The truth about Joe Arpaio

Over the last few months there has been strong support on ATS for the efforts of Joe Arpaio's birther posse and it's quest to prove Obama is not a US citizen.

I am under the belief that the vast majority of his supporters are not familiar with the depths of his corruption, intimidation, media manipulation, unconstitutional policies, reign of fear and paranoia in Maricopa County over the last 15 years.

I believe that this latest campaign to discredit the Obama presidency is nothing more then a smokescreen to divert attention from the federal investigation into his practices. A investigation that has been ongoing for almost 3 1/2 years.

This is not a thread to debate Obama's citizenship. It is to discuss the polices of a man that I believe is using the support of uninformed Americans to further his power and avoid prosecution.

The administration will go down in history as one of the most corrupt state political institutions in American history, along the lines of Tammany Hall and Los Angeles during the Water Wars.

It is such a tangled web I will break it into sections with links to the supporting news articles.

Unconstitutional Jail Conditions

Feds probe alleged abuse in county jail - August 31, 1995

One case that remains unresolved involves a detainee named Eric Johnson. According to reports in the daily press, a security camera inside the Madison Street Jail videotaped an incident in which a jailer and two other detention officers slammed Johnson against a wall and broke his arm. Johnson was being held on a traffic warrant. The video was aired on the CBS Evening News. According to the daily's account, when asked about whether he was aware of the incident, Arpaio replied, "No, I'm not, but so what? . . . I'm sure that my officers had a reason to slam him against the cellblock."

Jail inmate with 50 bullet fragments in arm waits months for treatment

But Horton has never gotten a chance to see the specialists. Instead, he has been shown Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jail system. Horton, 40, was shot by his former girlfriend while trying to enter her home. Now charged with assault and burglary, Horton doesn't deny committing a "stupid" offense. But he does wonder why he can't get medical treatment for his shattered hand. Three months after his arrest at a hospital on August 31, Horton has a left arm that is useless. "The last 12 weeks have been truly horrifying," Horton said in a jailhouse interview last week.

Keepin' em in stitches

Damon Dreckmeier's blood was coming out both ends of him, and it had been coming out for hours. Vomited blood ran out of his mouth, down his chin and over his neck; it stained the seat of his pants. A nauseating, numbing feeling began in his stomach and gradually spread through his body. He had lost so much blood his fingers became useless and his eyes lost their focus. Dreckmeier was dying. It was obvious to Dreckmeier. And it was obvious to his roommates. Yet none of them was able to get him medical attention. That's because Dreckmeier and his roommates were inmates in a Maricopa County jail, and despite their calls for help over a three-hour period the night of March 2, detention officers ignored them.

Judge calls maricopa county jail unconstitutional

"Sheriff Arpaio's horrendous treatment of detainees, especially those with severe medical and mental health problems, has caused terrible suffering for years," said Margaret Winter, Associate Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project. "Judge Wake's decision should serve as a reminder that even a man who brags about being the toughest sheriff in America has to abide by the Constitution."

Arapio's jail staff cost Ambrett Spender Her baby, and she's not the only one

By the time the ambulance arrived at the Maricopa County Hospital, Spencer had been in severe pain and without a doctor for almost four hours. Doctors delivered Ambria Renee Spencer, a 9-pound baby girl with a quarter-inch of thick hair on her head. Ambria was dead. Spencer's pain had been caused by internal bleeding -- a malady known as placental abruption. Babies often survive the condition, if their mothers go immediately to a hospital. The treatment is simple: immediate delivery. Otherwise, the baby dies from blood loss.

A prisoner was nearly beaten to death behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Was he set up by Sheriff Joe's henchman?

But after extensive interviews, reviews, and analysis of jail videotapes and the collection of hundreds of pages of internal jail documents regarding the beating, a more troubling question can be drawn: Was Jefferson Davis McGee placed in Pod 3-4-A by jail personnel so that he could be assaulted? Compounding the mystery surrounding McGee's beating are the jail security videotapes of the incident. Tapes obtained by New Times from Arpaio's office differ from tapes given to McGee's attorneys, who are suing the county and jail staff for negligence in McGee's beating. Both the attorney's and sheriff's tapes were obtained through public records requests. Indeed, a nationally respected forensic video specialist hired by New Times found that both the attorney's video tapes and the sheriff's tapes had been altered from their original forms.

