[Via Arpaionews at YouTube]
Awwwwwww. But it would have been so much fun!
PHOENIX—Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for hard-line stance on illegal immigration, announced this afternoon that he will not run for Arizona governor this year.
"It was a tough decision, especially because this time around even my wife encouraged me run and I'm pretty convinced I would have won," Mr. Arpaio said in an interview on Monday. In a statement, Mr. Arpaio added that leaving his 18 years as sheriff didn't "make sense right now" because of the situation in Arizona. "We are standing in the cross-hairs of history in this state and as Sheriff of the most populous county in Arizona, there is much work yet to do."
Arizonans have speculated for months over whether Mr. Arpaio, who calls himself "the toughest sheriff in America," would seek a nomination in the Republican primary. The 77-year-old lawman has flirted with the idea of running for years, but has never thrown his hat in the ring. "This was the time I considered it most seriously," said Mr. Arpaio. "But you never know in politics, never say never. I could run in four years."
An Arpaio run would have injected fresh fuel into the immigration debate raging across the state. Immigration has been the top political topic here since Gov. Jan Brewer signed a controversial immigration enforcement law last month. Widely considered of the toughest measure of its kind, the new law makes it a crime for people in the U.S. illegally to be in Arizona, and requires police to inquire about the immigration status of anyone they stop whom they suspect might be in the country illegally.
"My office has been enforcing federal immigration law for three years," said Mr. Arpaio. "In that time, we have investigated arrested and detained 38,000 illegal aliens, without any problems. The new law just gives us a little extra tool to continue enforcing the illegal immigration law."
Mr. Arpaio first drew national attention in the 1990s when he adopted get-tough measures such as forcing the prisoners in his jail to wear pink underwear, a policy intended to be humiliating. He has also routinely conducted crime sweeps and crackdowns on illegal immigrants, often in areas that are heavily Hispanic. Though he retains strong support among voters in Maricopa County, where he has won reelection by wide margins, others insist his tactics are excessive.
But but but ... why not? Especially when he's favored to win the GOP nomination? Could it have something to do with this note?
Had he chosen to run for governor, Arizona law would have forced him to resign his post as Maricopa County sheriff.
Longtime Phoenix news anchor Brahm Resnick has some insights as to why this might be a problem for Arpaio:
Try this thought experiment: Joe Arpaio announces Monday he's running for governor, he then leaves office (as he must under the resign-to-run law), and his enemies at the Maricopa County Board, likely on the advice of their hand-picked new county attorney Rick Romley, get to pick Arpaio's successor.
We saw what Romley did after he took over from Andrew Thomas, who left to run for attorney general. Romley decapitated the top staff in the county attorney's office, then went about launching investigations to see what really went on under Thomas, who is reportedly being investigated by a grand jury.
Imagine the same scenario should Arpaio depart, only with potentially more dire consequences for MCSO, Arpaio and the commander who really runs the department, David Hendershott -- also reportedly under grand jury investigation along with Arpaio.
With the legal stakes so high, Arpaio cannot allow an outside set of eyes to peer into the heart of the department he has run for almost two decades.
Arpaio will say he's staying put out of loyalty to the people in his department. The truth is, he doesn't dare leave.
As predicted, you can see in the video above that Arpaio does indeed claim he's staying out of loyalty, yadda yadda yadda. You can also see on Arpaio's face as he made the announcement that it was like passing kidney stone: He's really not happy that he doesn't get to run. He could taste it, but he knows the lid will come off sooner rather than later if he does it.
Resnick also explains why he doesn't think Arpaio would have won in the general election, which is a more than plausible analysis.
There's something about some people where compassion, empathy, morals, and ethics are simply non-existant.
This clown is one of them. He's dead inside. A hate filled scummy little neo-Fascist, filthy pig.
1. Immigration raids/roadblocks
2. Pink underwear, handcuffs, sheets, etc.
3. TENT CITY, complete with "vacancy" sign: Housing inmates in canvas tents when it is 110+ degrees outside (and surprisingly cold in the winter for those who don't know how much it cools down in AZ at night during the winter).
4. Yay, CHAIN GANGS!: "Of equal success and notoriety are his chain gangs, which contribute thousands of dollars of free labor to the community. The male chain gang, and the world’s first-ever female and juvenile chain gangs, clean streets, paint over graffiti, and bury the indigent in the county cemetery." -MCSO Website
5. Green Bologna (and worse): "He has the cheapest meals in the U.S. too. The average meal costs about 15 cents, and inmates are fed only twice daily, to cut the labor costs of meal delivery. He even stopped serving them salt and pepper to save tax payers $20,000 a year." - MSCO Website
6. Big Brother Sees You: "Arpaio has started another controversial program, the website WWW.MCSO.org, so that all those arrested (about 300 per day) are recorded on the Sheriff’s website as they are booked and processed into jail. [they take your picture and post it publicly] Just under a million hits daily come into the website, making it one of the most visible law enforcement sites on the World Wide Web." -MCSO Website
Racist attention starved POS manipulates the criminals he's responsible to rehabilitate.
