The Goldwater Institute can be reactionary on various issues, particularly when it comes to denouncing President Obama on health care reform, siding with the tea bag types or rah-rahing charter schools. Hell, it ain't named after the late Senator Barry Goldwater for nothin'.
Still, you have to give G.I. props for relentlessly opposing Sheriff Joe Arpaio, exposing his malfeasance in office, and flaying him mercilessly for his defiance of the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.
G.I. director Clint Bolick's gone down this road again in his latest e-mail editorial slamming Arpaio over the Adam Stoddard mess. Bolick has no sympathy for the jailed detention officer, Stoddard's sick-playing comrades in beige, or their masters high up in the Wells Fargo Building, where Joe keeps two floors of pricey office space.
Stoddard had "no business looking through an attorney's confidential file," writes Bolick of the YouTube video wherein Stoddard's seen shamelessly swiping papers right off the lawyer's desk.
"Judge Gary Donahoe found Stoddard in contempt of court," Bolick continues, "but slapped him on the wrist, saying a public apology would suffice. When Stoddard refused, Donahoe sent him to jail."
Bolick calls the sick-out by MCSO detention officers following Stoddard's surrender a "remarkable coincidence." Ain't it though? It's also a remarkable coinkydink that a bomb threat just happened to clear the courts for the day, though Bolick doesn't really go there.
All the same, Bolick smacks Arpaio hard for his handling of the Stoddard debacle.
"Instead of urging detention officers to fulfill their important duties," he notes, "Sheriff Joe Arpaio remarked that he encourages sick employees to stay home, and he referred to Stoddard as a `political prisoner.'"
After making a point about the cost to the taxpayers for the disruption, Bolick continues, observing that,
"Sworn law-enforcement officers take an oath to uphold the law. By effectively shutting down the very justice system they are employed to protect, the sheriff's officers displayed contempt toward the rule of law. Taxpayers should hold them accountable for abrogating their essential duties."
I won't be turning blue waiting for that last bit to happen. Arpaio's Teflon with the voters, as five electoral victories have shown over the years. But Bolick's criticism is still welcome, even if in the end it wins neither hearts nor minds.
