DEATH ROW UPDATE: U.S. Supreme Court Won't Reconsider Arizona Death Sentences Vs. Scottsdale Sons-Murderer Andre Leteve

In addition to denying Sheriff Joe's immigration-related petition today, the U.S. Supreme Court ended Andre Leteve's appeals of his Arizona death sentences for murdering his two young sons in Scottsdale six year ago.  The Court refused his petition for relief after the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence in August.

Leteve purchased a handgun, killed his 5- and 1-year old children with it and shot himself in the face after separating from his wife. Here is how the Arizona Supreme Court summarized the case.

Leteve had appealed the two death sentences (one for each son) on a large number of reasons. The Arizona justices addressed the top several; the U.S. Supreme Court justices declined to address any of them.

Leteve will remain on Arizona's death row. Leteve's case attracted worldwide attention for the heinousness and depravity of the actions.


Tempe attorney Paul Weich contributed this article.

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Arpaio Raises $3.5 Million During/After Failed Recall Effort; Step Aside, Seagal! (FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS)

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio raised more than $3.5 Million during and after last year's failed recall effort, according to a press release from his 2016 re-election campaign manager.  Arpaio sees it as an indication that he should give "serious consideration" to entering the already-crowded Republican race for Arizona Governor this year.

The campaign finance report for the 13-month period from November 27, 2012 through December 31, 2013 is not due until the end of this month, and has not yet been posted on the County's website.  But, Arpaio campaign manager Chad Willems released the numbers today, saying that he "continue(s) to be blown away" by the support.

Arizona's Politics has asked Willems for a breakdown of how much of the support came in response to the failed recall effort last Spring.  The recall effort was the subject of many fundraising e-mails from the Sheriff and his wife.

(UPDATE, 12:00pm: Willems tells Arizona's Politics that the report has been filed with the County Recorder's Office (this morning), and that about $2M of the contributions came during the period that the recall was at issue.)

The ongoing legal battles regarding the MCSO being found by a federal judge to have engaged in racially-biased policing has also been a fundraising "hook".  Arpaio and the MCSO recently wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder demanding that the federal government pay $38 Million for costs associated with the Melendres case and ensuring that the Sheriff's Office does not racially profile in the future.

For his part, Arpaio sees the fundraising numbers as a sign that he should consider jumping into the already-crowded GOP primary field to replace Jan Brewer as Governor:  "“Every four years, my supporters encourage me to run for Governor. Based on these fundraising numbers and knowing I could be competitive, I will have to give it serious consideration.”

(Arpaio friend and actor Steven Seagal also publicly toyed with the idea of running for Governor, earlier this month.)

  Press Release_Arpaio Sets Another Fundraising Record

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Sheriff Arpaio Holding New "Press Conference" On President Obama Birth Certificate; Supporters To Petition For End Run Around Governor, Legislature

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has set up his next press conference/event/meeting (it is described as all three) on the alleged President Obama citizenship document forgeries. He and his Tea Party supporters will take over a Sun City church next Saturday (March 31, 1:00pm).

The "historic event" will feature updates by both Arpaio and investigator Mike Zullo*, according to the post (on a site called the Western Center for Journalism**) by a co-organizer, the Surprise Tea Party group. (The other co-organizer is listed as the Sun City West Tea Party group.) The release claims that Arpaio and Zullo will present the preliminary findings and will update; it does not promise that there is any new information or action.

As an additional draw, however, the organizers say they plan to petition Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (Repub.) and the Legislature to request that the Democratic National Committee provide documentation validating the President's citizenship "satisfactory to Sheriff Arpaio and the Cold Case Posse, the Arizona Legislature, and the Arizona Secretary of State’s office". This would appear to be designed to be similar to the proposed law which Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (Repub.) vetoed last year, and which is presently being considered in the current Legislature. The fate of that bill (currently in the form of a strike-everything amendment to HB2480) is unclear at this time.

