If you’d told us last week that one day we’d be sweatin’ it out in a makeshift, outdoor jail in the Arizona desert as the 79-year-old sheriff of one of the largest counties in the country sang a duet with an Elvis impersonator — as female inmates threw pink panties…
At “high noon,” Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will host his latest publicity stunt at his infamous Tent City Jail in honor of the jail’s 18th birthday.To celebrate, Arpaio has a “big party planned: cake, Elvis, Arpaio, and ‘hundreds of Sheriff Joe Fans.'”Joe’s “fans” are inmates, and “Elvis” will be…
I’m getting pretty annoyed at having to berate Sonoran News’ nutjob newshound Linda Bentley over her myriad stupidities, but I can’t let this one go.As I noted in a recent column, neither Bentley, her publication, nor the crotchety bigot who runs it, Don Sorchych, have corrected their recent slime of…
It was a close one, but Jeffery Hendershott won out on Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Mugshot of the Day.The 29-year-old son of Arpaio’s fired chief deputy, David Hendershott, beat accused probation violator Carla Atkins for the honor, seemingly proving that no favoritism exists on Arpaio’s automated, online version of a public…
California Governor Jerry Brown did as promised during his 2010 gubernatorial campaign and signed his state’s version of the DREAM Act on Monday.Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, a Democrat from Los Angeles and author of the bill, has championed the pro-immigrant legislation since 2005. But ex-California governor and Guatemalan-immigrant-housekeeper-impregnator Arnold Schwarzenegger kept vetoing the bill.The state’s…
It’s been a year since Arizona’s infamous immigration law, Senate Bill 1070, went into effect, gutted though it was, by the federal court.While this could be cause for celebration by nativist politicians and their supporters, a community will gather in Phoenix to celebrate the fight against the state’s bigoted immigration…
In this week’s column, I addressed the claims of Arizona Tea Party members, and some Republicans, concerning the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. One of these claims is that the AIRC may have violated Arizona’s open meetings law, as well as state procurement procedures in the pick of the commission’s mapping consultant…
As Eddie Albert liked to say in The Longest Yard (the original, not the Adam Sandler remake), “His-to-ry.”That’s what Arizona witnessed this morning in Mesa in the garden room of the Victorian-style Wright House, the quaint, embowered venue where so many marriages have taken place. There, charter school superintendent and former…
It’s no secret that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio doesn’t know how to use a computer. It’s also obvious that he uses “ghost Tweeters” to update his Twitter page. But to have his minions (under the guise of being Arpaio) brag about his computer illiteracy in a forum that can only be accessed…
Aaargh!The Maricopa County Sheriff Office took two months to produce a report about a stated criminal investigation into former gubernatorial candidate Len Munsil — and it turns out Munsil was the victim, not the alleged perpetrator.We didn’t mean to mislead you. The 1,022-page report on Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office released…
Ah, sweet irony.State Senate President Russell Pearce’s supporters love to prevaricate about Citizens for a Better Arizona, the committee that’s collected enough signatures in Legislative District 18 to force a recall of Pearce, alleging that the recall has been organized by unnamed “outside interests.”Which is total bull, as I’ve pointed…
Despite calls from Tea Party activists and some Republicans for the resignation of Colleen Mathis, chairwoman of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, both Republican commissioner Scott Freeman and Democratic commissioner Jose Herrera expressed support for the embattled Mathis Thursday night.After a nearly-three hour public hearing at Phoenix’s South Mountain Community…
As we noted this morning, Congressional candidate Matt Salmon’s got nothin’ but love for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio these days — ya know, now that he’s running for Congress and the sheriff sent a political endorsement his way, and all.But Salmon’s new-found appreciation for the 79-year-old sheriff doesn’t quite…
I’m more than a little concerned by Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne’s announcement today of a “probe” into the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, which will be holding a public meeting today at 6 p.m. at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix.That meeting already promises to be a real donnybrook, with…
Yesterday, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio penned a gushing, illegal immigrant-themed endorsement for District 6 Congressional candidate Matt Salmon. Salmon responded with a glowing review of the sheriff’s job performance — which is a far cry from what former Congressman Salmon had to say about America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” a…
Cox Communications has agreed to try and settle a lawsuit launched by Captain Joel Fox of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office over the release of his “love letter” e-mails.Fox filed the federal complaint against Cox on the same day that New Times published excerpts from the emotional expressions of man-love…
I have to give a nod to the Arizona Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl for nabbing a little item I’d been sitting on regarding a fundraising e-mail to fellow lobbyists sent from Mike Williams of the Phoenix firm Williams & Associates. This, on behalf of state Senate President Russell Pearce’s anti-recall…
State Senator Russell Pearce’s lawyer Lisa Hauser filed one of the lamest legal challenges in this history of civil actions today. This, to the so-far successful recall effort against Pearce, which has resulted in Governor Jan Brewer ordering a recall election in Legislative District 18.It’s not only lame, it’s laughable…
Governor Jan Brewer is helping raise money for the man many have called the de facto governor of Arizona: state Senate President Russell Pearce.In an e-mail blast sent out today, Brewer asks recipients to donate to Citizens Who Oppose the Pearce Recall, and links to the organization’s Web site, protectanamericanpatriot.com.Needless…
The Latino population has risen significantly in the United States in the past decade, but not just because of immigration. Actually, a higher birth rate among Hispanic women is now the dominant factor in the rise, according to a new study.The driving force for this surge: Mexican-American babies. This, according to…
Andrew Sherwood, the Mesa Democrat who unsuccessfully took on Republican state Senator Russell Pearce in 2010 (before Pearce was Senate president), just called to let me know that he will not be throwing his derby in the ring for the November 8 recall election.Sherwood came in second in a three-way…
The United States government is revamping a program that will fly undocumented Mexican immigrants back to Mexico City, after they’ve been caught entering the country illegally.The feds claim this prevents deaths from dehydration and exhaustion from people crossing the Arizona desert during the hottest time of the year.But activists cry…
