See also: Joe Arpaio on the Run from Paul Penzone, Mike Stauffer the Goat in New Poll (w/Update) See also: Stauffer Must Exit Sheriff's Race or Forever Be the Goat See also: Mike Stauffer's Third-Wheel Bid for Sheriff May Keep Arpaio in Office See also: Joe Arpaio Stooge Mike Stauffer a "Republican Candidate," Writes West Kenyon, Campaign Manager See also: Joe Arpaio-Wannabe Mike Stauffer Flips Out, Calls Non-Threat "Vaguely Threatening"
Mike Stauffer's bid for Maricopa County sheriff resembles the second coming of Olivia Cortes, aiming (albeit amateurishly) at siphoning votes from Democratic candidate for sheriff Paul Penzone, who is currently 5.5 points away from Sheriff Joe Arpaio in a recent poll commissioned by the Penzone camp.
That poll was conducted by the D.C. firm Switchboard communications, and it shows Stauffer in fourth place behind "none of the above."
There's not much Stauffer can do now to maintain his legitimacy, which explains the moronic and deceptive press release and Facebook post just issued by Stauffer's fellow Republican and former Legislative District 7 GOP chair West Kenyon.
Kenyon uses an informal, unscientific January Polldaddy.com poll posted by former Phoenix New Times writer James King, who now works for our New York paper, the Village Voice.
"Our opponent appears to enjoy releasing very unscientific polls," writes Kenyon. "We also decided to release a poll conducted by none other than the Phoenix New Times, a long time supporter until very recently. This screen capture was taken just yesterday. Please know this poll was not a hand picked group of respondents rather a completely random sampling of readers responding at will."
See the original blog post by King and vote on it yourself.
Calling this paper a "long time supporter" of Stauffer is completely bogus. King is just one writer, as am I. And neither King nor I speak for the entire paper. Only Village Voice Media Executive Editor Michael Lacey can do that.
Moreover, New Times has never presented these blog poll widgets as scientific. The sample or pool of respondents is self-selected. Anyone and everyone can go on the widget and vote as many times as they like, as long as they do it from a different IP address each time.
This is commonly called an "open access poll," and since the sample is as undefined as the readership of the Internet, it is worthless in gauging public opinion. They are offered on the site simply for fun.
Indeed, just in the time it's taken me to write this far, Penzone has overtaken Stauffer in the poll Kenyon mentions, as it is still open to the public and Kenyon has made people aware of it again.
In the Switchboard poll released yesterday, where Stauffer scores in single digits, the pollster took pains to make the sample of 850 respondents representative of Maricopa County's voter turnout for 2008. Also, the respondents were likely county voters. Someone voting on a blog poll could be in Timbuktu, for all we know.
How dumb does West Kenyon think Maricopa County voters are? You'd have to be pretty stupid to fall for this move, which smacks of utter contempt for the public.
So is West Kenyon just a bloody moron, or is he working to get Sheriff Joe Arpaio re-elected? Kenyon knows online polls are not scientific. I can only surmise that he and Stauffer are out to cause as much confusion and chaos as possible. Even if that helps Arpaio remain in power.
Below is Kenyon's press release: By sending this out to the media, he guarantees the press will regard him as a blithering idiot.
West Kenyon 9:21 AM to undisclosed recipients MIKE STAUFFER FOR MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF • 2012
PRESS RELEASE Sept. 14, 2012 Immediate Release:
Stauffer opponent Paul Penzone appears to enjoy releasing very unscientific polls. We too decided to release a poll conducted by none other than the Phoenix New Times, as indicated by this screen capture taken just yesterday. Please know this poll was not a hand picked group of respondents rather a completely random sampling of New Times readers responding at will. (See attachment)
West Kenyon Campaign Manager Police Lt. Mike Stauffer Maricopa County Sheriff • Candidate 2012 t: 480.414.6868 e: [email protected] w: www.votestauffer.com