Last week, Sheriff Arpaio gave an interview to talk show host Roger Hedgecock, and announced that he would investigate the President's Selective Service registration document for fraud, and would arrest whoever he finds responsible for the allegedly forged birth certificate and other documents which were released by the white House last year.





* Zullo was initially listed as "to be confirmed", but Surprise Tea Party spokesman Brian Reilly confirms his attendance in the comments to the post.

**The Western Center for Journalism was set up by Joseph Farah, the "brains behind WND.com", which has been instrumental in publicizing Arpaio's investigation into the (very) early life of Obama.


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LISTEN: Joe Arpaio Will Make Arrest On Obama Birth Certificate Once He Figures Out Who Forged Documents

"When I go to the toilet, I make international news." With that comment, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio bemoaned what he called "probably the biggest censorship blackout in the history of the United States."

In the radio interview last week, he also reiterated that he found "probable cause" that President Obama's birth certificate and related document are fraudulent; when asked if arrests were forthcoming, he said that he first needs to find out who is responsible.

He made the comments on Roger Hedgecock's radio show.

Arpaio also has asked the Director of the U.S. Selective Service System to produce the President's registration form from 1980, and to conduct its own investigation into whether it is forged. Here is the Sheriff's official news release:

Date: March 21, 2012
SHERIFF ARPAIO REQUESTS INVESTIGATION
BY SELECTIVE SERVICE DIRECTOR INTO
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S 1980 REGISTRATION CARD
(Phoenix, AZ) Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has sent a letter to the Director of
the U.S. Selective Service System headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The Sheriff is
asking the agency to conduct an investigation of Barack Obama’s Selective Service
registration form from 1980 after the preliminary findings of the Sheriff’s six-monthlong
investigation determined that it may be a forgery.
The letter also asked Director Lawrence Romo to produce the original form so
forensic document examiners can analyze the document to determine if it is authentic.
(letter attached)
Because of inconsistencies on the form itself including an unusually incomplete date
stamp, Sheriff’s investigators suspect the form, which was allegedly filled out in
Honolulu, Hawaii in 1980, may be a forgery.
Sheriff’s investigators were able to replicate the alleged forgery by obtaining a circa
1980 pica stamp and a circa “2008” date plug. Investigators were able to clearly
demonstrate the “80” (which should have actually read 1980) in Obama’s Selective
Service Registration form resulted from cutting out the “08” from an authentic “2008”
date plug, and inverting the “08” to read “80” when the cut plug was loaded into the
year slot on the 1980 pica stamp. (see form attached)
Sheriff Arpaio is asking Director Romo to respond to him within 30 days on whether
or not his national office will provide the Sheriff with the original document and if his
office will move forward with an investigation of its own.
Lawrence Romo, who was appointed as Director to the U.S. Selective Service System
in 2009 by President Obama, reports directly to the President.
“While my office will continue pursuing this investigation, I have spoken of the need
to enlist the aid of other agencies. As a first step to that end, I am now requesting the
assistance of the U.S. Selective Service System asking them to conduct a concurrent
investigation to verify the authenticity of this document,” Arpaio says.
Arpaio says he foresees the need to ask for the assistance of other agencies as well to
ultimately determine whether the President’s birth certificate and Selective Service
registration form are in fact forgeries.
“Failure to register or otherwise comply with the Selective Service registration
process is a serious offense,” Arpaio says. “The law says a person who fails to register
can end up with a $250,000 fine, five years imprisonment and is ultimately prohibited
from holding any job in government.”
Arpaio, a Korean War veteran who served in the U.S. Army, believes strongly in the
importance of registering for the selective service. He even started a program in 2004
to encourage inmates, including non-U.S. citizens, to register. Since then, about
40,000 inmates including 9,000 non U.S. citizens have registered for the selective
service. END

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Sheriff's PR Pros Must've Abandoned Him On Birth Certificate News Release

I'm thinking that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's well-paid media team must have abandoned him when it came to writing up the news release for today's big press conference on the not-quite-conclusive results of the investigation into President Barack Obama's birth certificate. The five-page news release seems more akin to something written by birth certificate expert Jerome Corsi.

