Alerting the media to a played-out practice of archaic punishment -- which he's been using for nearly two decades -- is not actually in the name of DUI prevention.
Nor is it news (15 years later). Per usual, Arpaio's doing it because he craves attention, and Phoenix will soon be the center of the baseball universe when the MLB All-Star Game is at Chase Field next month.
As the sheriff is well aware, haters of Senate Bill 1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law, will be protesting the game.
And haters gonna hate.
"If [protesters] can be there, why can't my female chain gang be there as a public service," Arpaio says.
As the sheriff also is well aware, the national sporting press will be in Phoenix to exploit the city's "wild west" culture for some solid, cactus-filled B-roll -- and what says wild west better than a maniac sheriff and his female chain gang?
The whole thing, clearly, is a publicity stunt. However, the chain-gang garbage crew gives jail inmates something positive to do, rather than waste away in Tent City.
Not to mention, we'd think twice about getting behind the wheel drunk if we knew there was a chance some lunatic with a badge was gonna parade us around in front of the national sports media just to further his charade of being America's "toughest sheriff."
If you ask us, Arpaio could just putz around with his chain gang -- avoiding the TV cameras at Chase Field -- without alerting the media and that would be just fine. Instead, he's opting to try to conjure up that gee whiz...America's toughest sheriff's at it again -- Darla, come see what's on the tee-vee buzz he craves every time he does something that remotely resembles his job.
But we want to know what you think: Is Arpaio's DUI chain-gang thing a good thing?
