by Pa Rock
Former Arizonan
I lived on the western edge of Phoenix (Goodyear and Glendale) from 2007 until 2014, with one two-year hiatus during the middle of that stretch when I was working on Okinawa. The five years that I was actually in residence in Arizona afforded me the distinct privilege of voting against Joe Arpaio for sheriff of Maricopa County on two separate occasions (2008 and 2012), the last two times that Old Joe successfully won the office. (Those two victories ushered in his sixth and seventh four-year terms in office.)
One spring Saturday in 2013 I also had the had the pleasure of manning a petition table outside of the Glendale Public Library in which several of us worked collecting signatures for Arpaio's recall from office, an effort that ultimately failed. One of my co-workers that morning was Randy Parraz, an energetic and charismatic young man who had run unsuccessfully for the US Senate for Arizona in 2010.
I left Arizona in early 2014 and moved home to the Ozarks. Two years later Arpaio finally lost the sheriff's office, and I felt cheated that I had not been there to cast my vote against him when he eventually lost.
Arpaio left the sheriff's office in early 2017, and shortly thereafter he was convicted on a charge of contempt in federal court for his continuing profiling of immigrant citizens in his traffic stops and raids after the court specifically ordered him to stop focusing on on the immigrant populations. Arpaio was facing up to six months in prison, but a few months later the new President, Donald Trump, flew into Phoenix and publicly pardoned Arpaio for his federal crimes.
Joe Arpaio ran for the Republican nomination for the US Senate the next year (2018) but came in a miserable third, both in Arizona as well as in his home county of Maricopa. Some local journalists at the time speculated that Arpaio's primary impetus to run involved his fondness for collecting political donations - and that he in fact used those donations as a source of personal income.
Now, two years later in 2020, Joe Arpaio is again busy collecting donations as he again runs for public office in Arizona. This time the 88-year-old Arpaio is campaigning for his old job as Sheriff of Maricopa County, again as a Republican. He has two lesser known Republican opponents, and the winner on tomorrow's primary will face off against Democratic Sheriff Paul Penzone, the man who beat Arpaio - decisively - back in 2016. Arpaio has been raising money relentlessly and has amassed more than any of the other candidates. He currently has around $1.2 million in donations, about twice what Penzone has, and far more than either of his Republican opponents. A large part of Arpaio's donations appear to be coming from his fanbase outside of Arizona,
What remains to be seen is how aggressively Arpaio will campaign - and if he will spend his new cash liberally in his latest run for office - or will he try to close out the race with cash in the bank? Does he really want to go back to work, or is it just that Joe loves the attention and the side income?
Tomorrow will begin to tell that tale, but one thing does appear certain: whether he wins or loses tomorrow, Arizona has probably not seen the last of Joe Arpaio. As long as old Joe can get to the polls, he will probably be running for something!
It's the nature of the beast.
Former Arizonan
I lived on the western edge of Phoenix (Goodyear and Glendale) from 2007 until 2014, with one two-year hiatus during the middle of that stretch when I was working on Okinawa. The five years that I was actually in residence in Arizona afforded me the distinct privilege of voting against Joe Arpaio for sheriff of Maricopa County on two separate occasions (2008 and 2012), the last two times that Old Joe successfully won the office. (Those two victories ushered in his sixth and seventh four-year terms in office.)
One spring Saturday in 2013 I also had the had the pleasure of manning a petition table outside of the Glendale Public Library in which several of us worked collecting signatures for Arpaio's recall from office, an effort that ultimately failed. One of my co-workers that morning was Randy Parraz, an energetic and charismatic young man who had run unsuccessfully for the US Senate for Arizona in 2010.
I left Arizona in early 2014 and moved home to the Ozarks. Two years later Arpaio finally lost the sheriff's office, and I felt cheated that I had not been there to cast my vote against him when he eventually lost.
Arpaio left the sheriff's office in early 2017, and shortly thereafter he was convicted on a charge of contempt in federal court for his continuing profiling of immigrant citizens in his traffic stops and raids after the court specifically ordered him to stop focusing on on the immigrant populations. Arpaio was facing up to six months in prison, but a few months later the new President, Donald Trump, flew into Phoenix and publicly pardoned Arpaio for his federal crimes.
Joe Arpaio ran for the Republican nomination for the US Senate the next year (2018) but came in a miserable third, both in Arizona as well as in his home county of Maricopa. Some local journalists at the time speculated that Arpaio's primary impetus to run involved his fondness for collecting political donations - and that he in fact used those donations as a source of personal income.
Now, two years later in 2020, Joe Arpaio is again busy collecting donations as he again runs for public office in Arizona. This time the 88-year-old Arpaio is campaigning for his old job as Sheriff of Maricopa County, again as a Republican. He has two lesser known Republican opponents, and the winner on tomorrow's primary will face off against Democratic Sheriff Paul Penzone, the man who beat Arpaio - decisively - back in 2016. Arpaio has been raising money relentlessly and has amassed more than any of the other candidates. He currently has around $1.2 million in donations, about twice what Penzone has, and far more than either of his Republican opponents. A large part of Arpaio's donations appear to be coming from his fanbase outside of Arizona,
What remains to be seen is how aggressively Arpaio will campaign - and if he will spend his new cash liberally in his latest run for office - or will he try to close out the race with cash in the bank? Does he really want to go back to work, or is it just that Joe loves the attention and the side income?
Tomorrow will begin to tell that tale, but one thing does appear certain: whether he wins or loses tomorrow, Arizona has probably not seen the last of Joe Arpaio. As long as old Joe can get to the polls, he will probably be running for something!
It's the nature of the beast.
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