Secret footage obtained by New Times of the last Teabagger meet-up headed by A.J. LaFaro. With friends like these, how could Joe lose?
Check out the email below, with a message purportedly from walking PayDay bar and newly-elected chair of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, A.J. "Wild Man" LaFaro.
In it, LaFaro does his best to fire up the Teabagger faithful by telling all and sundry that our aged autocrat Sheriff Joe Arpaio is under siege and requires the assistance of a toothless brigade of Yosemite Sam-lookalikes: You know, to dog the "domestic terrorists," now out pounding pavement in hopes of scoring the needed signatures to recall his sorry ass.
See also: -Tempe Wingnut Is the Ideal Man to Run the County GOP -- and Here's Why -Joe Arpaio on Keeping Warm in Stir; Plus, A.J. LaFaro's "Crazytown" Ticket Wins County GOP Leadership
So the pro-Joe goobers are holding a meetin' come Saturday to figure out how to organize a "`shadow army' of `shadow warriors'" willing to "stand toe-to-toe" with the "paid progressive socialists...collecting petition signatures."
And you know what this means: Ornery, white geriatrics, Glocks strapped to their pear-shaped hips, ready to do battle with unarmed signature gatherers. What's next, drive-bys? Gangland-style shootouts? Chemical warfare? Shuffleboard playoffs?
Not to discount them too much, as any idiot can pull a trigger. Still, I'd love to see these red-white-and-blue Depends-wearers trying to go "toe-to-toe" with any of mis amigos on the West Side, or down in South Phoenix, for that matter. Boy, would that be fun to watch.
Anyway, I called and emailed LaFaro for comment, but have received no reply.
BTW, LaFaro bitching about a recall is pretty rich, considering that he led a 2001 recall effort against openly-gay Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano.
Ostensibly, the recall was supposed to be over Giuliano's comments that folks might not want to donate to the Boy Scouts because of its anti-gay stance.
Which is a dumb reason to recall someone. But a lot of people figured LaFaro for a homophobe. In the end, LaFaro got the sigs, but Giuliano won the recall election in a landslide.
As the email mentions an employee of Chad Willems' Summit Consulting Group, I emailed Willems, known for making bank off getting Joe re-elected in 2012, and asked him if he seconded the violent language of his Teabagger compatriots.
"You can stop hyperventilating," he wrote back. "The email was not from our campaign and while some of the verbiage was strong it's not literal and you know better. Further, you should realize there is a lot of passion on both sides surrounding this issue. For example, [Chad Snow] referred to Sheriff Arpaio as being `evil' during their announcement of the recall."
Queried as to the relationship between LaFaro and Summit, Willems replied that, "[LaFaro] has a group of volunteers and we have offered to assist him to reach a common goal."
I should note, for those unfamiliar with recent history, that Snow and Randy Parraz are affiliated with Citizens for a Better Arizona, the group that successfully recalled neo-Nazi-hugger and ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce in 2011, thereby earning these CBAers devil horns and pointy tails in the eyes of Pearce-worshippers.
CBA is supporting the official recall committee Respect Arizona in the new effort, and so, it's kinda like 2011 all over again, only on a much larger scale, with an even bigger tyrant to topple.
Actually Phoenix attorney William James Fisher is chair of Respect Arizona, but the wingnuts are more familiar with their old enemies Snow and Parraz, so they're the ones targeted with rhetorical threats.
I asked Snow for his response to the "call to arms" and Willems' defense of his knuckledragger buds. I'll post it when I receive it.
NB: Please see updates below.
Actually, I find this wigged-out chain missive a bit of a psychological boost to the recall. Such paranoia on the right indicates one thing for certain: The Joe-blowers are worried.
The Teabagger call to arms:
From: "Tempe Tea Party" Date: Feb 11, 2013 9:10 AM Subject: "CALL TO ARMS" MEETING
SHERIFF JOE NEEDS OUR HELP!
I've been contacted by Sheriff Joe and his campaign team requesting our help.
I am calling a "call to arms" volunteer meeting of the MCRC EGC and Tea Parties* throughout Maricopa County for Saturday, 02/16, at 1:30pm at AZGOP HQ located at 3501 North 24th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85016.
* Please forward to all Tea Parties in Maricopa County and Arizona if needed.
The purpose of the meeting is to muster and organize a "shadow army" of "shadow warriors" that are willing to volunteer their time to stand toe-to-toe at the majority of the locations here in Maricopa County where the paid progressive socialists are collecting petition signatures to recall Sheriff Joe. For example: libraries, community college campuses, university campuses, swap meets, special events etc.
It's estimated the "shadow army" will need to be at least 400 people in order to man all the locations that have been identified here in Maricopa County.
We need to make sure this abusive and egregious attempt attacking Arizona's Constitution, voter sovereignty and the will of the people here in Arizona and around the Country fails in getting enough signatures.
Randy Parraz, Chad Snow and the special interest groups that are behind this recall effort are nothing more than domestic terrorists who are attempting to turn Arizona dark blue so they can further their liberal agenda. These are the same thugs who wrongfully recalled Russell Pearce. We need to stop these people now.
There is no need to RSVP! Just rally the "troops" to be at the meeting on Saturday, 02/16, to get their marching orders and assignments from Sheriff Joe's campaign team field general - John DeCarlo.
John DeCarlo can be reached at 602-235-9320 or [email protected]
A. J. LaFaro Chairman, Maricopa County Republican Committee Willems' full response to my initial query:
Chad Willems 3:37 PM (3 hours ago) to me Stephen,
You can stop hyperventilating. The email was not from our campaign and while some of the verbiage was strong it's not literal and you know better. Further, you should realize there is a lot of passion on both sides surrounding this issue. For example, Mr. Snow referred to Sheriff Arpaio as being "evil" during their announcement of the recall.
Some Arpaio supporters have taken it upon themselves to actively engage voters who are being asked to sign this recall petition. It is their right to do so and we are happy to assist them in their efforts. Voters have a right to know that this effort is an abuse of the process; will cost the taxpayers millions; and attempts to overturn the will of the people which was just expressed a few short months ago. This effort is seriously wrong-headed. Even the Arizona Republic agrees.
Best Regards, Chad
Chad, "abuse of the process"? Tell it to Neil Giuliano.
UPDATE 10:30PM: Chad Snow responds:
Steve,
The dictionary definition of "evil" is "morally reprehensible arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct". So I guess in that sense, I believe Joe Arpaio is evil. And I'm not alone - the list of people who know him best and have called out Arpaio's bad conduct is long and bipartisan: Sheila Polk, Don Stapley, Rick Romley, John Leonardo, Terry Goddard, Mary Rose Wilcox, Phil Gordon, Paul Charlton, Loretta Barkell - the list goes on and on. Joe Arpaio has abused his power to go after journalists, judges, political opponents, and anyone who dares criticize him. He turned his back on hundreds of victims of sex crimes. He furthers his corrupt political career on the backs of immigrants, inmates, and taxpayers. In my mind, that qualifies as evil. Now what evidence do Arpaio, Willems, LeFaro et al have that we are "domestic terrorists" or "thugs"? Because we exercise a completely legal avenue in the Constitution?
Willems' statement that the e-mail was not from their campaign is a flat out lie. The contact e-mail is [email protected], Willems' own consulting firm. And I would like Willems to answer this question: how is this effort "an abuse of the process"? It is not, just like Joe Arpaio spending $8.2 million of mostly out of state money wasn't an abuse of the last election process.
Chad Snow