Romley and Arpaio are like cat and dog. I don't know a lot about Romley, but the two hate each other and Romley always came across (at least publicly) as somebody who supported the rule of law and was actually willing to stand up to Sheriff Joe, "America's toughest sheriff" ("biggest bully" is more like it).
It's not really a surprise that Arpaio won't run. He is extremely powerful where he is (apparently untouchable it seems despite scrutiny at both state/federal levels) and there is evidence of a lot of corruption and nepotism going on in the MCSO, so why would he kill the golden goose for a less powerful office? At least for a bully like him, governing is far less appealing than hectoring the helpless and staging cheap PR stunts.
Oh, and one thing for those not in the know, but Arpaio does this just about every state election. He always sends these smoke signals publicly that he's going to run for governor, then backs out... For one, it builds one helluva war chest (local news reported he has over $2 million already stashed away for the next election). Also, he's a publicity hound and just loves when the media (and his opponents) go wild over the possibility of him being the governor. I, for one, do not go wild. It is a miserable prospect, but him as a Sheriff is a miserable prospect too. The MSCO is incredibly racist, corrupt and its administration of county jails reminds me of medieval dungeons and the like.
Any way, it's all a dog and pony show to build his war chest for his run for Sheriff. I wonder if Saban will challenge him again. It says something that a "popular" incumbent like Arpaio feels compelled to raise so much money. Perhaps he's worried about more of a challenge this time around given the recent outcry over SB1070 and the continued notoriety of his illegal "round-ups"...
Still, if Terry Goddard wins the upcoming election vs. Brewer, I wouldn't rule out Arpaio running against Goddard in the future given how (un)popular Goddard will be after a few years of state insolvency and even more unbearable budget cuts.
it means he must remain as sherrif until the day he dies. I'd really like to see this guy in prison.
the Sheriff's Office. My family had already started evacuating AZ before SP 1070 passed and it was because of Arpaio. It became too much of a hostile enviroment for them.
I've never seen change without a fire
"Sheriff Joe decides not to run for AZ governor"
Oh well, our loss is his gain.
But then there is 2014. To quote a song title from a long time ago, I can dream, can't I?
of good here in Az. Then it went to his head or somewhere else.
He went from good to bad in a decade. He is one of the most despicable people in the entire state. He won't run for Governor nor will he win the next election for Sheriff. He should have retired a long time ago when he was on a roll. To bad Joe...go back to Connecticut and retire or something. You took us for a ride here in AZ and we are done with you. You got your pension now, AZ will pay, so happy retirement you stupid idiot.
but am not sure what good he did here. He's been inept and corrupt for as long as I can remember, and he's spent more time grand-standing and staging lame PR stunts than actually addressing the real violent crime in this county. I can't think of one good thing he's done, but I'm a disagreeable sort of fellow, so maybe there's something I'm missing...
Once he found out his preferred title of Reichsmarshal of Arizona would not endear him to most voters.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
To me, it is so very discouraging...and revealing, that these are actually the kinds of people likely to be elected to public office in this country, today. What does this say about Americans? How can this bode well for the future?
From how I've read the Az law the following seems possible: A French -Canadian family with Quebec plates are vacationing or driving through to LA. They are stopped by a deputy of Sheriff Arpaio who's 'just doing his job' but because the vehicle is bearing obvious foreign registration this cop can arrest whole families and declare illegal immigration since Canadian vacationers require no visa or green card to visit the US.
Do police in those far southern States know the tourist rules since they are far away from the Canadian-US border?
The chances of finding a French Canadian family in AZ is probably comparable to finding Sheriff Joe in the Canton de 'est in Quebec.
Check this story http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?n... of Pacific Islanders from the Northern Mariana Islands - US citizens by right very one. Their experience in Arizona is downright wacky.
Hopefully, the only running he'll be doing will be in the prison yard. Say hi to Pablo and his muchachos.
Born at the wrong time, wrong place.
What a shame this self hating miserable fool missed out on the whole Nazi Germany thing in the last century.
got to work under Mussolini.
Probably not. Smartest, definitely not.
is why the hell this criminal fascist scum isn't sitting in a prison cell yet.
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