Want more proof that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a cross between Tricky Dick Nixon and Vincent “the Chin” Gigante? Take a gander at the Bobby Wetherell affidavit. Much of the local media continues, bass-like, to be impaled on the hook of Deputy Chief Frank Munnell’s loving memo to Sheriff Joe,…

According to records on file with the Maricopa County Superior Court, the investigators of the Phoenix Police Department’s elite Career Criminal Squad, with the assistance of the local Anti-Defamation League, have crushed the Arizona contingent of the Vinlanders Social Club, one of the most violent and feared racist skinhead organizations in America…

I stopped by DREAM Army headquarters last night to watch Michael Nazario put his wannabe-U.S. troops through the paces.See, Nazario and other members of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition have been camped out since last week near U.S. Senator John McCain’s Phoenix office, at the corner of 16th Street and…

Gilman dogs Arpaio at a Joe show on the west sideHere’s the latest from the people’s videographer, Dennis Gilman: An account of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s September 16 appearance at a block watch meeting at Manzanita Elementary School on Phoenix’s west side.As you can see from the video, the neighborhood didn’t…

Many of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s ex-aides and critics agree on one thing: Despite Deputy Chief Frank Munnell’s recent memo portraying Arpaio as a hapless figurehead (a memo you can read, here) it’s the sheriff who rules the MCSO. As I discussed in a blog item earlier today, this narrative depicting Chief…

If the feds cannot find some indictments out of the mess that is Maricopa County, they should pack their Samsonites and head to Rio to sell real estate.The latest news in the wake of the release of Deputy Chief Frank Munnell’s memo outlining the many alleged misdeeds of Chief Deputy…

(Please see my update on this story, here.) Someone should consider putting Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s chief deputy, David Hendershott, on a suicide watch. The damning, 63-page memo from Deputy Chief Frank Munnell, first reported on by Joe Dana of Channel 12 News, reads like an indictment of Hendershott and his henchmen, MCSO Director Larry…

According to records provided to special counsel Jeffrey Messing by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s political guru Chad Willems of Summit Consulting Group, Arpaio’s re-election campaign committee spent more than $500,000 in media buys for TV ads and mailers that ultimately benefited Arpaio’s candidate for Maricopa County Attorney, Bill Montgomery. As I…

Looks like Sheriff Joe is ripping off an idea from none other than Arpaio supporter and committed neo-Nazi J.T. Ready. In a press release published today by the MCSO, Arpaio says he intends to commission a volunteer vigilante force to hunt illegal aliens. The release states, “The Sheriff will soon implement his plan…

Score one for the white hats. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s re-election campaign was fined $153,978 Tuesday for financing a mailer advocating the defeat of his arch-nemesis, interim County Attorney Rick Romley. That mailer was to the benefit of Arpaio’s bought-and-paid-for toady Bill Montgomery, the guy who takes over from Romley in November. As you…

If you ask me, journalism needs more Chris Kings I think I’ve discovered the New England version of our own fightin’ Irishman and rogue videographer Dennis Gilman. Either that, or Gilman is the Sand Land version of Chris King, a lawyer/activist who apparently stays hot on the heels of New England…

What’s one to make of the recent back and forth between Maricopa County and sheriff’s office lawyers regarding allegations of spying by the MCSO?The claims came to light in a recent item by Arizona Republic reporter Yvonne Wingett for the Rep’s “Political Insider” blog. The post details a September 10…

I recently obtained paperwork related to the MCSO’s July 30 arrest of Phoenix civil rights leader Salvador Reza. The file is chock full of absurd, asinine attempts by the sheriff’s office to deflect criticism for this outrageous, thuggish collar. One involves Fox 10 News reporter Miriam Garcia. The MCSO report suggests that Garcia relayed crucial information…

It’s been proven over and over again: Governor Jan Brewer’s hysteria and the hysteria of her nativist allies over alleged illegal-alien-perpetrated crime in Arizona is founded on anecdotal evidence, some of it glaringly inaccurate, such as Brewer’s infamous claim that headless bodies have been found in the Arizona desert. That’s a…

It’s Friday. It’s late in the workday. And I’m feeling a little punchy. So I figure it’s the best time to introduce you to the genius that is Minute Man Pete. Minute Man Pete is a proud, Arizona sandbilly who lives in a trailer in Tombstone with his trusty canine “Pedofile.” He…

George Adams’ documentary Panic Nation, which begins a week-long run at Phoenix’s Cinema Latino today, is really two films: one an overview of the United States’ schizophrenic mindset when it comes to Mexican immigration; the other, a detailed examination of Oklahoma’s version of SB 1070 — HB 1804 — which…

Jason Shelton lights one up. Too bad it ain’t a doobie They’re baaaaaack. Yep, like a rash of bed bugs you thought the exterminator had smoked out, the “troofers,” those nutty guys and gals who believe 9/11 was an “inside job” by the Bush administration will be active once again…

All the sturm und drang of the past few days over a Florida pastor’s plans to burn a pile of Qurans on September 11 may have paid off. The AP is now reporting that Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville’s Dove World Outreach Center has canceled the holy book bonfire, claiming that he’s reached a…

Amazing, just amazing how our septuagenarian (soon to be octogenarian) sheriff plays the media — both national and local — like a two-bit plastic ocarina.Well, usually, his handlers do it for him. In this case, it was Chad Willems of Summit Consulting Group, the sleaze who cooked up the anti-Rick Romley ads…

Interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley’s office today announced the arrest and indictment of the man it calls “the worst graffiti vandal in Phoenix,” 27-year-old Joel Delgado, who tagged under the handle “Jugs” or “Jugz.” Actually, I’ve seen worse graffiti, based on some of the photos the C.A. has provided to…

I wonder if Russell Pearce would endorse this Tee?Even though federal Judge Susan R. Bolton enjoined the most dangerous provisions of Arizona’s “breathing-while-brown law” (a.k.a., SB 1070) on July 28, that doesn’t mean Arizona cops are not going to stop you just because you look Latino. Hell, they do that…