Showing posts with label Randy Parraz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Randy Parraz. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

America’s toughest Sheriff Arizona’s Joe Arpaio…not so tough anymore?

Joe Arpaio: The people elected me
For two decades one of the biggest foes of illegal immigrants in the Grand Canyon State may be ending his law enforcement career with a whimper.  Along with his best buddy, former State Sen. Russell Pearce, he could also be voted out of office in November.  Pearce was dumped due to his radical views on immigration, and the same issue could be Arpaio’s undoing.  But the Sheriff is taking his regular arrogant stand indicating the people put him in office.

That arrogance could easily be shoved down his throat in the 2012 election if the “people” decide they are fed up with him too.  But Randy Parraz, the community activist responsible for getting rid of Pearce says, “The groundswell of people coming out protesting, we haven’t seen.  Anywhere else with this kind of stuff, he wouldn’t survive.  So true!  In Arizona they love their conservatives who, for the most part can do no harm.  But they did finally get fed up with Russell Pearce.

Arpaio will do anything for publicity.  Along with his immigration sweeps, he recently appointed a special volunteer cold-case posse to investigate Barack Obama’s birth certificate…AGAIN.  The Sheriff then reported that they had found probable cause to believe that the long-form birth certificate released by the White House last April was a computer-generated forgery.  Randy Parraz commented, “He retaliates against his critics.”


Sheriff Arpaio's Tent city

The group Citizens for a Better Arizona has been working against Sheriff Joe for some time now and recently asked former high-ranking officials from the state and local level about their impressions of Arpaio.  They are former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.  They came up with the following assessment:

“The men say their goal was to remove the politics and talk facts. They see those facts as years of the sheriff's abuse of power that have caused the state and city of Phoenix time and money and hurt its reputation.”  The $ figure is $300 million.  The damage to Arizona’s reputation is well known from the ridicule it has taken nation-wide.

Arpaio’s supporters have continued toppling since Russell Pearce. 

The latest is former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas who was disbarred April 10, “…for engaging in unethical conduct to intimidate and smear his and Arpaio’s political adversaries.”  A salon article reports that “…a three-member Arizona state Supreme Court disciplinary panel supporting the disbarment ruling also concluded there was ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that Thomas had violated federal civil rights laws.”


Arpaio and Andrew Thomas

The Salon piece continues, “While Thomas, a Republican, has not been criminally charged, the opinion made it crystal clear that his unethical and allegedly illegal conduct was the result of his ‘unholy collaboration’ with Arpaio, also a Republican, to use their law enforcement powers to retaliate against critics.” This is powerful stuff for the Sheriff’s November opponents to take to the election but still may not convince some of his fanatical followers
 
However, there’s more.  Salon continues, “The Supreme Court panel’s opinion stated that evidence indicated Arpaio had conspired with Thomas and Aubuchon to file the charges against the judge and two supervisors.”  Lisa Aubuchon is a former assistant prosecutor for Thomas who was also disbarred.  Still not enough?  Well, former Governor and current Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has also withdrawn her support.

The Young Turks on Sheriff Arpaio:
One of the worst accusations against Arpaio is his department’s handling of more than 400 sex-crimes cases.  The New York Times reports, “His deputies failed to investigate or conducted only the sketchiest of inquiries into hundreds of sex crimes between 2005 and 2007, investigations by Arizona law enforcement agencies have shown. Many of those cases involved molested children.”  Arpaio responded, “If there were any victims, I apologize to those victims.”  “If”???  

Also important and certainly not forgotten is the demise and ultimate firing of the Sheriff’s longtime chief deputy David Hendershott who was a part of Arpaio’s campaign finance scandal which is yet another federal criminal investigation.  Arpaio is also being investigated by the feds for civil rights violations.  According to the Overthrow Arpaio movement, “Hundreds of current sheriff's office employees have expressed a vote of no confidence in Sheriff Arpaio.”

But there is one thing sheriff Joe Arpaio should be commended for and that is his devotion to helping animals through his no-kill shelter MASH, the old Maricopa County First Avenue Jail converted to an animal shelter which is air conditioned.  It has been confirmed that the deputies’ care of these misplaced pets is great.  But is that enough to get America’s toughest Sheriff reelected?  The “people” will decide in November.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Arizona’s fake governor Jan Brewer extends her dictatorship

Arizona tourism
For those of you who don’t live in the state of Arizona, let me recommend that you make a visit as soon as possible, in part to enjoy the wonderful weather and surroundings while most of the rest of the country fights the cold including snow and sleet.  It’s Florida without the humidity, and, although we don’t have an ocean, there are plenty of great lakes and water parks.  We know how to cater to our valued tourist here; we just don’t know how to run a civilized state.  At least the conservative extremists in control don’t.

The other reason you should come here is to witness the most bizarre politics in the nation, leaving with the absolute certification that you are much better off where you live; unless, of course, you are also a fanatical conservative.  In that case you might want to consider a move to the Sunshine State.  Arizona is a wonderful place to live if you are apathetic about the political scene, willing to have a legislative asylum make your laws. 

Or…if you are a progressive that sincerely wants to change the present state government and make it a decent place to live for all political persuasions.

Colleen Mathis "perplexed"
In the latest development, the counterfeit governor Jan Brewer has decided to fly in the face of voters again—she already did recently by halting a medical marijuana bill passed by the people of Arizona—and fire Colleen Mathis, the Independent head of the redistricting commission simply because the maps don’t favor Republicans as much as she and the GOP wanted.  Her decision was challenged in the state’s Supreme Court and was struck down.

Arizona’s attorney provoked the court when she told them that Brewer did, in fact, have the right to fire Mathis.  Further, that the state’s top tyrant could even fire Mathis if she didn’t like her hairstyle, and the Court couldn’t do a thing about it.  Well, they did, and reinstated Mathis as the Independent Chair, telling them to go on about their business of redistricting.  One former Justice commented on how blatantly Brewer’s act was refuting the voter’s wishes.



With this kind of reasoning, this wacko could keep firing people until she got what she wanted, tying up the redistricting process for months.  Brewer even admitted she wanted to fire the two Democrats on the panel, but the State Senate wouldn’t let her, obviously, when someone decided that was just going too far.  The make-believe Gov. let us know how disappointed she was and added her decision was made “only after much deliberation.”  Like she took 5 minutes away from her book tour in New York to approve something prepared by her inept staff.

The Arizona Redistricting Commission, enacted in 2000 by voters to eliminate tampering by lawmakers to gerrymander their own districts, consists of 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans and 1 Independent.  The way the current draft maps are drawn, Republican Reps. David Schweikert and Ben Quayle would be forced to fight it out now for the same district.  Rep. Paul Gosar, also a Republican,  would find himself in a less GOP-friendly district.  Poor babies.  Imagine having to do it the right way instead of the prejudiced conservative way. But this isn’t the end of the story.

Arizona’s pseudo governor is now considering firing Mathis all over again.  Brewer’s demented staff says, ‘we got the letter wrong,’ which is understandable considering this group of double-digit IQs, claiming the Court agreed when it said she, “…did not lay out a constitutionally valid argument in her dismissal of Mathis.  So maybe she will say she doesn’t like the way Mathis does her hair, or the shoes she wears, or the kind of car she drives.  Anything is possible with this blockhead.

With any luck, the redistricting panel will quickly get their act together and finalize the maps in a legal and ethical procedure.  If the phony governor still attacks the outcome, then, hopefully, we can talk Randy Parraz into holding off long enough on Joe Arpaio to impeach Jan Brewer first.




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