And, the paid PR staff likely would not have inserted section headings into the release, ending with one titled "Conclusive Remarks". Especially, when the next sentence is anything but conclusive:

Conclusive remarks
Sheriff Arpaio stresses that these are preliminary findings....

Much more troubling than who wrote the news release and whether they inadvertently used a word that indicates that Arpaio has reached a conclusion on the evidence, is why any Maricopa County resources are being used in this matter; here is a post shedding more light on that.


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Why Is Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio Using ANY Taxpayer Resources On Obama Birth Certificate Investigation?; Also, Promoting Private, Political Interests

The following post raises some questions based upon facts observed in reviewing this story. This blog is not intended to be opinion-driven, but will label posts as "commentary" when necessary.:

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is proclaiming loud and often that taxpayers funds are not being used to investigate the birth certificate of President Barack Obama. However, there is no question that county resources are being used to publicize the sheriff and his findings.

He set up the Cold Case Posse, which is a registered 501(c)(3) and does collect donations. It reportedly absorbed all the costs of the investigation.

But, he then proceeded to use his County offices to release the report, issue a news release about the report, use his official Twitter account to promote the report, and so on. The press conference was promoted by World Net Daily and was used to collect monies by them. The news release promotes videos shown at the news conference that were posted on YouTube by a private individual(s) billed as "TeaPartyPowerHour".

The lines are blurry, but walking along such lines certainly raises questions. Questions about the appropriateness of spending any public resources promoting an investigation into which Maricopa County's jurisdiction is limited, to say the least. Questions about whether there is a tit for tat element, or a bargaining chip element to this, or an implied threat element to this. Questions about whether the sheriff now has an obligation to try to pursue charges now that he has found "probable cause" that there is a forgery and that someone or someones in the White House lied last April.




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MoveOn.org Promotes Online Petition Calling For Sheriff Arpaio To Resign

Arizona's Politics does not generally pay much attention to the vast world of left- and right-wing online petitions.  But, a reader (thanks, m.c.) just forwarded an e-mail he received from the national progressive organization MoveOn.org.  The group apparently e-mailed the Arizona portion of its list about a petition that one of its members had started demanding the resignation of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The two-sentence call to action is as follows:  “Sheriff Joe Arpaio is currently under investigation by the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the State of Arizona for numerous violations, charges of $100 million in illegally misspent funds, abuse of power, and corruption. Sheriff Joe should do the right thing and resign.” (The link to the petition and the supporting text, which also is the text of the e-mail, is below the jump.)

In the less than one hour since receiving m.c.'s e-mail, the number of signers - many appear to be real, full names - has grown from about 400 to about 875.
According to SignOn.org's FAQ's, the site (sponsored by MoveOn.org) "occasionally" chooses to promote a petition by e-mailing alerts to members of their organization.  Apparently, the Sheriff's national profile got MoveOn.org's attention, too, and led them to solicit signatures from their subscribers.

FOLLOWING MONEY UPDATE: Arpaio Campaign Confirms Over $3 Million In Campaign Account, More Than $5 Million Raised, and Still Flirting With Senate Run

It is confirmed.  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has crossed $5 Million and $3 Million milestones even before he has committed to running for re-election as Sheriff.

Monday, Arizona's Politics reported that Arpaio was "formally kicking off" his campaign for a 6th term in office, via a fundraising e-mail.  Tuesday, we reported on Arpaio's amazing fundraising machine that had collected nearly $4.7 Million in the two years immediately after his last election.

Since his last campaign finance report only covered the period through Nov. 22, 2010, and his next one will not be filed for many more months - due to a now-quaint quirk in the reporting system that did not anticipate permanent campaigns - our report could only speculate that Arpaio had now crossed the thresholds since late November, based upon his past performance and conservative guesstimates.

