I’ve never cottoned to the The Arizona Republic ‘s schoolmarmish scribe E.J. Montini, who if offered a butcher knife and the dotted line indicating a corrupt politician’s jugular, would opt for inflicting a pinprick to the pol’s shin. Once every 20 columns or so, Montini hits the mark. Otherwise, he…
In a blistering editorial published today, The New York Times blasts Sheriff Joe’s misuse of his 287g agreement with ICE, and demands Congress hold hearings on the agreements, which are currently under investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress. (That tidbit about the GAO is…
Last week, I wrote about a poll from PHX’s Behavior Research Center, which showed Sheriff Joe’s popularity rating to be 57% excellent or good within Maricopa County. The Scottsdale company American Traffic Solutions commissioned the statistical query from BRC as part of a larger poll about how AZ denizens view…
Guadalupe Mayor Rebecca Jimenez, who bravely defied Sheriff Joe last night. Last night was a night of high drama as Sheriff Joe brought his illegal immigrant dragnet to the small town of Guadalupe, and the citizens and the mayor of that city demanded Joe leave. Last night around 10:30, Guadalupe…
Seems like everyone wants a piece of Sheriff Joe these days. Mayor Phil’s on his case. Channel 12’s after his hide. The AZ State Auditor is looking into his use of RICO funds. And of course, New Times is suing the Sheriff and County Attorney Andrew Thomas for $15 million…
According to a poll commissioned by American Traffic Solutions, the Scottsdale company that bills itself as “the largest provider of photo traffic enforcement programs to America’s big cities,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s approval rating is at 57% in Maricopa County, plus or minus 3.5%. The poll was reportedly done by Phoenix’s…
New Times founders Mike Lacey (left) and Jim Larkin (right) at the AZ ACLU awards dinner. On Saturday, Village Voice Media Executive Editor Mike Lacey and VVM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Larkin were each honored by the ACLU Foundation of Arizona with the group’s highest accolade, the Civil…
See anything interesting about this MCSO vehicle? Hmmm…maybe them deputies ain’t all bad… The battle of Bell Road ended abruptly last night, around 8:30 p.m., when the MCSO called it quits, bringing to an end the most contentious of the Sheriff’s anti-immigrant sweeps. The Sheriff told other reporters present that…
A small section of the crowd Thursday night. Events have been moving so rapidly since last night that I haven’t had time to report on the eruption of Latino/Hispanic outrage at Bell and Cave Creek Roads where Sheriff Joe has stationed his mobile command center for the weekend. From a…
The late Carol Gotbaum with her children. Just under the wire today, Phoenix attorney Mike Manning served a Notice of Claim to the City of Phoenix in the still-mysterious death of Carol Anne Gotbaum, asking for $8 million on behalf of the Gotbaum family. As you may recall, Gotbaum died…
No doubt about who’s the top, and who’s the bottom in Danny Hellman’s brilliant Bird illo. That Shaq is a shrewd fella. In a March 13 Bird item, I speculated that the Big Aristotle, now also known as the Big Cactus, might be tempted to do biz with Sheriff Joe,…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio (right) conversing with prejudiced pal Rusty Childress (left), ex-Kia peddler and leader of the most vicious anti-immigrant hate group in the Valley, United for a Sovereign America. It was a Good Friday for racists last week as our own Pontius Pilate, a.k.a., Sheriff Joe, defiled the day…
Tonight Sheriff Joe Arpaio joined the nativists and unrepentant bigots of Rusty Childress’ United for a Sovereign America, speaking before a group that accepts racists like Buffalo Rick Galeener into its fold, as well as neo-Nazis like J.T. Ready. It’s also an organization that praises old guard neo-Nazis such as…
A pic you’ll never see in the Capitol Times: Russell Pearce (right) and Mesa neo-Nazi J.T. Ready (left), at an anti-immigrant clambake in June of ’07. Does it ever strike you as odd that AZ politicians can pull the most outrageous, reactionary bullcrap? Stuff that in any civilized state in…
See, Buffalo, you’re famous…for allegedly urinating in public. A group of about six “aliens” invaded the nativist demonstration up at the Macehualli Work Center on Saturday — actually a troupe of arty open borders activists dressed as aliens and waving signs like “Save Our White Trash Heritage,” “Buffalo Rick’s Pissed…
In case you missed it, Channel 12’s Joe Dana rolled over a new stone in the Honduran scam last night, revealing that the MCSO had plans to install a high-tech facial recognition system in Honduras, which Arlie Thompson, Governor of the Bay Islands, said included, “…security systems and programs…at the…
Yesterday, Sheriff’s office flack Paul Chagolla coughed up the hourly rates on the ten MCSO employees who were part of the Honduran enterprise, and after crunching the numbers, and adding equipment purchases and RICO-funded reimbursements for travel expenses, the bill for this Central American hayride comes to approximately $157,000. That’s…
The new issue of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report is out, and it’s chocked full of more racist Sand Land nuts than a John Birch Society convention. The mag highlights several players in the local nativist movement, profiles notorious neo-Nazi and alleged murderer Sean Gaines, and pays a…
I’ll be honest, I would have appreciated a more critical appraisal of Sheriff Joe’s reign in Maricopa County than the one Ted Robbins offers today on NPR, “`America’s Toughest Sheriff’ Takes on Immigration.” In the segment, Robbins visits Tent City, but he never mentions those who have died in Sheriff…
Anti-immigrant activist Rick Galeener, accused of making water in public in front of a mother and her two-year-old kid. Virulent racist and noted Yosemite Sam impersonator “Buffalo” Rick Galeener got popped today for allegedly peeing into a plastic bottle nearby the Macehualli Work Center, where he and fellow members of…
Former MCSO honcho Tom Bearup with his wife Adele, from Brendan Joel Kelley’s feature on him in the Anchorage Press. From the mythical land of grizzly bears and sockeye salmon comes this gripping portrait of former Arpaio henchman turned Arpaio foe Tom Bearup, penned by ex-New Times writer Brendan Joel…
The two Dems scrappin’ to take on Candy: Gerald Richard (left) and Tim Nelson (right). As I mentioned briefly in this week’s Bird column, I made the spring meeting of the Maricopa County Dems this past Saturday, mainly because I wanted to size up the two guys looking to replace…
