Karen Osborne

Joe Arpaio Recall: Arizona Republic's Falsehoods, Hypocrisy, and Delusional Self-Importance

When you're the editorial board of the newspaper of record in a benighted patch of sand like Maricopa County, I suspect it's easy to fall prey to self-deception and confuse 20/20 hindsight with omniscience. See Also: Judge Snow's Decision Damns Not Just Arpaio, but All of Maricopa County Joe Arpaio ... More >>

Joe Arpaio, "Convicted Racist," Escapes Recall Threat as Respect Arizona Falls Short (w/Updates)

***Updates regarding new voter registrations are at the end of this post.*** Respect Arizona, the group that had been spearheading the effort to remove Sheriff Joe Arpaio from office, announced Thursday afternoon that it had not obtained the signatures necessary to trigger a recall of the sheriff. ... More >>

Joe Arpaio Recall Scores 120K Valid Signatures: 85 Days Left, a Little Over 215K More to Go

With Sheriff Joe Arpaio still out of commission from his "broken arm," and with Respect Arizona's announcement today that they have 120,000 valid signatures demanding his recall, Arpaio's best career move at this point would be to resign from office for health reasons. See also: -Why Sheriff Joe Ac ... More >>

Ken Bennett Says 192,337 Ballots Left, Democrat Mary Rose Wilcox Defends County Elections

There's light at the end of the tunnel, my friends. And I hope there's a beer with my name on it when we get to it. Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett has released his latest update on the ballot count. Currently, there are 192,337 ballots left to be counted statewide, 28,550 of them early ball ... More >>

Helen Purcell Urged to End Confusion Over CBS 5 Early Ballot Report

Sadly, confusion still reigns after CBS 5's recent report on early ballots and the volunteers from different groups picking them up, in which this legal, and very common activity was labeled, wrongly, as illegal. CBS 5 reporter Donna Rossi incorrectly paraphrased the remarks of Maricopa County Reco ... More >>

Stauffer Must Exit Sheriff's Race or Forever Be the Goat

Evidence Shows SCA Funds Were Illegally Earmarked Campaign Contributions, Investigation Revealed; Feds Still Working Case

Image: Court video Dave Hendershott, seen hear testifying in the disciplinary hearing for former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, was very evasive when interviewed by investigators about the SCA scandal.​The evidence shows that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's top men ran an illegal campaign-financ ... More >>

Russell Pearce's Tea Party on Trial: Olivia Cortes Plays "Useful Idiot"

Election law attorney Tom Ryan may not get Legislative District 18 recall candidate Olivia Cortes booted from the November 8 ballot, but on Thursday, with the assistance of co-counsel H. Michael Wright,  Ryan effectively put the Tea Party on trial. And at least metaphorically, the verdict was g ... More >>

Russell Pearce's Allies at Cave Creek's Sonoran News Slime an Innocent Woman in an Attempt to Besmirch the Effort Seeking His Recall

Two of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Top Deputies Have "Love Connection" to SCA Scandal

Secret Recording Reveals Strategy and "Fun" at Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Staff Meeting in '09

​ If you read only part of the four large PDFs from the SCA investigative report we posted last night, make sure it's the 65-page transcript of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's July 27, 2009 staff meeting. We mentioned a couple of the amusing parts of the transcript in posts this morning, ... More >>

Read the SCA Investigative Report From the State Attorney General's Office

​ We've only just begun looking through a large report on the state Attorney General's SCA investigation, and already we're finding interesting stuff. But it's hundreds of pages long and, honestly, we don't have time to sift through it and cobble the highlights for you tonight. So, rather than ... More >>

Russell Pearce's Latest Loss: 9th Circuit Swats Down Racist Provision of Prop. 200

The "architect" of Arizona's ethnic cleansing laws, stymied by the 9th CircuitTo borrow a phrase from that great modern philosopher Flavor Flav, when it comes to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal's recent ruling on Prop 200, don't believe the hype.Because hype, fake outrage and panic is basically what ... More >>

Andrew Thomas Temporary Replacement Could Be Named on April 16; Voters to Decide on November 2 Who Will Serve Remaining Two Years

Image: www.thomasforagexploratory.com Andrew Thomas' decision to resign to run for state Attorney General allows his political enemies on the Board of Supervisors to pick his successor​ The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will waste little time in finding a replacement for County Attor ... More >>

The Pink Negro: As an Ivy League Lawyer, is President Barack Obama Hard Enough to Confront the Evil Personified by Sheriff Joe Arpaio?

