BrodyBlog

As Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Celebrates 76th Birthday, Furor, Lawsuits, and Elections Loom

By Brody Andrew Mulligan

MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ -- MANY hours before the sun rose here, coordinated in no small part to catch the eye of the press just a day before Father's Day, in an operation code-named "Operation Daddy Dearest," sheriff's deputies fanned out across the county, arresting approximately 70 so called "dead-beat" parents--those who are behind or delinquent on court ordered child support payments, according to an article published in The Arizona Republic.

While some offenders owed several thousand dollars worth of child support payments, others were reported to have been behind on lesser amounts--arresting such offenders, while within the law--may do more harm than good.

Partly because people in jail are unable to work, further complicating their economic stability in an economy that has seen better days, and in no small part considering the costs of housing inmates in county jails--financed by taxpayers--questions have been raised concerning the viability and integrity of the sweep.

While most agree the issue of proper payment of child support is important and lawful, the imprisonment of those who have failed to due so, in lieu of liens, levies against assets, wage garnishments, and bank account seizures, the economic and social cost of such an action in a jurisdiction burdened with more than a one-million-dollar-deficit has rattled the saber in this dry, developing county that seats the city of Phoenix.

Pro rata, Sheriff Arpaio's office is the named defendant in more more civil lawsuits than any other law enforcement office in the United States (approximately 2,500), including an ongoing legal battle which is expected to reach the State Supreme Court regarding Sheriff Arpaio's limitation of visiting hours for attorneys and other personnel for inmates housed in county facilities; a majority of such inmates have not been formally arraigned and are awaiting their first court appearance.

In the federal arena, another ongoing legal battle has Arpaio starkly front-and-center: The County of Maricopa, Arizona, led by attorney Dennis Wilenchik, in defending a class action wrongful death suit, Hart vs. Arpaio, has attempted to separate the County itself from Arpaio, in an unsuccessful argument brought before United States District Court. County Attorneys sought to continue a delay in the case which is purported to have lain dormant on a docket for three years before a judge recused himself from the case, allowing a new judge to continue considering motions brought forward by plaintiffs, civil rights activists, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The case is unique in that the named plaintiffs have not been convicted of any crime--they are simply being held awaiting bond hearings, arraignments, hearings, and other legal motions.

Many, if not most of the plaintiffs are deceased.

Arpaio has been both hailed and condemned for tough-on-crime tactics that include the re-institution of chain gangs, outdoor housing to deal with jail overcrowding, and burials of indigents by inmates. Many grassroots organizations have protested the availability of healthcare, mental health services, and policies and procedures of the Sheriff's Department that may have led to the early deaths of several inmates in the last decade.

Mothers Against Arpaio, a coalition of women who have staged protests and rallies outside jails, courthouses, and other government offices--often enraging Arpaio, who reportedly barges past the protestors "red faced," continue their efforts to remove Arpaio from public office.

Once a touted member of the local Republican Party, which is loosing ground among newly registered voters identifying themselves with the Democratic Party, mirroring a nationwide trend among newly registered voters as the widely contested Democratic Primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama brought thousands of new voters into the fray, Arpaio has failed to secure once solid endorsements from members within his own party as he prepares to run for re-election.

Plagued by debts from legal fees, hit by the rising cost of fuel, energy, food prices, and dealt a serious blow from the Governor's office when Gov. Janet Napolitano ordered a diversion of $1.6 million dollars in state funds from Arpaio's ambitious illegal immigration crackdown, Arpaio's office faces an unprecedented budget deficit this coming fiscal year.

Undeterred by death threats, a barrage of negative publicity, Arpaio vows to continue fighting for the law, those who elected him--and those who haven't--and re-election to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in November.

Speaking in 2002 to the New York Times regarding death threats against him and his family, Arpaio said "It only takes one time to die," politically, so goes the same.