By DEXTER DUGGAN
PHOENIX — Donald Trump and one of his early nationally known supporters, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, both were blasted by dominant media as racist bullies.
The liberal propaganda tactic didn’t work sufficiently against President-elect Trump, who was subjected to it since 2015. On Election Day it finally worked against 84-year-old Arpaio, seeking his seventh straight term as sheriff, who had been targeted by media hammering for a decade or longer.
That, plus a carefully timed assault against Arpaio by the open-borders Obama administration to bring the veteran sheriff into court for criminal contempt in December.
And also multibillionaire left-wing globalist George Soros pouring in $2 million against Arpaio’s re-election.
Arpaio first was elected sheriff in 1992, before massive illegal immigration was an issue. He proceeded to bring some continuity to an office that had been filled by six different sheriffs since 1968.
In 2010, after then-Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law to resist the illegal-immigrant invasion of the Grand Canyon State, the Obama administration sued the state. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently trimmed away much of the law. Arpaio was a strong supporter of the law, but Barack Obama already had his glaring gaze on the high-profile sheriff, too.
Voters no doubt had various reasons to turn out Arpaio this year, including thinking he had served long enough at age 84, even though Arpaio appeared as vigorous as a considerably younger man. An aide in his 50s told me a few years ago that he had trouble keeping up with the sheriff’s fast pace.
However, Arpaio long had been out of favor with Arizona’s formidable backroom establishment that seethed at his opposition to massive illegal immigration. One day they’ll answer for intentionally smearing Arpaio to make many Hispanics mistakenly regard him as a racist.
The Catholic Arpaio has far more Hispanics working with him on his staff at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office than Arizona’s open-borders elite have in their restricted eyries.
Every Wall Street magnate and media powerhouse in a New York headquarters who fought against Trump had an Arizona equivalent against Arpaio in Phoenix, including the deeply skewed Arizona Republic, the state’s largest daily, which endorsed Hillary Clinton for president as it continued moving further left.
Shortly before Arizona’s August 30 primary election, a longtime Arpaio foe, the strongly biased federal judge G. Murray Snow, referred Arpaio for criminal contempt proceedings for violating Snow’s contrived immigration orders.
Snow’s timing didn’t work so well. Arpaio still romped to victory against three GOP opponents.
But shortly before the November general election, Obama’s Department of Justice said it would move ahead with this criminal case. A conviction could mean a six-month jail sentence. Arpaio soundly lost the November election to Democrat Paul Penzone.
Ironically, speculation had it that a faithful Trump campaign supporter like Arpaio could win a job with the Trump administration. If the sheriff is convicted in an obviously politically motivated prosecution, might Trump see the need to extend a pardon?
The publicity-loving Arpaio is the first to admit he has a big ego — but it’s not like narcissistic Obama’s. Arpaio’s personality doesn’t appear aloof or arrogant. He has remained approachable and chatty even with strangers.
He showed up at the Republican headquarters here in Phoenix on November 5, a few days before the election, while a packed meeting room awaited a talk by Trump surrogate Ben Carson, MD, whose plane was delayed.
The people applauded and cheered Arpaio and went up to take photos with him. He spoke extemporaneously then bantered and took questions for more than 45 minutes. He said he’d lived in Mexico while working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and “Mexico’s a great country.”
One woman in the audience said she’s a first-generation immigrant but doesn’t think enforcing border law is wrong. “Illegal immigration has nothing to do with racism.” The gathering applauded.
When Arpaio mentioned the name of globalist multibillionaire Soros, people booed. The sheriff said the left-wing financier had put millions of dollars into the campaign against him. “You know what I tell Soros? You’re wasting your money.”
Another time when I viewed Arpaio personally was at an interfaith pro-life conference in suburban Phoenix in March 2015. Arpaio pointed out, as he often did, that both his parents came from Italy, but they were legal immigrants.
He spoke casually from the lectern as if chatting with neighbors and said he worried about pro-lifers’ safety because of “kooks out there,” adding that he’s very familiar with getting threats.
The sheriff encouraged the pro-lifers to keep up their efforts. “Just have to keep working hard, spreading the word. . . . Very sad on the abortion issue. Very sad.”
Back in January 2012, I had simply walked up unannounced to Arpaio to ask for an interview as he chatted outside the hall where Maricopa County GOP precinct committeemen were holding their annual meeting. I’d seen Arpaio at previous GOP events I covered for The Wanderer, but never had gone over to introduce myself before.
Arpaio certainly didn’t need me to make him famous, but he didn’t assume any self-important air or say he was just too busy. Instead, he agreeably chatted with me for 45 minutes then asked if there was anything else he could help me with.
Back then, when I asked about Arpaio’s future in public office, he replied, “The bottom line, they want to get rid of me because of the illegal immigration (issue). . . . Why don’t all these politicians ask my advice on the border?…You know why? They don’t like the answer.”