Inmate deaths

Beaten, hanged, strangled and ignored these men and women lost their lives in sheriff joes custody

On March 26, 1996, Jose Rodriquez, 39, died in a pool of his own vomit on a jail floor. His cries for help went ignored by Arpaio's jail employees. Rodriquez's dehydration, fever and twitching ultimately led to his death, even while inmates shouted for help.

• On June 1, 1996, Scott Norberg, 35, suffocated in one of Arpaio's restraint chairs. Detention officers wrestled Norberg into the chair and bound his mouth with a towel. They continued to beat and Taser him after he was handcuffed, surveillance video and court documents show. His family later won an $8.25 million settlement against Arpaio.

Mentally retarded Charles Agster III, 33, was arrested for trespassing on August 6, 2001. Detention officers pulled a hood over his head and slammed him into a restraint chair. Agster was asphyxiated to the point that he became brain dead. He was pronounced legally dead three days later. In 2006, a federal court awarded $9 million to his family.

In 2003, Phillip Wilson was serving two months in Tent City for a nonviolent offense. Wilson was attacked by the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang and bludgeoned into a coma. He never recovered.

Deborah Braillard, 46, was documented as a diabetic in the jail's health records. Her cellmates say a nurse did not give Braillard insulin, and then detention officers ignored her when she went into diabetic shock. Braillard died on January 23, 2005, ultimately from lack of insulin.

continued

Legally blind and serving a short sentence in Tent City for shoplifting, Brian Crenshaw, 40, was transferred to solitary confinement after a tussle with Arpaio's detention officers. Six days later, he was found comatose in his solitary cell with a broken neck, ruptured intestines, broken toes, and severe internal injuries. Arpaio maintains Crenshaw sustained the injuries when he fell off his four-foot bed. Crenshaw died on March 14, 2005.

In December 2005, Clint Yarbrough suffocated in a jail restraint chair. On April 18, 2007, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved an undisclosed settlement payout to Yarbrough's family in excess of $1 million.

Months before Thomas Bruce Cooley, 44, was found hanging by the bed sheets in his jail cell, a federal inspector had warned Arpaio that the jail psych ward was a suicide waiting to happen. A 1996 Department of Justice report specifically cautioned that inmates could use "overhanging structures" to hang themselves.

Jailers show a parapalegic who's boss

Richard Post was taken to jail in his wheelchair for mouthing off in a bar. Joe Arpaio's detention officers saw him as such a threat, they strapped him into a medieval restraint chair--and broke his neck.

There are more deaths but these are the ones that have gotten the most media attention.

Racial Profiling

Zip-tied at 12

Not content with having a legal permanent resident in custody, the deputies zip-tied Gaucin's sons' hands behind his back and made him sit next to his dad. The boy said the deputies were wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles. One man had what Fili Senior describes as a bazooka.

Are your papers in order?

For more Joe Arpaio's abuses of power, see our special report section. Elaine drove the van into her backyard. After banging on the back door and screaming for her own mother, she was wrestled to the ground by the sheriff's men. Sanchez's boys emerged from their home to find their mother flat in the dirt with a deputy's knee in her back as she was roughly handcuffed. The light over her license plate was out.

We were racially profiled by the MCSO

A scathing U.S. Justice Department report released Thursday found that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office carried out a blatant pattern of discrimination against Latinos and held a "systematic disregard" for the Constitution amid a series of immigration crackdowns that have turned the lawman into a prominent national political figure. Arpaio struck a defiant tone in response to the report, calling it a politically motivated attack by the Obama administration that will make Arizona unsafe by keeping illegal immigrants on the street. Read more: www.abc15.com...

