This morning, the Phoenix offices of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio were evacuated when authorities discovered a white powdery substance in an envelope, as well as a note claiming the powder was Anthrax.Turns out, the envelope was brought to the MCSO’s offices by Arpaio — and it was intended for…
It will be official shortly, but Andrei Cherny, Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, is stepping down today, in anticipation of a formal announcement of his candidacy for the Ninth Congressional District seat sometime next week.The former Arizona Assistant Attorney General and policy adviser to the Clinton White House has…
Ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce began slithering back into relevancy this Saturday during the Arizona GOP’s winter meeting, held at Phoenix’s Church for the Nations, where he was elected to the party’s First Vice Chair position.Despite an embarrassing 12-point loss to fellow Republican Jerry Lewis in November’s recall election, Pearce…
Carmona talks immigration, foreign policy and women’s issues with Gilman and IAbove is a video of an interview videographer Dennis Gilman and I did with former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate. The interview took place at the state Democrats’ winter meeting in Tucson.Carmona’s…
If you need an example of wigged-out, dysfunctional democracy verging on outright insanity, look no further than state Senator Sylvia Allen’s Border Security, Federalism and States’ Sovereignty Committee.Here, Chairwoman Allen and a cadre of right-wing loons hold sway. Rational questions and reasoned arguments are dismissed with a flutter of Allen’s…
The photo above showing seven young men with guns holding what seems to be a bullet-riddled T-shirt depicting President Barack Obama was, until recently, up on the Facebook page for Sergeant Pat Shearer of the Peoria Police Department.The photo is captioned, “Another trip to the ranch,” and features the comments,…
As I anticipated in a blog item late last year, the Arizona version of the Utah Compact, called the “Arizona Accord,” was introduced to the public at the state Capitol yesterday. It argues for a rational, humane approach to immigration reform.The accord’s statement of principles, which you can read, here,…
When most people look at Tent City, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s infamous outdoor detention facility, they see a jail.Not Sheriff Joe Arpaio — he, apparently, sees a stage…for a reality TV show.Yet again, Arpaio has opened the MCSO’s doors to reality TV film crews — this time for a…
As Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio pointed out when a story about his office’s bungling of hundreds of sex-crime investigations resurfaced late last year, other Valley law enforcement agencies had “way worse” problems when it comes to investigating sex crimes.One of those agencies is the Phoenix Police Department — and…
The FBI arrested four police officers, including the president of the police union in East Haven, a Connecticut suburb, over allegations that the men, for years, orchestrated civil rights abuses against Latino residents. The cops, indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport, pleaded not guilty and were…
Unless you frequent right wing blogs such as Sonoran Alliance or SeeingRedAZ, you may have missed the tidbit that disgraced ex-state Senator Russell Pearce has won the endorsement of Arizona GOP Chair Tom Morrissey for the unpaid position Pearce is seeking: First Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party.Morrissey’s endorsement…
Fred Knadler, the Phoenix businessman accused of planning to kill his wife, praises Sheriff Joe Arpaio and rails about crime caused by “illegals” in a letter he sent to the county last month.Sounding very much like the bigots whose letters were referenced in a recent federal report on racial profiling…
A detention officer with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was arrested early this morning on suspicion of aggravated assault and criminal damage after police say he drunkenly pointed a loaded gun at his 19-year-old son.According to court records, this isn’t the first time Higgins has pulled a gun on his…
Paul Penzone, a retired sergeant from the Phoenix Police Department/Nancy Grace suck-up, officially announced his candidacy in this year’s race for Maricopa County sheriff.Penzone, best known for being the public “face” of Silent Witness, announced his candidacy on his website this morning (see his first campaign video after the jump)…
I’ve been staying up late nights worrying about disgraced former state Senate President Russell Pearce.I mean, what’s a washed-up nativist hatemonger to do for cash? Sure, he’s been busy running for First Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, but that won’t put fatback on the griddle, being that it’s…
LD 29’s Dan Patterson at the state Dems’ winter meeting…Videographer Dennis Gilman and I drove down to Tucson on Saturday to check out the Arizona Democratic Party’s winter meeting, held at a local high school there. Among those we chatted with was state Representative Daniel Patterson of Legislative District 29.Patterson…
Down at the state Capitol today, it was like a little bit of 2010, all over again.Grizzled nativists toting “I love SB 1070 signs,” with pistols on their hips. Pro-immigration activists in droves denouncing the two-year old breathing-while-brown statute. And Arizona Department of Public Safety officers standing between them, keeping…
The problem with the opposition to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, as I see it, is that the loudest voices calling for Arpaio’s resignation are perceived to be those of leftists.In reality, there are many GOPers that I hear from who are weary of fellow Republican Arpaio, his wasteful spending,…
The Dysart Unified School District has been slapped with a lawsuit by a local evangelical group over a policy that bans the distribution of fliers with a religious message.Dysart, which serves Surprise and El Mirage, allows other community groups to pass out fliers to students while unconstitutionally discriminating against religious…
Remember when on Wednesday the Internet search engine Google protested Congress’ attempt to “censor the web” via-the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) by participating in a purely symbolic “black out” with several other big-time websites?About that…We’ve come to find out that on the same day Google was (ahem) fighting for…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his campaign guru Chad Willems have done their best to suggest Arpaio has $6 million in the bank, ready to go for the sheriff’s 2012 re-election campaign.In September, Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini reported that, “Arpaio says that he has collected $6 million for his own…
Former presidential candidate Rick Perry pulled the plug on his failed campaign yesterday, which is the second time in two presidential elections that a candidate with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s backing failed to make it out of a GOP primary.As Valley attorney Chad Snow commented on our post yesterday…