Such accessibility and actual modesty, despite his ego, would disprove anyone wanting to characterize Arpaio as a racist blowhard.
The Wanderer asked four people for reaction to Arpaio’s loss.
Constantin Querard, an Arizona conservative GOP consultant, said: “I think so many years of negative coverage and the Department of Justice indictment just as ballots were going out certainly hurt him. And his campaign never really featured all of the success he’s had in fighting crime, which I think is what voters lost track of over the years.”
As for the possibility of a job with Trump, Querard said, “I don’t think he’ll end up in the administration. I think he’ll probably take care of Ava and enjoy his retirement!” Ava is Arpaio’s wife of nearly 60 years, suffering ill health.
Rob Haney, a Catholic and retired chairman of the Maricopa County GOP, said: “Arpaio lost because of the savage, corrupt, deceitful, and unethical actions of the Democrat Party, abetted by left-wing Republicans who wanted Arpaio out because he was outspoken with words and actions in opposition to the illegal-alien invasion. We are witnessing their tactics in the domestic terrorist riots now occurring across the country because of Trump’s victory.
“We have observed their ‘rules for radicals’ methods for decades as they attacked Arpaio with daily protests in front of his office, disrupted our peaceful political rallies, vandalized cars that carried a conservative bumper sticker, refused to let conservatives speak at universities, corrupted the judicial system, and took over news networks as well as communication organizations such as Twitter, Facebook and Google,” Haney continued.
Haney proceeded to list a number of Arizona figures who either attacked Arpaio or “whose silence was deafening,” including Arizona U.S. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake as well as the construction, farming, restaurant, and hotel industries and chambers of commerce that favor border-crossing labor, in addition to media members and religious organizations.
There also were Obama and his Department of Justice, Haney said, adding that “John McCain’s ally George Soros kicked in $2 million in political ad attacks. I do not know anyone who could have withstood these attacks. The diabolical left does not quit until they control society and destroy all opposition. . . .
“Because of Arpaio’s age and high profile as a target for the left, I do not believe Trump would select him for a cabinet post. I believe he will probably be appointed as special counsel for border security or something of a similar nature,” Haney said.
Larry Hillmert, a Catholic and longtime Phoenix resident who moved from Chicago, told The Wanderer that he admired Arpaio “when I saw him walking downtown at lunch time and having immigration activists boo him and call him names, and he took it without acrimony” or making his own comments, but walked along smiling.
“I have mixed feelings from the public standpoint,” Hillmert said. “It was a loss because the things he was doing was what most of the public wanted him to do, and it was a shame to lose his office basically because of persecution by the federal government. On the other hand, I’m happy for his sake, at his age, he didn’t need persecution and problems that came with the office. . . .
“Personally, he was a well-balanced, nice person who didn’t hate anyone, but was firm in following what he thought was right,” Hillmert said.
Barbara Simpson
Praises Arpaio
Veteran California commentator Barbara Simpson, also a Catholic, submitted her comments to The Wanderer by email in column form. Simpson repeatedly interviewed Arpaio on her San Francisco radio program. The rest of this article, below, is Simpson’s column:
Shame on you, Arizona, for punishing a good man because he was being railroaded by your own government and millions in outside money.
I’ve never donated to any political campaign, but this year I broke my own rule and twice sent a modest donation to Joe. There was no way I could impact his campaign but I wanted to be a part of his fight for right.
I never met him in person but he was a guest on my San Francisco talk-radio program many times. I was impressed with his law-enforcement experience and his dedication to the ideal of law enforcement and keeping a safe community for all citizens. He’s a logical thinker and straight shooter.
His is a classic example of when the powers that be — read that government, from the White House on down — pulls out all the stops to get rid of someone they perceive as an impediment to their plans for power.
Arpaio, known as “America’s toughest sheriff,” is known for his crackdown on lawbreakers and for enforcing Arizona’s law regarding illegal aliens. Given the influence of Hispanics in the state and the enormous problem with illegals, Arpaio became the perfect target for pro-immigration factions.
The government targeted him for legal issues — claiming he profiled Hispanics, and then a judge charged him with contempt for allegedly disobeying a court order. All this while running for re-election.
Then add the money clout of George Soros, who spent $2 million to defeat Joe. Add to that $500,000 from Laura and John Arnold, Texas billionaires, and $250,000 from Steve Jobs’ widow. It makes you wonder what they were afraid of.
Arizonans were drowning in anti-Arpaio bilge.
They may have succeeded in getting Joe out of office for now — but he still faces the long arm of the law via the federal government no less, being charged with breaking the law by following the law.
Residents of Arizona should want law-enforcement authorities to get the bad guys, and keep the illegal aliens out of the country. People here illegally are ipso facto illegal aliens, and are breaking the law.
We’re on the road to anarchy with the Justice Department under Obama seeking to destroy a good man, but they won’t break his spirit. We haven’t seen the end of Joe Arpaio, and that’s a good thing.
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