Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio
11 April 2012. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio distanced himself from cases at the centre of a legal ethics panel inquiry. Yet a pair of former county prosecutors lost their jobs.
Arpaio has denied wrongdoing, but the three-member disciplinary panel of the Arizona courts said Tuesday that evidence suggests the sheriff conspired with Maricopa County’s former top prosecutor, Andrew Thomas, to intimidate a judge with unfounded criminal charges.
Although Arpaio was not charged he was discussed heavily during the ethics investigation into Thomas and one of his deputy prosecutors, Lisa Aubuchon. The disciplinary panel disbarred Thomas and Aubuchon.
He is also known for his investigation of President Barack Obama’s citizenship. Here is a video of Joe Arpaio announcing interim result of Cold Case Posse’s investigation into President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, which he claims was forged. Cold Case Posse is a team of volunteers who helped him in the investigations at no cost to the tax payers funds.
An analysis by the Maricopa County Office of Management and Budget, completed in April 2011, found Arpaio has misspent almost $100 million in taxpayer dollars over the previous 5 years.
His practices have been criticised by the United States Department of Justice, United States District Courts, and organizations such as Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the American Jewish Committee, and the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. The New York Times called Arpaio “America’s Worst Sheriff”. Controversial issues surrounding Arpaio have included allegations of racial profiling.
He has survived many storms during his five terms in office, representing 4 million people of Maricopa Country in Arizona.
Here is a YouTube video of Joe Arpaio’s fight with Department of Justice.
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