Arpaio claiming its an honor to be compared to the KKK


Sheriff Joe Arpaio Admits He Busted Mexicans to "Spite" Critics in 2009 Recording; Evidence Shows He Also Did It for Publicity, Not Legit Enforcement

After critics including local politicians and officials with the U.S. Justice Department "went after me, we arrested 500 more just for spite," said Arpaio. A couple of days ago, he clarified for the Associated Press that he only regretted not mentioning that he had busted "thousands," and not just 500. Arpaio has been accused of leading the worst case of racial profiling in a law enforcement agency in U.S. history. The Justice Department, which announced the damning findings against the Sheriff's Office in December, appears ready to sue Arpaio for failing to cooperate in settling the matter.

continued

intimidation, arrest and harassment of political opponents and journalists

Everything listed above is a terrible abuse of his power but the scariest abuse to me is what he has done to silence his critics and prevent first amendment rights.

information blockade

Maricopa County law enforcement violated the constitutional rights of this newspaper and its readers in October, going so far as to subpoena the identities of anyone who'd looked at New Times online in the past four years. When the paper's leaders revealed the apparent grand jury probe on our cover, they were arrested. It wasn't much of a leap for Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas to go after a publication that's uncovered abuses in their offices for years. They'd already proven themselves adept at trampling the rights of prisoners, political enemies, and Mexican migrants. Arpaio sought criminal prosecution of New Times for publishing his address in 2004 as part of our investigation of his commercial real estate transactions, and Thomas responded by appointing a special prosecutor who subpoenaed not only the records and e-mails of the paper's writers and editors, but information on the Internet-viewing habits of our readers.

New Times files a prelude to a lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio

New Times submitted a formal Notice of Claim on Wednesday, February 20, against the public officials responsible for a fiasco in October that saw the attempted trampling of the First Amendment rights of this newspaper and its readers, and culminated in the jailing of its founders, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin

Earlier in the day on which Lacey and Larkin were arrested at their homes and bundled off to jail, County Attorney Andrew Thomas' handpicked special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik essentially demanded that New Times be bankrupted. Wilenchik had asked Superior Court Judge Anna Baca to impose crushing fines against the paper for daring to publish an October 18 story ("Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution") about his grand jury subpoenas seeking vast, detailed information about New Times' readers. For this misdemeanor, Wilenchik not only wanted the story's authors, Lacey and Larkin, and their lawyers arrested, he wanted Baca to assess fines of $10,000 for every hour that New Times refused to take the grand jury story off newspaper racks and the Internet. In the course of a year, the fines would have totaled about $90 million.

Arizona sheriff ups the ante against his foes

But he has escalated his tactics in recent months, not only defying the federal government but launching repeated investigations of those who criticize him. He recently filed a racketeering lawsuit against the entire Maricopa County power structure. On Thursday night, the Arizona Court of Appeals issued an emergency order forbidding the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office from searching the home or chambers of a Superior Court judge who was named in the racketeering case. Last year, when Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon called for a federal investigation of Arpaio's immigration enforcement, the Sheriff's Office demanded to see Gordon's e-mails, phone logs and appointment calendars. When the police chief in one suburb complained about the sweeps, Arpaio's deputies raided that town's City Hall.

It all sounds rather Terrible. I know Vegas holding in Nevada is sort of cruel, not nearly enough room for the fellow "dumbases" I had to be sat next to awake handcuffed on a metal bench for 72 hours.

My question is this, where's the Badguy? Is Joe's argument legit that our pres is not qualified to be in the position, does he have legit rights to that argument? Or is Joe, a criminal with legal authority, or is it a mix of 2 Criminal types fighting each other?

I see and hear too much on this site to know where the propaganda begins and the truth ends...

The MCSO Retaliates Against a Guadalupe Activist

Robles — who was named Best Guadalupe Activist in last month's New Times Best of Phoenix issue for his tireless efforts to combat violence and protest the sheriff inside and outside his town — has gotten the worst of it. Likely because he's been dogging sheriff's deputies with his camera 24/7 (an activity that's constitutionally protected, I might add). Not long after Robles began committing MCSO patrols to tape, he was stopped late at night by two deputies in a marked car. Robles was walking home along the canal from Carl's Jr. The deputies asked to see his identification. "I told them, 'I know my rights,'" Robles says. "'But this time,' I said, 'I will let you see it.'" The deputies claimed they were asking for the IDs of everyone walking along the canal. Once they saw Robles' identification, they asked him if he worked for New Times and mentioned they had seen him covered in the paper recently. "They just kept asking me over and over again, like three times, if I worked with New Times," Robles says. "I kept telling them no, that what I do, I do for Guadalupe."

Critics call Arpaio aggressive, intimidating

There's no such thing as 'abuse of power' - there's no law against that," Arpaio said.

