Straight from Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio: calling a press conference about a jail shakedown — when Hard to Kill star Steven Seagal just happens to be in town filming his new cop-u-drama Steven Seagal: Lawman at Joe’s infamous Tent City — was not a publicity stunt.Only it was.While we…
As Sheriff Joe Arpaio tosses cots in Tent City with Steven Seagal, a woman in Guadalupe, Arizona is looking forward to a check cut by the county for $30,000. This, due to her false arrest and imprisonment at the hands of Sheriff Joe’s boys in beige.You may recall the name…
So it’s Friday –traditionally a slow news day — which means time for another Sheriff Joe Arpaio media stunt, this one to help his buddy Steven Seagal’s A&E reality series Steven Seagal: Lawman. (Please see updates below.)Although the media has been told to “embargo” this one for “jail security” till…
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office’s investigation of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association and its president Mark Spencer, the subject of this week’s Bird column, produced a nice doorstop pile of documents for me to dig through.I have limited time to scan the ginormous file that I obtained from the MCAO…
What would you call law enforcement union leaders who claim to battle for their members’ public benefits during tough economic times, while handing out endorsements to lawmakers hell-bent on wiping out those benefits for good?Hypocrites? Backstabbers? Secret scabs? Something worse?Whatever it is, it applies to Mark Spencer, president of the…
Image: Arizona DPS Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Robert Halliday has won a lawsuit filed against him by a former officer who once dated his daughter. Robert Halliday, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, has won a federal lawsuit filed against him by a former DPS officer…
Despite all this blather about immigration-related bills being “held” by state Senate President Russell Pearce until there’s a budget, Senate Bill 1495, which would give the governor the power to call up a presumably nativist “state guard” anytime she wants, passed the Senate yesterday, 21-9.All nine Democrats voted against the…
I’ve been meaning to do a follow-up of my recent post on Senate Bill 1495/House Bill 2070, which would give the Arizona governor — Jan Brewer and beyond — the power to call up a “state guard” for any reason the governor deems necessary.Currently, the governor can create a state…
In a recent column, I discussed how a gang of disgraced law enforcement officers and prosecutors are looking to bleed Maricopa County dry with threats of bloodsucking lawsuits seeking tens of millions in payouts. This, essentially, because they’ve been called on the carpet by others and now fume from the…
When I heard Sheriff Joe Arpaio was up at Glendale Avenue and 7th Street raiding a Pei Wei, I had to turn the car around. I was hoping Machete-star Steven Seagal was helping him bust a fast-food joint for Seagal’s A&E reality series.See, Seagal’s cop show was given the boot…
What is it about some Republicrazies and conservatards that makes them think God is on their side? I mean, they really believe all liberals are godless atheists who worship Satan and hate religion, and that Jesus is their Confederate-license-plate-rockin’ homeboy.Take this e-mail I just got from some dude in Kennesaw,…
The Phoenix Police Department has released the report on the recent domestic violence incident involving Republican state Senate Majority Leader Scott Bundgaard and his ex-paramour Aubry Ballard.Perhaps the most contentious issue it addresses is Bungaard’s insistence to the media that he did not ask for the legislative immunity granted by…
Do you think Governor Jan Brewer, or any Arizona governor from this point on, should have a volunteer military force that she can call up and use for any purpose whatsoever?Well, that’s what the governor would have if Senate Bill 1495 becomes law: A blank check to establish a “state guard”…
In an effort to further curtail the rights of citizens to visit the state Senate, Senate President Russell Pearce has issued a dictate that the public will no longer be allowed to attend press conferences held inside the Senate building.Today, he sent a missive to his fellow Senators, stating in…
The Arizona Capitol Police have released a partial report on the wrongful arrests of Salvador Reza and Anayense Garza on February 24 at the state Senate building. At several points it contradicts state Senate President Russell Pearce’s assertions, as well as the probable cause statements submitted by the Capitol Police in…
What’s the proper way to respond if you’re a government official who’s asked to read to elementary school students, then told you’ve been un-invited because you’re too controversial? If you have even a shred of class, you say “I’m sorry you feel that way,” and move on. If you’re Maricopa…
State Senate President Russell Pearce wants the public to believe there’s not a list of folks who’re persona non grata at the Arizona state Senate building. And in a bit of a contradiction, he also wants you to believe that part of him “banning” people from the state Senate has…
The Arizona police state rolls on. Today, outside the Arizona state Capitol, human rights activists Salvador Reza and Anayanse Garza of the group Puente held a press conference with their lawyers. This, following their arrests the day before in the state Senate building by plainclothes officers with the Arizona Department…
Welcome to Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. Details are sketchy, but civil rights activists Salvador Reza and Anayanse Garza of the group Puente were arrested inside the Arizona state Senate building today, apparently for the bogus charge of trespassing.I say “apparently” because neither the Capitol Police, nor Arizona DPS Security Attache J…
It’s apropos that state Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Andy Biggs, the man primarily responsible for a bill that will drive a Ryder Truck full of nitro through the state’s Medicaid program, is himself a very wealthy man.He’s not rich through any sweat of his brow. He’s not self-made. Hell, he didn’t…
In the end, they all passed out of the state Senate Appropriations Committee, all of state Senate President Russell Pearce’s anti-immigrant bills, other hate-filled measures offered by his stooges, and cataclysmic proposed laws that can only be described as outright attacks on whatever civilization is left in Sand Land.I wish…
I have praised Channel 5/KPHO’s reporters and producers in the past. I consider them colleagues. Not necessarily drinking-buddies. (Yet.) But I have fun chatting with them when I see them in the midst of the media scrum.Still, I wonder about the station’s pro-PLEA spin, PLEA being the powerful Phoenix Law Enforcement Association,…
