Got an announcement from the Jesse Kelly campaign that he will be bringing Joe Arpaio to Oro Valley for a fundraiser. The upside for this is that even though Arpayaso will be visiting our county, he will not be going very deep into it.
The fundraiser will be in, and these are Kelly’s words, an “exclusive community in Oro Valley.” Way to be a man of the people there, Jesse.
Kelly refers to Arpaio as “America’s Sheriff.” No one elected Arpaio to that office, he came up with that name all on his own (not really, given the hundreds of thousands taxpayers spend on his PR department). America’s Sheriff? This is a guy whose deputies engage in racial profiling, intimidate the judiciary, arrest those who dare speak out against him, arrest members of the press and even arrest other public officials that dare cross him.
America’s Sheriff? Hopefully not the vision of America that Kelly wants to take to congress.
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He uses the word “sanity” in his campaign slogan. And then he lists Joe Arpaio, Michele Bachmann and the Minuteman PAC as proud endorsers.
Tremendous.
Tedski forgets the most recent outrage, namely that Joe’s deputies are rallying to support a colleague who stole documents from an attorney:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/12/04/20091204detention-ON.html
It amazes me that the Republican establishment in Maricopa County has allowed this Francoism to continue for so long. “Best run county in America” my ass.
And Joe thinks his boy, Adam Stoddard, is a political prisoner…
Arpaio is doing a fundraiser for Kelly. Al Melvin is also an early Kelly backer, as is US Rep. Michelle Bachmann. What does this early backing for Kelly from the hard right portend for Paton if he gets in? Kelly has said he’s in the race to stay. On the one hand, a Kelly-Paton primary will make Paton look reasonable if he moves forward to the general against Giffords. On the other, Paton will have to lob some red meat into the arena to assert his own conservative bonafides, which could hurt him in the general.
My hunch is that Giffords is the long-term beneficiary of a hard-fought Republican primary, especially if Paton only wins a plurality and has to do an excessive amount of “running to the right” in order to ensure a win. Paton would be a shrewder and harder-working opponent for Giffords than Graf or Bee were, but he is also going to be hindered by the woeful Republican record in Phoenix that he helped to create. He will also have the challenge of leading a party that is, if possible, even more dominated by the right-wingers than it was two years ago.
Tedski,
You are alleging that Arpaio is violating numerous Federal Laws but I haven’t seen the U.S. Attorney indict him on anything. Maybe you should explain to the U.S. Attorney all the facts, with corroboration, of your allegations so we may see justice served.
Well if KPHO is to be believed, the FBI is looking into the matter.
Of course now this means Ted is going to be investigated. Not sure on what grounds but everyone else who says boo about the Sheriff is.
Walt-
Except for the racial profiling case, none of the incidents I mentioned are federal.
However, in three of the cases I mentioned (the ones against Don Stapley, the publishers of the New Times and the arrests he made at a public meeting) the cases didn’t result in conviction in local courts, far from it.
It seems your man Joe has taken the test that you want to apply to me and failed it miserably.
Ted,
You are dead wrong. If you can prove or provide any shred of evidence to substantiate the allegations you made then the Sheriff could be prosecuted under the RICO Act for Racketeering.
Ted,
You are dead wrong. If you can prove or provide any shred of evidence to substantiate the allegations you made then the Sheriff could be prosecuted under the RICO Act for Racketeering.
Walt –
Did the Sheriff of Maricopa County have Don Stapely arrested on charges that then could not be sustained?
Did the Sheriff of Maricopa County have the publishers of the New Times arrested on charges that could not be sustained?
Did the Sheriff of Maricopa County have a group of community activists arrested on charges that could not be sustained?
It was all in the papers, check it out.
Ted.
A bit on the Tea Party and its fracturing…
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/07/tea.party/index.html
Rex,
You left out one very real possibility…that Jesse Kelly wins against Paton in a primary. You are very knowledgeable of politics, which is why I like your posts, but remember. This tea party thing, the far right wing, are rallying behind Kelly. These folks will show up for Kelly, will work for him hard, and they are much more likely to show up and vote than any “moderate” GOPers that are left.
I really think that Kelly could oust Paton…or the thought of it will keep Paton out…his political career could not survive a loss like that Steve “what is his name” or Tim “something or another” or even someone like Randy “who was that?” who actually won the nomination.
Kelly will be dead in the water not long into the election, as he has been seen taking cash donations directly form tea-baggers without ANY information being recorded. Nothing like a major violation of state and federal campaign finance laws to really screw up a campaign.
azw88….
OUCH!
-your friend,
Kral
Today the County Attorney indicted a judge who has been opposing him and the Sheriff.
What does that say about the situation in Maricopa County? Most reasonable people would consider that intimidation.
Appleblossom:
You oppose ‘em, you’re in trouble with the law… Hey, it worked for Stalin, didn’t it?
That works too, Josef Arpaio and Andropov Thomas.
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