Anyone who knows award-winning Phoenix journalist Valeria Fernandez knows that for four years now she and her collaborator, filmmaker Dan DeVivo, have been working on a documentary about Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s reign of terror and error in Maricopa County, a film ultimately titled Two Americans.Fernandez and DeVivo’s film is finally…
Two weeks ago, I reported on a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow in the ACLU’s big racial-profiling lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Melendres v. Arpaio. During that hearing, Snow scheduled the seven-day trial to begin on July 19.After the hearing, outside the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S…
According to a recent item in the Washington Post’s Election 2012 Blog, recalled state Senate President Russell Pearce has endorsed Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary, more than a month after Romney won Sand Land’s GOP contest. As a result, Romney immediately called a press conference and conceded the general election…
Know what the best part of this new poll released by Arizona Working Families is? The lowest ranked legislator of those mentioned in the survey was none other than crackpot Republican state Senator Sylvia Allen.Allen, who currently represents Legislative District 5, scored a measly 22 percent favorable rating in the…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he may be taking heat for breaking up families and going on illegal-immigrant hunts, but when he gets the chance, he’ll still save the lives of illegal immigrants.The sheriff’s office says it got a hot tip on Saturday about six illegal immigrants, abandoned by…
Mike Stauffer, looking to retire Arpaio this fallRecently, Phoenix videographer Dennis Gilman and I interviewed the two men who want to put Sheriff Joe Arpaio out to pasture come November: Democratic candidate and former Phoenix Police Department Sergeant Paul Penzone, and Scottsdale Police Department Lieutenant Mike Stauffer, who’s running as…
A couple weeks ago, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sent a letter to the director of the Selective Service System, asking to let his “birther” posse play detective with President Obama’s registration card.Arpaio laid out his whole stamp conspiracy-theory in the two-page letter, and demanded a response within 30 days.As…
Actor Steven Seagal added another cameo to his list of appearances with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office last night, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio says Seagal somehow helped real deputies find a bunch of weed.Seagal’s starring role in MCSO raids seems to be going down the toilet, as he’s gone from…
Earlier this month, the L.A. Times reported that “federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010” but released him after questioning and “he disappeared back into Mexico, and the program went on to spiral out of control.” It was a stunning revelation,…
Funny how some conservatives are always against boycotts affecting Arizona businesses, unless they’re the ones doing the boycotting. I say this as the nativist hate group Ban Amnesty Now fires up its promised boycott of New Times’ advertisers, with shrill messages on BAN’s website and Facebook page. Weirdly, the brain surgeons…
If you follow the advice of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (heh), you’re supposed to be outraged right now.According to the sheriff’s office, deputies pulled over a couple vehicles full o’ illegal immigrants Tuesday night and found two kiddos in there — a brother and sister, ages 5 and 6.The…
Phoenix attorney and ex-Arizona Democratic Party Chairman Don Bivens removed himself from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate today, leaving the way clear for former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona to snag the Dems’ nod for the post.In a statement to the press, Bivens claimed that he was taking a…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — whose likeness you may have seen on the cover of a recent issue of New Times with the phrase, “To Hell With the Children!” — wants everyone to know his deputies found people who treat kids worse than he does.According to the sheriff’s office,…
Please see update below.Scottsdale Police Lieutenant and candidate for Maricopa County sheriff Mike Stauffer’s Twitter audience recently jumped from around 600 followers to more than 2,600 followers, thanks to a number of questionable accounts.Many of the new accounts seem fake, lack photos, and/or have zero or few Tweets. In some…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the “birther” gang — now including legislators — held a press conference at the capitol today to push state Representative Carl Seel’s “birther” bill.Seel’s bill, as you may recall, is the watered-down, penis-free version of last year’s bill, which forces presidential candidates to sign…
It’s pretty easy for a scribbler in this town to know when you’ve drawn blood from local hypocrites: Those skewered squeal like hogs being boiled alive in Karo syrup.Recalled ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce is no exception, despite his tough-guy pose. Make that double for his mini-me enabler Sean McCaffrey,…
Penzone: Looking to put ol’ man Arpaio out to pastureI’ve been wanting to interview Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s two rivals in this year’s general election for a while now. So recently, Phoenix videographer Dennis Gilman and I met separately with former Phoenix Police Department Sergeant Paul Penzone and Scottsdale Police Lieutenant…
More than four years after it was first filed, and more than three years since the American Civil Liberties Union lodged its amended complaint in the case, the big racial profiling lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio — Melendres v. Arpaio — will finally go to trial this summer. That is, if…
Despite Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio scoffing at the idea of President Obama not being “involved” in the protests against him, the conspiracy-theory alert has now been downgraded to “coincidence.”Last night, Arpaio was chatting up KPHO about the protests, and said, “If you don’t think the president is not involved…
People plan on protesting Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his immigration policies again today, and apparently he suspects President Obama might be behind it.Combining the fact that Arpaio headlined the lunacy of a “birther” investigation into Obama, and Arpaio’s trouble with the feds, it doesn’t sound that ridiculous.Except it really…
You’d think a practicing lawyer, former president of the Arizona Board of Regents, and erstwhile GOP gubernatorial candidate would possess a lick of sense. But Tucson attorney John Munger is proof positive that possession of a swell resume is no guarantee of intelligence.Munger is the fella who recently threatened legal…
For once, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he shouldn’t be the center of attention.Six young people — the oldest 23 years old — were arrested by Phoenix police Tuesday during a protest at Trevor Browne High School, rallying against Arpaio’s methods of immigration enforcement.To those six people — and…
