Back in December, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio participated in a Meet the Press-type discussion at ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and before getting heckled out of the room by some overzealous protesters, he told the panel how much he missed the days when a reporter and an elected official could go out for a beer and shoot the proverbial shit.
Last week Arpaio's political flak, Jason Rose, issued a press release inviting all members of the local media to arrange interview times with the sheriff to discuss the candidacy of Joe's puppy, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, for attorney general.
We thought, "What an excellent time to take Joe up on that beer," but America's self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff" -- shockingly -- isn't enough of a media whore to sit down with the likes of New Times for a cold one.
"[Arpaio] doesn't like beer," Rose responded.
Familiar with Joe's Massachusetts roots, we suggested that perhaps the sheriff would feel more comfortable sipping a fifth of peach schnapps on the stoop at a buddy's house. We got no response to that request.
Granted, we've had our spats with the sheriff over the years, so we're not surprised he shot down our offer, but his response had us scratching our heads a bit -- what sort of self-proclaimed "tough guy" doesn't like beer?
