Want to know how to get love as a Republican candidate for just about any office in Arizona RIGHT NOW: Drop to your knees and pucker up to Sheriff Joe Arpaio's ass.
Smooch, smooch, GOPers (that's you Vernon Parker, J.D. Hayworth, and Andrew Thomas.)
And now that's you, too, Dean Martin.
Republican gubernatorial candidate and State Treasurer Martin today became the latest in the long list of Republican candidates to have a Joe-gasm by outlining his daft plan to deal with the immigration problem.
Renee Roebuck, Martin's campaign manager, this morning told us that Martin would call us back to explain his plan. He never called, but he issued a press release with all the Arpaio-esque details:
"My plan for Zero Tolerance has concrete proposals to thwart illegal immigration and to help local law enforcement do the job the federal government refuses to do. If elected Arizona's Governor I would order the guard to the border on day one. Zero tolerance means zero tolerance, and if elected Governor that's the attitude I'll bring to combating illegal immigration. It's why just yesterday Sheriff Arpaio and I met, and he endorsed my plan, because it offers
real solutions. And I will never offer early release like Governor Brewer."
Martin, according to the latest Rasmussen poll, trails Governor Jan Brewer by 27 points, largely because of Jan's signing of SB 1070. But Martin may have just one-upped her when it comes to bigot-friendliness. Here's the clincher: Part of Martin's grand solution to the immigration problem is a state-wide version of Joe Arpaio's "Tent City" jail system.
Martin didn't provide too many details about his plan other than saying illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes in Arizona should go to the tents rather than regular jails.
"There is no reason the state of Arizona should be building comfy new prisons for those who are violating our laws," Martin said at a press conference this morning.