Re-Elect Arpaio Campaign Manager Chad Willems confirmed to Arizona's Politics yesterday (via e-mail) that the campaign has indeed raised more than $5 Million in small (less than $430) individual contributions, and that the campaign coffers contain more than $3 Million.  (See, Tuesday's post for overview of what the $2 Million was spent on.)

By comparison, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CD6) had about $630,000 in the bank after his (easy) House race last November, and raised slightly more than $1 Million ($1,031,172.37) in the six weeks after he announced that he would try to replace Jon Kyl in the U.S. Senate.  His cash on hand is (as of March 31, 2011) a comparatively paltry $1.5 Million ($1,570,977.90).

The comparison is somewhat relevant because Willems stated yesterday that Arpaio has not yet made a final decision on whether or not to run for the opening Senate seat.  Conceivably, he could switch gears from his just announced formal re-election kick-off.  (Not sure whether state and/or federal campaign finance laws would permit the re-purposing.)


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UPDATE: Arpaio Campaign Confirms Over $3 Million In Campaign Account, More Than $5 Million Raised, and Still Flirting With Senate Run

It is confirmed.  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has crossed $5 Million and $3 Million milestones even before he has committed to running for re-election as Sheriff.

Monday, Arizona's Politics reported that Arpaio was "formally kicking off" his campaign for a 6th term in office, via a fundraising e-mail.  Tuesday, we reported on Arpaio's amazing fundraising machine that had collected nearly $4.7 Million in the two years immediately after his last election.

Since his last campaign finance report only covered the period through Nov. 22, 2010, and his next one will not be filed for many more months - due to a now-quaint quirk in the reporting system that did not anticipate permanent campaigns - our report could only speculate that Arpaio had now crossed the thresholds since late November, based upon his past performance and conservative guesstimates.

Re-Elect Arpaio Campaign Manager Chad Willems confirmed to Arizona's Politics yesterday (via e-mail) that the campaign has indeed raised more than $5 Million in small (less than $430) individual contributions, and that the campaign coffers contain more than $3 Million.  (See, Tuesday's post for overview of what the $2 Million was spent on.)

By comparison, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CD6) had about $630,000 in the bank after his (easy) House race last November, and raised slightly more than $1 Million ($1,031,172.37) in the six weeks after he announced that he would try to replace Jon Kyl in the U.S. Senate.  His cash on hand is (as of March 31, 2011) a comparatively paltry $1.5 Million ($1,570,977.90).

The comparison is somewhat relevant because Willems stated yesterday that Arpaio has not yet made a final decision on whether or not to run for the opening Senate seat.  Conceivably, he could switch gears from his just announced formal re-election kick-off.  (Not sure whether state and/or federal campaign finance laws would permit the re-purposing.)


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FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS: More than $5 Million Raised; Does Joe Arpaio Have Largest Exploratory Campaign War Chest, EVER?

Yesterday, Arizona's Politics reported that Joe Arpaio was "formally kicking off" his 2012 campaign for a 6th four-year term as Sheriff of Maricopa County.  Fittingly, such an announcement came in the body of a fundraising e-mail, and prompted the question of just how much money has Arpaio raised BEFORE announcing his re-election.

Given yesterday's news that Jerry Lewis will be retiring from hosting the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, it seems fitting that I should ask for a drumroll................ nearly $4.7 MILLION ($4,688,840.44)!!!  That figure is for the periods of Nov. 25, 2008 - Nov. 22, 2010; it is likely that by now, he is well over $5 million.

The truth is that the Arpaio re-election committee never stops actively raising money.  In the 13-month "dead period" after winning his fifth term (Nov. 25, 2008 - Dec. 31, 2009), his committee received more than $1.2 million dollars.  Nearly $100,000 per month..  Last year, his monthly take was nearly $300,000 per month.

All of these contributions are from individuals (around the country), and there is a cap of $430.00 per individual. 

