Monday, February 1, 2010

Sheriff Joe--Stalinist Terror

What is the cost to your county when you turn your Sheriff's office over to a Stalinist demagogue like Joe Arpaio?  The Arizona Republic reported Friday on the terror "rank and file" employees of Maricopa County labored under dealing with the stress of a Sheriff's office that knos no limits, and respects no boundaries. 

The article by Yvonne Wingett is chilling--bearing in mind that this is the United States of America, you have in one instance a Superior Court Judge moving meeting with her staff to the chamber's bathroom in the event that Sheriff  Arpaio was conducting electronic eavesdropping.   Remember this is the county where Arpaio's courtroom deputies have been held in criminal and civil contempt of court for routinely ignoring court orders to timely transport persons in their custody to the courtrooms for the judicial proceedings mandated by the Arizona and U.S. Constittutions.  And in the most flagrant act of courtroom disrespect I've ever encountered--stealing documents from a criminal defendant's lawyer's file; and, defying a court orders to apologize for the deprivation of rights.

The Arizona Republic article details the stress on County employees as they deal day-to-day with the real possibility that  the police-state of Maricopa County will come knocking.

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