They express worries, sometimes half-joking, sometimes not, about the sheriff tapping their phones, bugging their offices and having them followed in unmarked surveillance cars. "Anyone who raises an issue is subject to phone calls from senior officials in his department, advising them that that's not a wise thing to do," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, a Democrat and outspoken Arpaio critic, said. "If they continue comments that the sheriff doesn't agree with, people find themselves under criminal investigation or buried with Freedom of Information Act requests that would cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars." Read more: www.azcentral.com...

Arpaio Faces a New Sheriff in Town

“I’m glad the Department of Justice finally took off the gloves,” former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a moderate Republican and Vietnam veteran who first clashed with Arpaio when he decided to investigate and prosecute a wrongful death of an inmate in the jail, told The Daily Beast. Arpaio “would have me followed,” Romley said, and the sheriff’s office filed bar complaints against him, which were subsequently dismissed. Then Arpaio poured “about three quarters of a million dollars” into successfully fighting Romley’s reelection. It’s a common practice, Romley said, for the sheriff to do “anything to intimidate” critics.

What I have listed here only scratches the surface of the corruption in Arizona. There are hundreds of more examples and I didn't even include all the accusations of embezzling county funds his agency has been accused of.

I hope that this will enlighten some members on who they are praising. This man needs to be held responsible for what he has done and does not deserve anyone's support.

reply to post by matthewgraybeal


Like i said in the opening post, I believe that is of no consequence to Arpaio if Obama is legit or not. He is a master at public perception. He is doing this "investigation" using tax payer money (which he has admitted to) to deflect from the hundreds if not thousands of claims against him. I want members to be aware of who they are supporting.

Arpaio using deputy to help in Obama birth investigation

"It's one deputy, so what? We have security issues, too, that I can't get into," Arpaio said on Friday. "For six months, we were not spending any money. When you're doing investigations, sometimes things change, you put more resources into it."

Arpaio is gonna end up in a pink bikini in a fema camp prison cell. Or beside Breitbart. Or just indefinately detained somewhere else without trial, OR he is just trying to get re elected because everyone knows the birth certificate is fake, but not like anyone is going to do anything about it, especially since the media has alot of people thinking Romney has won the nomination. which he wont.

Unfortunately this will be ignored by the people who need to see this. For the most part members of ATS have identified their heroes and villains and they will not allow these designations to be changed. It is frustrating though that so any see Arpaio as a knight in shining armor when he is nothing more than a power hungry fascist.

reply to post by Xcalibur254


Thats probably true unfortunately. I just got kinda sick of people praising this man as a great American with doing zero research into what he really represents.

Sorry to bust in as an Arpaio supporter but the man is much supported here in MARICOPA county Arizona. You wanna dig up dirt on him have at it. But be fair and dig up dirt on ALL law enforcement agencies and see how Joe ranks. Sometimes it takes the devil to go after the drug lords, human traffickers, illegals and other scum who wish to infest MARICOPA county with crime. The man has more guts standing his ground to the Feds and not being a lapdog pushover. I like his motto, if you don't like it in tent city, then don't commit crimes in MARICOPA county. Nuff said.

Originally posted by solarstorm
Sorry to bust in as an Arpaio supporter but the man is much supported here in MARICOPA county Arizona. You wanna dig up dirt on him have at it. But be fair and dig up dirt on ALL law enforcement agencies and see how Joe ranks. Sometimes it takes the devil to go after the drug lords, human traffickers, illegals and other scum who wish to infest MARICOPA county with crime. The man has more guts standing his ground to the Feds and not being a lapdog pushover. I like his motto, if you don't like it in tent city, then don't commit crimes in MARICOPA county. Nuff said.

Joe is a scumbag that used to work with the drug lords. Here's a pic he can use on his next reelection poster.

reply to post by solarstorm



His jail conditions are bad there is no denying that butI don't think that's even the number one issue. He has wrongly arrested many lawful citizens. This includes journalists and other elected officials who have questioned his practices. He has become so powerful he cannot be stopped. If you try you'll end up getting a visit from his posse.

He has zero regard for the constitution, he is out of control and that cannot be denied.