As noted in yesterday's article, Arpaio did actually spend for his re-election campaign last year, and spent approximately $544,000 in advertising.  Most of that advertising chiefly touted political friends running in the 2010 elections (and bad-mouthed opponents), and he was fined $77,000 for some that were determined to be illegal in-kind contributions.

Not all of those contributions are still in the war chest, however.  It generally costs money to raise money, and Arpaio's committee is no exception.  Pulling out the advertsing expenditures - and the less than $40,000 spent in subsequent legal costs - Arpaio paid out (he is the Treasurer) more than $1.3 million ($1,344,537.40) in expenses.  The vast majority of those dollars were paid to Summit Consulting, which - during a campaign - provides much more than just fundraising services to Arpaio's committee.  (If you assume that most of the expenses during this pre-campaign period were for the fundraising, that is a fundraising expense percentage of 28.7%.)

The cash on hand, as of November 22, 2010, was $2,828,160.00.  Even subtracting the fine and conservatively guesstimating net receipts (which probably received a big boost when Arpaio flirted with running for Jon Kyl's Senate seat) and legal expenses, it is very possible that the war chest is over $3 million.  And, no doubt, yesterday's e-mail will bring in a new flood of small contributions.




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NEW: Arizona Poll Numbers On Brewer, Arpaio, McCain, Kyl, State Gun, Planned Parenthood; Disapproval of McCain Crosses 50%

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was easily re-elected last Fall; today, only two Senators have higher disapproval ratings than McCain.  Meanwhile, Governor Jan Brewer's approval ratings stayed nearly flat from January, even after vetoing a flurry of bills.  And, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to have a more favorable than unfavorable rating.
Public Policy Polling ("PPP") - an organization hired mainly by Democrats but which has noted to be one of the most accurate and unbiased pollsters - released the numbers, a couple of days after releasing portions of the poll dealing with the 2012 Senate and Presidential races.

Only 7 substantive questions in this portion of the poll results, so we will simply print them in their entirety below the jump. 

But, we will first note that the two Senators with lower approval ratings than McCain are close McCain friend Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Ensign (R-NV, just resigned).  However, not all of the states are polled, nor at the same time.

The pollsters surveyed 623 Arizonans, had a 3.9% margin of error, and did not try to limit its automated poll to registered or likely voters.  Conventional wisdom is that such polls are more likely to lean towards Democratic candidates.  The poll was not paid for by any candidate or political organization.  (Note: I have asked PPP to confirm whether or not they try to reach registered voters and/or screen the respondents for the likelihood of voting.)

SIGNS, SIGNS, EVERYWHERE SIGNS: Pro-Joe (Arpaio) Group Goes To the Digital Billboards

In February, the freelancing "Defend Sheriff Joe" 527 group raised $20,000 to encourage Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jon Kyl.  While that effort does not appear to have achieved its stated goal, the group is now spending that money to run digital billboards around Phoenix thanking the sheriff.

These three billboards will run on a rotating basis during the next few weeks.  Former Paradise Valley Mayor and Congressional candidate Vernon Parker is the chair of the 527 group, and states that the ads are "to remind the community what a good job he is doing."

As noted in February, "Defend Sheriff Joe" has approximately $100,000 cash on hand, and paid nearly $15,000 to the Republican political consulting firm Lincoln Strategy Group (Nathan Sproul) last year.

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Arizona, Sheriff Arpaio Fail To Stump On "Jeopardy"

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe "On Jeopardy, In Jeopardy" Arpaio seemed excited last night when he (or his staff) Tweeted that he has now "made it to the big time" because he was the subject of a "Jeopardy" question (ahem, Sheriff, "answer") last night.  It was not our first thought, but we were curious about what the answer and question were.

Not surprisingly, there are people who (probably illegally) post each episode on YouTube shortly after it airs.  A scan of the category titles helped us locate the answer-question combo easily.

You will find it within the first two minutes of the below segment.  (I will update this post later with the A&Q, so as not to spoil your viewing pleasure.)