Serving Up Stapley: Why’s the Don Stapley Prosecution a Big Joke? Because the Accusers Are Far Shadier Than the Accused

SCA Scandal: Elections Department and Recorder's Office Find "Reasonable Cause" That Campaign Laws Were Broken

Steve Ellman, one of the SCA contributors​ The Maricopa County Elections Department and Recorder's Office announced this morning it had found "reasonable cause to believe that a number of individuals and entities" have violated the state's campaign finance laws. According to the announce ... More >>

SCA Scandal: Captain Joel Fox Lied About Hendershott's Involvement; SCA Fails to Answer Key Questions

Captain Joel Fox hasn't been honest with us. Here's what Fox posted to our blog in February about the $105,000 contribution to the Arizona Republican Party that came from the SCA: None of the money came from Arpaio,or Hendershott or Arpaio's campaign, or anyone associated with Arpaio's campaign, ... More >>

Sheriff's Captain Argues Mysterious Donors to Republican Party Not a Political Committee; Says Unnamed Donors Would "Suffer" Under Media Glare

  Captain Joel Fox of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office continued to play martyr during an administrative hearing on Wednesday, still unwilling to give up the names of the people behind a $105,000 campaign donation to the Republican Party that has been deemed illegal. Today's hear ... More >>

Greenberg Traurig Law Firm, Which Earns Big Bucks From Maricopa County, Tapped by County to Review Mystery Donation to Republicans

ACORN Screws Up 150 Voter Registrations in Maricopa County, Says Elections Department

Rock the Vote

A Phoenix man may serve five years in prison for — get this — voting

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, Jnauary 26, 2006

Pressure Tactics

You won’t believe what GOP officials are pulling now to try to keep Senator Jack Harper from discovering the truth about a local election!

Ballot Boxing

GOP honchos keep hiding the truth about election foul-ups, as it's learned that local ballots may be stored illegally

Rocking the Boat

GOP bigwigs and their pandering pals in the mainstream press are apoplectic about a state senator and New Times' fight to discover the truth. What're these pols trying to hide?

Ballot Box Breakdowns

An independent voting-technology expert finds serious problems in the Maricopa County Elections Department

Pandora's Box

Is Arizona's Speaker of the House afraid of what might happen if the truth is learned about a local election?

Letters

Letters from the issue of Thursday, July 28, 2005

All Bark and No Bite

The county attorney could've forced elections department reform, but he backed down

Litmus Test

County Attorney Andy Thomas must prove he can protect our constitutional rights

Dangerous Dance

Ominous storm clouds threaten to trample the Constitution and turn our republic into a theocracy.

Letters

Letters from the week of October 28, 2004

Election Eve Nightmare

Can the Maricopa County Elections Department ensure the accuracy of early voting? Hell No!

We Sue the Coward of the County

Arpaio's ditsy chief flack Lisa Allen MacPherson tells us to take her boss to court, so . . .

Special Treatment

Is justice for sale? Ask privileged characters like Jerry Colangelo

Web Feat

Judge grants Arpaio injunction against threats

Flashes 08-03-2000

Undoing Time, They're Baaaaaack, Double Your Pleasure, and Me and Julio

Wash Daze

Now in its first cycle, Arizona's new Clean Elections law is putting bureaucrats and candidates through the wringer

Bad Sign

High rate of Reform Party invalid signatures may signal trouble for other ballot measures

Pay Ball!

Stadium-tax foes strike out again in Superior Court

Bar Honors New Times Writer Rubin