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'The Most Expensive Sheriff in America' Getting More Expensive


Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (left) enlisted actor Steven Seagal (right) to train volunteer armed posse members to defend Phoenix-area schools against gunmen in February 2013.
(Darryl Webb/Reuters)

Another multi-million-dollar bill comes due this year for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's reckless antics in Maricopa County, Arizona. And that's why more taxpayers may finally be asking: Who keeps voting for this guy, anyway?

Andrew Cohen
Jan 8 2014, 9:18 AM ET

It's another year in paradise for the taxpayers of Maricopa County, Arizona, home of America's most famous sheriff, Joe Arpaio. On New Year's Day, The Arizona Republic reported [ http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20131226mcso-reforms-cost-millions.html ] that Sheriff Joe's unconstitutional antics over the years—the systemic racial profiling chronicled so meticulously last May [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/federal-judge-chronicles-lawlessness-of-joe-arpaio-led-sheriffs-office/276150/ ] by a federal judge, for example—has cost his constituents another $21.9 million. That's on top of the tens of millions in other legal fees and penalties [ http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/your-tax-dollars-being-spent-to-fight-sheriff-joe-arpaio%E2%80%99s-lawsuits ] Arpaio already has cost the good people of his county during his 22-year reign there. From The Republic:

The $21.9 million estimate includes several big-ticket items:

Salaries and employee benefits to launch a seven-member unit to implement changes recommended by the court order, plus five vehicles, six computers, supplies and fuel for the unit.

An electronic data-entry system, cameras for all patrol vehicles, and training for deputies to use the system to input data detailing the reasons for and lengths of their traffic stops.

Salaries and benefits for enough new supervisors to assure “effective supervision” for patrol deputies. No more than 12 deputies will be assigned to each supervisor, per the court order. The county will pay for seven additional sergeants, three additional deputies, and all their equipment, stun guns and radios.

After fiscal 2015, additional changes ordered by the court will cost an estimated $10 million annually, mainly in salaries, benefits and overtime hours for additional staff.

In other words, as The Republic reports, by consistently [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/06/with-local-probes-roiling-sheriff-joe-arpaio-settles-with-feds/239863/ ] and flagrantly [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/20/1264333/-Sheriff-Joe-Arpaio-Loses-Lawsuit-3-75Million-Settlement ] violating the constitutional rights of his constituents, Arpaio has brought upon those constituents a level of federal oversight that is entirely unnecessary for hundreds of other sheriffs in Arizona and elsewhere. Sheriff Joe rails against this federal intrusion upon his county's autonomy-- a court-ordered monitor now is at hand [ http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20130816sheriff-arpaio-aclu-monitor-profiling-case-abrk.html ]-- even as his colleagues in office scramble to comply with their legal obligations. He plays the victim—the embattled symbol of sensible enforcement—while the people he is supposed to protect are the ones who have to pay his bill.

And now come PR-infused rumors that Arpaio is urging [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/01/06/actor-steven-seagal-considering-run-for-arizona-governor/ ] the actor Steven Seagal to run for governor. They are a perfect pair, aren't they? An actor who built his career on a film called Above the Law [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094602/ ] and a lawman long documented to be among the most lawless in the nation. They truly deserve to waste each other's time. The only problem is that while the earnest voters of the state, if given the choice, may never elect Seagal, the earnest voters of Maricopa County keep sending Arpaio back on the job—he's been reelected six times since 1992 [ http://www.mcso.org/About/Sheriff.aspx ], even after the worst civil rights allegations against him were proven true.

There is some evidence, however, that as the year begins and the toll mounts, local sentiment may at last be turning away [ http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/free/20140106who-votes-for-arpaio-anyway.html ] from Arpaio's costly and divisive brand of law enforcement. The editorial board of the Republic, no bastion of weak-kneed liberalism, published a pitch-perfect piece last Thursday that frames the issue in a way that precludes the sheriff's supporters—the silent majority that has supported him through thick and thin—from continuing to justify the extraordinary costs of his tenure. From the house editorial, titled "Joe Arpaio, America's Most Expensive Sheriff":

Every extra dollar the county appropriates to comply with the court’s ruling is a dollar unavailable for other county services. That is one affront Arpaio should not be allowed.