Link to video: http://bit.ly/f9DFpo


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Sheriff Joe Arpaio On "Jeopardy" Yesterday, In Jeopardy This Morning

Last night, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (or his staff) issued the following Tweet:  "you know you've made it when Alex Trebek makes you a Jeopardy question.That happened to me today! Now I've finally made it to the big time."

This morning, the County Board of Supervisors are listening to a report "about the potential extent of widespread misspending and mismanagement of jail funds by Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office."  Apparently, the number is slightly less than $100 million over the past five years.

No word yet on a response from the Sheriff's office.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/04/12/20110412board-of-supervisors-arpaio-jail-funds.html#ixzz1JQLgGHOe





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Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio Pays $77,000 Fine For Illegal Campaign Mailer In County Attorney Race

(Update 7:40pm: Confirmed by Willems that the amount paid by Arpaio campaign is the $76,989.50 assessed by the ALJ.)

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's campaign announced late this afternoon that it has settled the illegal campaign contribution case against it by paying the assessed fine.  An administrative law judge last month found that a mailer sent by Arpaio's campaign committee was an illegal in-kind contribution to (successful) Maricopa County Attorney candidate Bill Montgomery rather than an expenditure to promote Arpaio's re-election in 2012.  The ALJ fined Arpaio $76,989.50 - the midpoint between a $1 fine and the maximum three times the expenditure.

The settlement comes two days before County Elections Director Karen Osborne was required to accept, modify or reject the ALJ's determination.  According to the press release sent out by Arpaio's campaign manager Chad Willems, the Sheriff's campaign committee continued to admit no wrong-doing.  The amount of the settlement is the full amount of the fine assessed by the ALJ, according to Willems.  The text of the release is included below the jump.

Arpaio's 2012 re-election campaign had acknowledged that it had spent more than $50,000 on the mailer that was the subject of the complaint by former County Attorney Rick Romley.  The administrative law judge rejected Arpaio's contentions that the mailer was constitutionally-protected speech.  Arpaio's committee also spent several hundred thousand dollars on television commercials which supported Montgomery and attacked Romley.

Arizona Rep. Trent Franks Discussed Senate Campaign With Sheriff Arpaio Yesterday

Yesterday, Arizona's Politics reported that Arizona Rep. Trent Franks (R-CD2) had called Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio earlier in the day to discuss the Republican primary race to replace Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ).  That was relayed to us by Arpaio's campaign manager Chad Willems - who is also responsible for the insta-poll which has received a lot of attention.  We asked Franks' office for confirmation.

We received the 4th-term Congressman's response last evening from Press Secretary Ben Carnes.  On the day after his colleague, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CD6) made his candidacy official, Franks reiterated that he is "weighing all of his options" and is still "seriously considering" the race, and confirmed that he discussed the prospects of either or both Franks and Arpaio entering the race.  However, he assumed his call to Arpaio was private, "and, consequently, has no further comment."  The full statement is after the jump.

Feeling Each Other Out; Arizona Rep. Trent Franks and Sheriff Joe Arpaio Talk Opening Senate Seat; Arpaio Would Be Impacted By "Huge Groundswell"

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has given at least a couple of interviews today (and one over the weekend to Channel 10 flirting with the possibility that he may run for the seat opening up (in January 2013) when Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) retires.  Arizona's Politics has learned that at least one other possible contender - already in Congress - thinks there might be something to it;  Rep. Trent Franks (R-CD2) called the Sheriff earlier today to ask if he was planning to run.

According to Chad Willems, Arpaio's campaign manager (for whatever he may or may not run for next year), Franks called.  He likely received the same "maybe" that Arpaio is giving to the media, because Willems indicates that Arpaio does not yet know if it would be the right thing for him to do.

Willems tells Arizona's Politics that Arpaio has a large fundraising operation, already has approximately $3 million in his re-election campaign account that could legally be transferred to a run for federal office, and has familiarity with Washington from his previous jobs there (with the DEA).  The decision will be a personal one, says Willems.