I don't think you can find a county offical as corrupt as him. His policies have cost taxpayers 50 million in unlawful death suits alone, not even counting his misappropriation of state and federal funds.

This isn't just one or two incidents, it's hundreds of examples of abuse of power and obstruction of justice over a 15 year period.

Are you willing to ignore that because you think Obama isn't a us citizen. Is it that good of a smokescreen?

Facts we know about Joe Arpaio

1. Crazy Joe is Anti-Constitution
2. Crazy Joe is associated with white nationalist groups
3. Crazy Joe is a Civil Rights Violater.
4. Crazy Joe is not a document expert or Adobe expert.

Originally posted by BlueStatePatriot
Facts we know about Joe Arpaio

1. Crazy Joe is Anti-Constitution
2. Crazy Joe is associated with white nationalist groups
3. Crazy Joe is a Civil Rights Violater.
4. Crazy Joe is not a document expert or Adobe expert.

Hey those are the facts we know about Obama.

1. Crazy Obama is Anti-Constitution
2. Crazy Obama is a Black Racist
3. Crazy Obama is a Civil Rights Violater.
4. Crazy Obama is not a document expert or Adobe expert.

See? it fits. Very well actually.

Originally posted by Shadowalker

Originally posted by BlueStatePatriot
Facts we know about Joe Arpaio

1. Crazy Joe is Anti-Constitution
2. Crazy Joe is associated with white nationalist groups
3. Crazy Joe is a Civil Rights Violater.
4. Crazy Joe is not a document expert or Adobe expert.

Hey those are the facts we know about Obama.

1. Crazy Obama is Anti-Constitution
2. Crazy Obama is a Black Racist
3. Crazy Obama is a Civil Rights Violater.
4. Crazy Obama is not a document expert or Adobe expert.

See? it fits. Very well actually.

One has nothing to do with the other.

None of those facts are going to convince the Arpaio supporters to stop supporting him or the Birther bots to change their mind and stop supporting him either.

Good job with the facts though.

Originally posted by solarstorm
Sorry to bust in as an Arpaio supporter but the man is much supported here in MARICOPA county Arizona.

Please give a brief description of the type of Maricopa County citizen that supports Sheriff Joe.

Here - let me help you out with Arizona politics.


Arizona's Failed Leadership: www.dailykos.com...

Originally posted by Annee

Originally posted by solarstorm
Sorry to bust in as an Arpaio supporter but the man is much supported here in MARICOPA county Arizona.

Please give a brief description of the type of Maricopa County citizen that supports Sheriff Joe.

Here - let me help you out with Arizona politics.


Arizona's Failed Leadership: www.dailykos.com...

edit on 24-5-2012 by Annee because: (no reason given)

When I lived in Arizona his supporters were mostly older retirees. He uses fear and PR to convince them that without him Arizona would be overrun with brown criminals eventhough the crime rate has not gone down during his tenure. Not to mention he is avoiding prOsecuting actual crimes.

Originally posted by drock905

Originally posted by Annee

Originally posted by solarstorm
Sorry to bust in as an Arpaio supporter but the man is much supported here in MARICOPA county Arizona.

Please give a brief description of the type of Maricopa County citizen that supports Sheriff Joe.

Here - let me help you out with Arizona politics.


Arizona's Failed Leadership: www.dailykos.com...

When I lived in Arizona his supporters were mostly older retirees. He uses fear and PR to convince them that without him Arizona would be overrun with brown criminals even though the crime rate has not gone down during his tenure. Not to mention he is avoiding prosecuting actual crimes.

Pretty much.

His loyal followers are just like him.

Originally posted by Annee

Originally posted by drock905

Originally posted by Annee

Originally posted by solarstorm
Sorry to bust in as an Arpaio supporter but the man is much supported here in MARICOPA county Arizona.

Please give a brief description of the type of Maricopa County citizen that supports Sheriff Joe.

Here - let me help you out with Arizona politics.


Arizona's Failed Leadership: www.dailykos.com...

When I lived in Arizona his supporters were mostly older retirees. He uses fear and PR to convince them that without him Arizona would be overrun with brown criminals even though the crime rate has not gone down during his tenure. Not to mention he is avoiding prosecuting actual crimes.

Pretty much.

His loyal followers are just like him.

Old and backwards thinking?
2nd line.