The best sign that an Arizona recall effort is rolling toward success is the reaction it’s creating on the other side. Fans of its subject–Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio–are freaking out.

Sheriff Joe’s abuses of his office have been well-documented and include racial profiling, misappropriation of funds, and the failure to investigate over 400 sex crimes. However, in a state whose conservative element values the round-up of undocumented immigrants over human rights, Arpaio still managed to eke out a victory in last fall’s election. The recall effort was organized in February and has already gotten a third of the signatures necessary, even though the deadline isn’t until the end of May.

What’s an Arpaio fan to do? Well, first his support group, Citizens To Protect Fair Election Results, demanded that the recall organization, Respect Arizona, stop their activities. When that was met with little more than laughter, they called together a ‘shadow army’ to dog the petition’s signature gatherers and re-educate anyone who looks like they might take pen in hand about the virtues of Arpaio and the devilish ways of his opposition. Only about 30 shadow warriors responded to the call, however, so 120,000 signatures later, the state legislature decided to get involved.





The legislature, chock full of conservative Republicans, passed a law last week mandating that recall elections must have a recall primary which, in Arizona, are partisan–so someone like Arpaio would first face only Republican voters. This step is in contradiction to the state constitution, which clearly calls for a special election and spells out how it is to be conducted. Even more outrageously, the law was made retroactive to January 1, 2013 in order to protect one man: Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Should it be signed by Governor Jan Brewer–which it no doubt will be–it’ll go to court with the speed and fury of a dust devil whipping through the desert.

Attorney Tom Ryan, who defended, in court, Arizona’s only successful recall, said he’s ready to go back to court again if House Bill 2282 passes. Calling it “clearly unconstitutional,” he told columnist Laurie Roberts:

“This is not their job to protect Sheriff Joe. Their job is to protect the process and now they’re violating the process to protect the very man that many of them owe their political careers to. That’s shameful.”

But Arizona conservatives are apparently impervious to shame. The other tricks they have up their sleeves are (1) threatening to recall the only Democratic Maricopa County Commissioner, Rose Wilcox, for unspecified reasons, (2) threatening to recall the House Minority Leader, Democrat Chad Campbell, for unspecified reasons, (3) whining loudly about the support Respect Arizona gets from out-of-state, including a number of additional petition gatherers. Oh, please! Arpaio’s massive $8,000,000 war chest for last November’s election came largely from California donors.

As William Fisher, chairman of Respect Arizona, told the Arizona Republic:

“The truth is I will be going anywhere to raise money. I prefer to do it in Maricopa County, but if I have to go to Tucson, I’ll do it; if I have to go to (Washington) D.C., I’ll do it. … The issue is that important.”

Fisher also thinks a vital ingredient for success is unifying Latinos behind the effort. He said:

“Everyone I talk to is upset with the sheriff. I personally am upset with the way he’s handling his office, and it’s bad for Arizona. Everywhere I go, they all know who he is. They say, ‘He hates Mexicans.’ I think we’re going to be able to show that the Latino community is coming together as one community. We’re not just Democrats, and we’re not just Republicans.”

In contrast to the sheriff’s supporters, Respect Arizona backers aren’t desperate. They’re determined.

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