Willems gave props to the "impressive" response to the DefendSheriffJoe (independent) fundraising-to-urge-Joe-to-run; it raised nearly $20,000 (from 500+ people) in five days, which will go to more polling and fundraising.  However, Willems says it will be "interesting to see if there's a huge groundswell... that would certainly impact Arpaio's decision."

Franks' phone call to Arpaio may just be an expression of friendly interest.  Or, it may be the best indication yet that a second member of Arizona's current Congressional delegation may be ready to try to step up to the more exclusive chamber.  Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CD6) has already announced his candidacy.

By the way, the polls released today by the Summit Consulting Group that show Arpaio leading Flake and others among likely Republican primary election voters has a margin of error of 3%.  That is according to Summit President, Chad Willems.  (Yes, the same Chad Willems.)


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BREAKING: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Back In National Reality TV Limelight

If you missed any or all of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's previous entrants in the popular reality TV genre, you now have a new chance.  Entertainment Weekly has just broken the news that the popular A&E cable network has greenlit a third season  of the reality show focusing on actor Steven Seagal's exploits as a MCSO Posse member.

The show was shut down last year after Seagal was accused of sex traficking.  Those claims were dropped, and now A&E is ready to bring back the popular Steven Seagal Lawman show.  Of course, Maricopa County residents are already familiar in an up-close-and-personal way with Seagal's lawman efforts, as he has been part of Arpaio's posses in the past.

The EW article/press release features the following interesting quote from Arpaio:  "Mr. Seagal has been on this horse before, so to speak, and will be an asset to this fine organization.  We look forward to working with him. We’re a little unusual here, which should make things pretty interesting.”

Not sure who the "we" that the Sheriff is referring to as being unusual.  Certainly, it is up for interpretation.





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Group Raises Nearly $20,000 Over Weekend To Urge Arpaio To Run For Senate; Combined With Survey Results, Pressure Mounts

Last week, Arizona's Politics reported on the e-mail effort to raise a $25,000 "money bomb"/love note by the end of Valentine's Day to urge Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ).  DefendSheriffJoe.com - a 527 non-profit organization - got close to their goal and raised $19,349 in five short days.

Chairman Vernon Parker notes that it is "truly impressive" that more than 500 people made an average $37.64 contribution to put their money where their mouths are.  "That’s what a grassroots movement looks like," said Parker.

Their voices may be getting heard.  On Sunday, Arpaio - who has often flirted with running for other offices - told a Phoenix television station (Channel 10, Fox) that he would not rule it out and that he would "sure rock the boat on Capitol Hill" if he was elected and that it would be "exciting".

A Republican-leaning political group (Summit Consulting Group) also released a quickie survey of "likely Republican primary election voters" showing Arpaio as the top pick for the 2012 Republican primary for the Senate seat.  Arpaio drew 21.3% to Rep. Jeff Flake's (R-CD6, who announced yesterday) 16.8% and former Rep. J.D. Hayworth's 16.6%.  No word yet on the margin of error of the survey.

According to the organization, the $20,000 DefendSheriffJoe "money bomb" will likely be used to do more polling to convince Arpaio to run, and to then raise more money for an ad campaign.




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Wasting No Time - Draft Arpaio For Senate Effort Starts Day Kyl Announces Retirement

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio running to replace Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)?  That is what the freelancing "Defend Sheriff Joe" organization is proposing.  The 527 tax-exempt organization, run by former Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker, e-mailed their list this afternoon, asking for people to contribute $25,000 before Monday as a "money bomb" that will convince the Sheriff to run.  The full text of the e-mail is below the jump.

The Defend Sheriff Joe organization collected nearly $100,000 last year, and spent only $18,000;  reaching their goal would bring their balance back up to the six-figure mark.  $15,000 of the money was spent on political consultant Nathan Sproul's Lincoln Strategy Group.

The text of the "Draft Sheriff Joe Today" e-mail follows.