We signed up for the Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's new e-mail bulletin service about a month ago and received our first "alert" today: A new Rasmussen poll shows that 58 percent of voters believe Arpaio's had a positive impact on the state. Not only do a majority of Republicans find Arpaio's tactics acceptable, but Rasmussen says Democrats were evenly divided on the question.
For being the first alert, we found this "news" predictibly self-serving.
Though we should've known better, the come-on for the subscription service made it sound like we might get some rather interesting e-mails:
You will receive notices and informal releases regarding the latest news on crime, immigration, jail policies and incidents as well as many other items normally found only through local newspapers or television stations.
If this sounds like a useful tool in your information arsenal, please subscribe today...
More like a limp tool. Based on the story on the Rasmussen poll findings, all the service is going to provide is news that makes Arpaio look good.
The Sheriff's Office has updated its news release site several times since offering the subscription service, but even those releases are limited. Unlike other Valley law-enforcement agencies, the Sheriff's Office isn't much interested in sharing with the public what it's deputies really do on a daily basis.
And what's with that picture of a newspaper on Arpaio's site -- it appears to say "Gazette." Seems like old Joe's taking a trip down memory lane -- the Arizona Republic's sister paper used to be called the Phoenix Gazette.
