opinion

Will Arpaio's Republican bootlickers ask him to resign?

Where are the Republican leaders who should be calling for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to resign?

The sheriff admits to ignoring a federal judge's order. He admits that a man was used to follow the judge's wife because of something she supposedly said about her husband not wanting to see the sheriff reelected.

He's supposed to be the county's top law enforcement officer.

Just about every Republican who has run for every office in the state – including the new Gov. Doug Ducey – has kissed Arpaio's ring and asked for his blessing.

Just about every Republican who has run for President of the United States has made a pilgrimage to the sheriff's office to beg his endorsement.

So, where are they now?

Either they should be out there, standing in support of the man who helped them to get elected or – and this would be better – they should be calling on him to resign.

There is a chance that after his civil contempt hearing before Judge Murray Snow that Arpaio will face an investigation for criminal contempt.

At the very least he will be hit with a big fine and roasted by the judge.

He should quit.

He's had a good run, better than anyone before him.

It's time to go.

The Republican leaders who threw themselves at his feet all these years should have the backbone to rise up, look him in the eye, and tell him to resign.

I recall in 1988 when Sen. John McCain along with then-Reps. Jon Kyl, Jay Rhodes and Jim Kolbe stood outside the Arizona State Capitol and asked Gov. Evan Mecham to resign.

He didn't follow their advice and was impeached, convicted and removed from office.

It was a year of misery for the state.

I suspect Arpaio would respond to such a request in the same way as Mecham, who said, ''What an insult that would be to the hard-working people who put me in this office . . . to leave and hand it over to the other party."

The sheriff is a stubborn man. A vain man.

But he understands and appreciates a direct approach.

When speaking of the threats he has received over the Internet Arpaio once said, "They're lowlifes who don't have the guts to go after me face to face."

It's time for Arpaio's Republican beneficiaries to show a little guts. To to after him face to face.

It's time for the Republicans who owe Arpaio a portion of their political success to pay him back with a little honesty.

It's time to ask him to resign.