriffs can you name?