To date, he has had to pay nothing for his abuses. Thomas was disbarred and former Chief Deputy David Henderschott lost his job. Innocents caught in his crime sweeps were handcuffed, detained and had to hire attorneys. Fear spread through entire communities. Public officials targeted for nonexistent corruption lived through hell.

Through it all, Arpaio remained in office. Fans lined up to get autographed pink boxers. Candidates clamored for his endorsement.

Unbelievable. Arpaio is a burden on the taxpayer, needlessly costing this county tens of millions of dollars. This is money that would be put to much better uses if he just stuck to what other Arizona sheriffs do: patrol their counties and enforce the law. It doesn’t sell books, but it keeps communities safe.

There is no good answer to this argument. Arpaio's transgressions are forcing his constituents to rack up these unnecessary bills at the expense of policies and practices that are best suited to protect them. The taxpayers of this county, put another way, are paying an exorbitant premium for the privilege of having Sheriff Arpaio violate the constitutional rights of their friends and neighbors. Maybe that's something the good people of Maricopa County will ponder this year as they watch the long-anticipated reality series [ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-seagal-mulling-run-arizona-668498 ]: Steven Seagal, Lawman-Maricopa County. That is, if they can find it on cable. A&E evidently cancelled the show [ http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2013/05/lost_3rd_season_of_steven_seag.html ] and now it is reportedly appearing on a network called Reelz [ http://www.reelz.com/lawman/ ].

Related Story

The Day Sheriff Joe Arpaio Went to Court
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/the-day-sheriff-joe-arpaio-went-to-court/260392/

Copyright © 2014 by The Atlantic Monthly Group

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/01/the-most-expensive-sheriff-in-america-is-getting-more-expensive/282885/ [with comments]


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Sheriff Joe Arpaio: The Most Lawless Lawman in America


Joshua Lott/Reuters

The Arizona sheriff is in trouble again, just in time for a new run for governor—this time for getting caught on videotape disrespecting a federal court order that highlighted his longstanding discriminatory police practices.

Andrew Cohen
Mar 26 2014, 2:20 PM ET

The unremitting disaster that is Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio took a new twist Monday. The most unrepentantly lawless lawman in America [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/federal-judge-chronicles-lawlessness-of-joe-arpaio-led-sheriffs-office/276150/ ] was hauled into federal court to face an angry trial judge after Arpaio and a fellow Maricopa County official were caught on videotape mocking a ruling from the judge last year [ http://www.azfamily.com/news/Arpaios-office-rebuked-in-racial-profiling-case-250858001.html ] that found the County's enforcement practices broadly discriminated against Latinos. And not just mocking it under their breath, mind you, or mocking it after hours in a bar, but denigrating it in briefings to officers who of course also are required to comply with the court's enlightened directives.

The discrimination by Arpaio and his officers in Maricopa County has been documented for years [ http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/hllr14&div=21&id=&page= ]. The profiling lawsuit that ultimately led to last year's ruling began after a worker was stopped by a cop in 2007. The Justice Department had to get involved [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/us/justice-department-sues-arizona-sheriff-joe-arpaio.html ]. In 2012, there was a full-blown trial [ http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/07/does_joe_arpaio_racially_profile_a_federal_court_will_decide.html ], for about a month, in which witness after witness testified about the ways in which Arpaio and company waged a systematic, ill-willed campaign against Latinos, whether they were lawfully present in America or not. It is not an open question anymore about whether the law was broken. It clearly was. Over and over again.

And yet, after all of that, the news of this video tells us that these public officials still do not accept, and are not fully complying with, the remedial order the judge issued last year to try to fix the County's unconstitutional profiling. And that means that the official discrimination which has disgraced Maricopa County for years surely still exists, despite the order, despite the presence of a federal monitor, despite everything. The rule of law is not working, or is working far too slowly, for the Latino men and women who live and work there. Here is how The New York Times covered Monday's drama [ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/us/judge-says-arpaio-defied-order-on-profiling-latinos.html ; http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/25/us/25arpaio-doc.html ]:

A federal judge strongly rebuked Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County and one of his chief deputies on Monday, saying that they had defied and even mocked the judge’s order last year to stop singling out Latinos during routine patrols, traffic stops and workplace raids.

