Guadalupe's Betrayal: Mayor Frankie Montiel Meets with Sheriff Joe Arpaio Today, Presser at 3 p.m.

I really hate being right in this town. But here in a brief e-mail announcement from the MCSO is the outcome of what I wrote about on January 7 in the blog post "Something Wicked This Way Comes," and in last week's Bird item "Frankie the Snitch."

Specifically, both articles reported that Guadalupe's new mayor Frankie Montiel had cut a deal with Arpaio, wherein the town dropped its civil rights lawsuit against Arpaio, and Arpaio remained in Guadalupe, with a sweep of the tiny burg likely on the way.

Media Advisory for Wednesday, January 14, 2009
3PM Press Conference

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Guadalupe Mayor Frankie Monteil [sic] will meet privately today in the Sheriff's office to decide the future of Guadalupe's law enforcement protection.

At the conclusion of that meeting, the two will hold a joint press conference at 3PM in the Sheriff's Administrative Offices, downtown at 100 West Washington, Suite 1900.

Deputy Lindsey Smith
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office
Media Relations-Spokeswoman

This deal should sicken anyone who observed the MCSO's invasion of the half-Mexican, half-Yaqui square-mile town back on April 3 and 4 of 2008. Deputies pulled over everyone on the road in search of undocumented Mexicans, terrorizing the entire community, harassing honest, hard-working citizens, and issuing bogus citations for "illegal use of horn," and so forth. I wrote an entire cover story on Arpaio's Guadalupe sweep, which you can read, here.

Back then Guadalupe Mayor Rebecca Jimenez bravely stood up to Arpaio, and asked him to cease his operation. But she's since been replaced by Montiel, and Montiel, a member of the Yaqui tribe, has always been one of Sheriff Joe's few supporters in the town. (FYI: Guadalupe's mayors are elected from the council by the council, not through direct elections.)

My sources tell me, that Montiel never seriously explored an alternative to having Joe do law enforcement for the town after Arpaio got the Board of Supervisors to cancel the MCSO's contract with Guadalupe. The entire town was enraged following Joe's April 2008 sweep. Wonder what Guadalupanos will think of their new mayor after they see him selling them out like this on TV?