Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lisa Allen was dismayed when she saw the super-sleazy TV ad against her boss’ opponent, Dan Saban, air on September 30, 2008. She thought the ad, which stated that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s opponent had masturbated on county time and had once been accused of raping his…
Joel Fox filed two federal lawsuits this week in apparent response to New Times’ publication of love letters between him and his boss at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Larry Black. The first lawsuit targets former state Attorney General Terry Goddard and three employees of the AG’s office; the second,…
I’ve received a couple of calls from regular readers wondering about the paucity of posts this week in Feathered Bastard. And no, I’m not in rehab or dead. Yet.Rather, I’ve been hard at work on a special project for my editor, one commanding almost all of my time this week…
Among those disappointed by Republican Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake’s recent about face on immigration is Julie Erfle, the widow of slain Phoenix Police Officer Nick Erfle.You’ll recall that Officer Erfle was murdered in 2007 by an ex-con with an outstanding warrant who was in the country illegally. Erfle and his…
Last week, the much-anticipated SCA investigative report was released to the public (New Times staffers had a blast thumbing through some of the findings, which may or may not involve seducing a “live sheep.” Check it out here and here).The case involves the lies, corruption, and potential crimes committed by…
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…
Tom Horne, the state Attorney General, inherited the SCA case from his predecessor, Terry Goddard. The case is all about the dirty politics played by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the state Republican Party. Briefly, it involves a secret slush fund of money solicited from fat-cats around the country…
In the wake of the Phoenix Police Department’s firing of Officer Richard Chrisman, the cop facing second degree murder charges in the October 5 slaying of an unarmed South Phoenix man, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association continues to smear fellow Officer Sergio Virgillo, who witnessed the shooting and told investigators…
More humor from the secret recording of a command staff meeting at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office made on July 27, 2009 by Frank Munnell: Joe Arpaio is grousing over a quip made by longtime Valley reporter Howie Fischer on a PBS Horizon roundtable that Arpaio was “bulletproof” and would be re-elected unless he was…
Boy, is this SCA report paying off! We’re still trying to read it all and put it in context. But we keep getting stuck in the rich detail. The chuckle factor on this one is too high to wait for context: All that ignominious sucking up former Maricopa County Andrew Thomas did to the Sheriff’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 sit on…
Phoenix Police Officer Richard Chrisman, who faces a second-degree murder charge in the October 5 shooting death of South Phoenix resident Daniel Rodriguez, was terminated today by the City of Phoenix. Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sergeant Tommy Thompson issued the following statement to the press via e-mail:”In answer to questions…
In the wake of the defeat of five anti-immigrant bills in the state Senate last week, there’s been some question about whether the boycott of Arizona over Senate Bill 1070 should continue.There’s no doubt that the boycott has been effective. Both the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Phoenix…
Like a 15-year-old girl, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio reached unprecedented levels of media sluttiness today when he not only felt compelled to announce how many cyber friends he has, but went so far as to lie about it, too. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office put out a press release…
Can someone please tell this crank about the night they drove ol’ Dixie down?As I blogged recently, the main concern of the pro-immigrant side after the defeat of five anti-immigrant bills last week in the state Senate was that under Senate rules, someone who voted against the measures could move…
According to beefy action film star Steven Seagal’s former “boss,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, Seagal is not “on loan” from Jefferson Parish, as Seagal asserted recently after a massive MCSO raid on a home in Laveen, where one — count him, one — suspect was nabbed for his alleged…
They’re practically singing hosannas in the streets, the pro-immigration folks, or just those who’d like to see an end to Arizona’s tsunami of hate. This, over the defeat of five anti-immigrant bills on the state Senate floor yesterday, including Senate President Russell Pearce’s “immigration omnibus” Senate Bill 1611, and the…
Border extremist Glenn Spencer was a no-show today at the state Senate Border Security Committee hearing where he was to give a presentation on immigration. Before the hearing started, Democratic Senator Steve Gallardo told me that he was informed last night that Spencer had been “uninvited.”Gallardo and others, including the…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office busted two guys — one of whom was an elementary school music teacher — last month who allegedly used Craigslist to try and have sex with a dog, and the sheriff seems to think it’s becoming a trend — despite it only happening once.Sheriff Joe…
Bunny boiler. Sorry, all I could think of as I read through Maricopa County Hearing Officer Harold Merkow’s report on former Deputy County Attorney Lisa Aubuchon and her ongoing appeal of her dismissal, was Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. What will it take, I wonder, for the county to be…
A group of Valley freethinkers want Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to stop calling on Arizona residents to pray about the budget or anything else. Two attorneys and several area residents, all members of the national Freedom From Religion Foundation, filed a lawsuit in federal court this week in hopes of ending proclamations for state prayer…
Vanity, vanity, saith the preacher, all is vanity.And what more can it be than vanity that Phoenix’s Arizona Christian University is feting former President George W. Bush at a $500 a plate dinner so the Torturer-in-Chief can blather on about his “faith-based presidency”?I reckon there’s also hypocrisy and greed, both…