“Whether or not the sheriff likes it, there is a distinction in immigration law that was not understood by the population and, with all due respect to you, it is not understood by the sheriff, which is that it is not a criminal violation to be in this country without authorization,” said the judge, G. Murray Snow of United States District Court here, staring down the 81-year-old sheriff, whose tenure has been framed largely by his unforgiving stance against illegal immigrants.

And here (a little more softly) is how the Arizona Republic, Arpaio's hometown newspaper, covered it [ http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/24/arpaio-chief-deputy-appear-district-court/6833085/ ]:

A Maricopa County Sheriff's administrator's decision to call a federal racial-profiling ruling "absurd" and "ludicrous" were made in the heat of the moment and do not reflect the agency's intention to prevent racial profiling among deputies, attorneys for Sheriff Joe Arpaio argued in U.S. District Court on Monday.

The remarks from Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan drew a rebuke from U.S. District Judge Murray Snow and the agency will likely receive a letter that clarifies Snow's ruling in response to Sheridan's statements. But experts said the hearing was likely designed to put the agency on notice that Snow and his court-appointed monitor are paying close attentiont to how Sheriff Joe Arpaio's agency enacts the changes Snow ordered last year following his racial-profiling ruling.

What is happening here is the sort of open defiance of judicial authority by local law enforcement officials that America hasn't seen since the massive Southern resistance to desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s. Arpaio and company aren't just arguing in an appeals court that the trial judge got it wrong. They are signalling to their subordinates that a valid court order, supported by extensive evidence and clear legal precedent, is bogus. What does a line officer in Maricopa County take away from these sorts of comments? Surely not that Judge Snow's order ought to be respected. Surely not that public officials, like everyone else, must comply with even those laws with which they disagree.

And through all of it, through years of litigation and investigations, costing taxpayers there tens of millions of dollars that otherwise might have been spent on actual law enforcement [ http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20140127maricopa-county-arpaio-costs-tallied.html ], never once has Arpaio expressed remorse or regret for the damage he has done [ http://www.azcentral.com/community/surprise/articles/2011/12/05/20111205arpaio-apologizes-botched-cases.html ]. Instead, there has been only defiance and scorn for those who have caught him breaking the law. Arpaio said nothing during Monday's hearing. He didn't avail himself of the opportunity in front of the judge to apologize for his conduct. But afterward, once he was out of earshot of Judge Snow, he told reporters that "we'll be appealing this case anyway."

If you or I behaved like this, if we violated a court order so defiantly after a case about willful disobedience of the Constitution, we would be held in contempt. And that's what should have happened to Arpaio Monday. None of this patient deference to officials of another branch of government. None of this separation-of-powers politesse. The sheriff should have been held in contempt, and fined, until he was willing to publicly apologize (to the judge, at least) and also to convince Judge Snow that he understands at last that the Constitution belongs not to him but to all of the people he serves.

It's not that he doesn't get it. It's that he gets it and still doesn't care. The more the feds press him, the more the constitutional violations pile up, the more he's able to lament to his supporters that he is the real victim here. This lawsuit, this court order, surely will be a talking point when Arpaio finally runs for governor [ http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2014/03/25/quadrennial-ritual-arpaio-says-he-s-considering.html ]. The real victims, of course, are the citizens of color in Maricopa County who still suffer under his yoke. To them, the contents of that ugly videotape aren't a revelation. They've been living with that attitude for years. And if Arpaio wins his next race perhaps all of the citizens of Arizona will get to experience it, too.

Copyright © 2014 by The Atlantic Monthly Group (emphasis in original)

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/03/sheriff-joe-arpaio-the-most-lawless-lawman-in-america/359613/ [with comments]


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