I take perverse pleasure in these two clips from lawyer David Bodney’s recent interrogation of Sheriff Joe in a deposition in the big Melendres vs. Arpaio racial profiling lawsuit. Here, Joe’s forced to review my May 2009 cover story “Ja, Joe!,” which details Arpaio’s links to extremist groups such as…
Those wisenheimers over at the blog Talking Points Memo have honored Maricopa County’s corrupt top constable with one of their annual “Golden Duke” awards, “given in recognition of great accomplishments in muckiness including acts of venal corruption, outstanding self-inflicted losses of dignity, crimes against the republic, bribery, exposed hypocrisy and generally malevolent governance.”Named…
Here’s a bit of Sheriff Joe under oath while being deposed in the Melendres vs. Arpaio racial profiling lawsuit, a deposition I blogged about a couple of days ago. (A transcript of Joe’s depo is linked to therein.) Activist/videographer Dennis Gilman has posted a segment of the video, this part dealing…
Due to the efforts of local activists lead by Phoenix litigation support investigator Jameson Johnson, St. Mary’s Food Bank has suspended the use of off-duty sheriff’s deputies to help direct traffic at two of the charity’s facilities.St. Mary’s spokeswoman Beverly Damore confirmed that the organization’s President and CEO Terry Shannon…
A cross between Ronald Reagan post-presidency and Sgt. Schultz from a Hogan’s Heroes rerun: That’s the impression Sheriff Joe Arpaio gave recently during a seven hour deposition under oath as part of the big Melendres vs. Arpaio racial-profiling lawsuit now working its way through federal court.Under rigorous interrogation by David…
A couple of weeks ago, we related how a top official with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office met with some rich guys during a fishing trip in Alaska three years ago. As we were told by the lawyer for the rich guys, Grant Woods, the Alaska trip — which was…
New Times is a lying, “insidious” publication that ABC News Nightline program should never have used in researching its recent report on Joe Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s spokeswoman states in a new video made by the agency. (Scroll down for link to video). After that bold and unsubstantiated insult,…
In a conversation this morning via phone, Tucson native and rock legend Linda Ronstadt denounced Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s reign of tyranny in Maricopa County and promised to march alongside thousands of activists planning to converge on Phoenix this Saturday, January 16 for a National Day of Action, which will include…
Props to the spirit of country legend Hank Williams and YouTuber “politicatty.” The latter has borrowed the tune from the former’s Cajun-styled hit “Jambalaya” for an anti-Joe Arpaio ditty entitled, “Goodbye, Joe!” The lyrics are pretty amusing. Here’s a sample:Goodbye Joe. You gotta go. Take three guesses. Too much dough down…
Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the big Melendres vs. Arpaio racial profiling lawsuit fired another salvo at the MCSO on Wednesday. In the latest bid for sanctions against the MCSO, attorneys from the firm of Steptoe & Johnson, lead counsel in the case, argued that the MCSO has persistently destroyed…
Why do local nativists feel emboldened and increasingly willing to express themselves violently? Well, it’s no coincidence that most local nativists are rabid supporters of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio’s tactics and rhetoric play to the nativists. He green-lights their hatred of Mexican immigrants, and with his own lawless behavior gives…
The State Bar of Arizona has rejected five complaints against Maricopa County leaders submitted a few months ago by the Sheriff’s Office. MCSO Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott wrote to the State Bar with complaints against County Manager David Smith, Wade Swanson (director of general litigation office), Richard Stewart (director of special…
Long before the judges and lawyers got into the act (excepting such stalwarts as Danny Ortega and Antonio Bustamante, who’ve been active since the beginning), Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox was speaking out, marching and working against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Wilcox was instrumental in getting former Mesa Police Chief…
The far-right wingnut blog Sonoran Alliance just posted a whiny e-mail from Sheriff Joe begging for campaign contributions, even though his next run for sheriff wouldn’t be until 2012. At times, he makes it sound like it’s some sort of legal defense fund. Yet Joe’s Web site notes that donators’…
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Captain Joel Fox testified earlier this week before the grand jury probing the SCA campaign finance scandal — triggering speculation that an indictment in the case could come as early as next month.Grand jury proceedings are secret and, typically, the subject of a probe doesn’t make an…
Back in July, Captain Joel Fox, frontman for the SCA fund, wrote the following comment on our blog: There has never been a “meeting” of SCA donors. How you figure you could get all the people on that list into one room is beyond me. I can hardly get in…
You’ll recall that in November, I reported that MCSO deputies had admitted under oath to destroying documents requested by the plaintiffs in the big Melendres vs. Arpaio racial profiling lawsuit now in federal court. In an excerpt of a deposition made public as part of a request for sanctions against…
Yesterday, I spoke with Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which is currently investigating civil rights violations by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies. Though he would not confirm the fact that a team from the DOJ has been in town this week…
What a difference a couple of days make. Less than 72 hours ago, members of the pro-immigrant community in Phoenix were kvetching to me about the lack of follow-through on the part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. As I reported in my column this week, activists…
As I’ve been on deadline the last couple of days, I haven’t been able to comment on Nightline’s recent, two-pronged report on Sheriff Joe, the second part of which I enjoyed immensely. That segment dealt mostly with Arpaio’s abuses in the jails and made specific reference the 1996 death of…
A team of deputies hit the streets last night in an attempt to interview Superior Court judges’ assistants in their homes.”It was pure intimidation,” one judge who asked to remain anonymous tells New Times. Judicial assistants are hired and fired by the judges, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was counting…
Nightline’s piece on our corrupt top constable runs tonight — you know, the one ABC was working on when they sent Nightline talking head Martin Bashir to Phoenix to cover one of Arpaio’s anti-immigrant sweeps last month. The speculation at the time was that Arpaio had coordinated the sweep with the aim of providing…
