Joe Arpaio and the facts get skewed in NYT report

Count on the New York Times to write a n inaccurate article on former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The intent of reporter Fernanda Santos was clearly to skewer the career lawman who was repeatedly elected by Maricopa County voters to an unprecedented six-four years terms.

If Fernanda was named Colleen McClanahan, would she have been given this assignment in which she conspicuously interviewed only Hispanics who were erroneously led to believe that Arpaio was targeting them without cause. His workplace raids exposed illegal alien profiteers — business owners and their agents — who hired illegal foreign nationals at substandard wages. Those in the U.S. illegally were rightly booked.

In what clearly appeared to be a personal vendetta carried out by a federal judge timed to coincide with the General Election in which the popular Arpaio was on the ballot running for a seventh term, he was charged with criminal contempt of court for ignoring U.S. District Judge Murray Snow’s order in a three-year old “racial-profiling” case. Arpaio acknowledged violating Snow’s order but insisted the breach was unintentional.

Arpaio was made to sound pathetic, when he is anything but. At age 84, he is quick-witted and robust, with an excellent memory and thoughtful demeanor. Reporter Santos portrays Arpaio as virtually friendless, left to look back wistfully over his expansive career. That, too, is delusional on her part. He still rates standing ovations and has maintained an unwavering base of loyalists.

The article briefly focuses on Arpaio’s successor, Sheriff Paul Penzone, but neglects to mention that Socialist billionaire George Soros, who is contemptuous of national borders, funded his campaign as part of a massive effort to reconfigure the U.S. Justice System. Penzone, who  refers to illegal aliens as  “guests” meets Soros’ criteria. Also missing from the report is the fact that Penzone had roughed up his former wife while a sergeant on the Phoenix Police force and was placed on administrative leave.

Santos scores another deception as she writes, “Fiscal conservatives deserted Arpaio, weary of the rising costs of his legal bills.“ Missing is any reference that Paul Penzone is angling for a $10 million budget hike for the upcoming fiscal year, which she obviously considers unworthy of mention.  Apparently the sidelong glancing Santos is only able to focus her negativity on Arpaio, which she then pumps up with flaccid “facts.”

Arpaio’s renown Tent City has been dismantled by Penzone, who has negatively referred to the cost saving effort as a “circus.”  The tents are military surplus, the same tents our service personnel bunk in. Here in Phoenix they are air-cooled.  In the Middle East desert, there is no such accommodation for our troops.

Included in the interview is a 31-year-old state legislator, identified as “a son of Mexican immigrants” (legal? illegal?) who represents the West Phoenix district where he grew up. He recalls seeing sheriff’s deputies “going down my street, raiding homes in my neighborhood.” This is a brazen lie. Such raids would only take place with a warrant issued in criminal cases, yet the bogus recollection is included as part of Fernanda Santos’ report. If his neighbors were drug dealers or murderers, he neglected to mention it.

The New York Times, it should be remembered, is the same newspaper that in 2008 — during John McCain’s failed presidential bid — wrote a piece on Arizona politics, highlighting then-congressman John Shadegg. He referred to his constituents who believe that a sovereign nation has a right to secure its borders, as “xenophobic and intolerant.”  Shadegg is no longer a congressman.  He’s now earning a lucrative salary as a DC lobbyist — and no longer insulting us.