It's another year in paradise for the taxpayers of Maricopa County, Arizona, home of America's most famous sheriff, Joe Arpaio. On New Year's Day, The Arizona Republic reported that Sheriff Joe's unconstitutional antics over the years—the systemic racial profiling chronicled so meticulously last May by a federal judge, for example—has cost his constituents another $21.9 million. That's on top of the tens of millions in other legal fees and penalties Arpaio already has cost the good people of his county during his 22-year reign there. From The Republic:

The $21.9 million estimate includes several big-ticket items: Salaries and employee benefits to launch a seven-member unit to implement changes recommended by the court order, plus five vehicles, six computers, supplies and fuel for the unit. An electronic data-entry system, cameras for all patrol vehicles, and training for deputies to use the system to input data detailing the reasons for and lengths of their traffic stops. Salaries and benefits for enough new supervisors to assure “effective supervision” for patrol deputies. No more than 12 deputies will be assigned to each supervisor, per the court order. The county will pay for seven additional sergeants, three additional deputies, and all their equipment, stun guns and radios. After fiscal 2015, additional changes ordered by the court will cost an estimated $10 million annually, mainly in salaries, benefits and overtime hours for additional staff.

In other words, as The Republic reports, by consistently and flagrantly violating the constitutional rights of his constituents, Arpaio has brought upon those constituents a level of federal oversight that is entirely unnecessary for hundreds of other sheriffs in Arizona and elsewhere. Sheriff Joe rails against this federal intrusion upon his county's autonomy-- a court-ordered monitor now is at hand-- even as his colleagues in office scramble to comply with their legal obligations. He plays the victim—the embattled symbol of sensible enforcement—while the people he is supposed to protect are the ones who have to pay his bill.

And now come PR-infused rumors that Arpaio is urging the actor Steven Seagal to run for governor. They are a perfect pair, aren't they? An actor who built his career on a film called Above the Law and a lawman long documented to be among the most lawless in the nation. They truly deserve to waste each other's time. The only problem is that while the earnest voters of the state, if given the choice, may never elect Seagal, the earnest voters of Maricopa County keep sending Arpaio back on the job—he's been reelected six times since 1992, even after the worst civil rights allegations against him were proven true.