opinion

Arpaio spent $120,000 on conspiracy probe and got....cable TV

America's Toughest Sheriff is apparently also America's Most Desperate Sheriff.

And America's Most Conspiracy-Minded Sheriff.

And possibly America's Most Easily Duped Sheriff.

Newly released records show Sheriff Joe Arpaio spent at least $120,000 on a confidential informant last year in his effort to discredit U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow, the federal judge who found that Arpaio's deputies racially profiled Latino drivers.

Despite the misgivings of one of his top aides, Arpaio continued to funnel money to Dennis Montgomery, a Seattle computer programmer, in an effort to nab Snow and others in Arpaio's growing legion of political enemies.

Because the guy is so darned credible.

Montgomery's the confidential informant who in 2003 reportedly convinced the CIA that he had software that could decode secret al-Qaida messages. He reportedly claimed that Al Jazeera was embedding secret barcodes into its broadcasts, revealing the targets of intended terrorist attacks.

It was Montgomery who flagged the CIA on a plot to hijack certain incoming international Air France flights just before Christmas 2003, prompting then-President Bush to ground the flights. Turned out there was no plot, not so much as a single barcoded message. Playboy magazine in January 2010 dubbed Montgomery "The Man Who Conned the Pentagon."

James Risen detailed the "plot" in his 2014 book, "Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War." "Montgomery was the maestro behind what many current and former U.S. officials and others familiar with the case now believe was one of the most elaborate and dangerous hoaxes in American history," the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter wrote.

So a Montgomery-Arpaio alliance? Match made in heaven.

Montgomery had apparently claimed that he could use his nifty software to prove that Snow had given the Department of Justice permission to tap the phones and e-mails of MCSO as it sought a scoop for its own civil racial-profiling lawsuit against Arpaio, according to sheriff's documents.

Dubbed the "Seattle Operation," sheriff's officials hoped that Montgomery could show that Snow was working with U.S Attorney General Eric Holder and others to conspire against Arpaio.

Despite warnings from Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan that Arpaio was chasing a phantom and risked angering the judge (mission accomplished), the sheriff continued to pour RICO funds into the Seattle Operation.

And in return got …

… Video from the Al Jazeera network.

Genius plan, but hey sheriff, couldn't you get that video by subscribing to cable TV?

Arpaio is currently facing contempt-of-court charges for failing to obey Snow's 2011 order to stop his immigration patrols. Arpaio has admitted wrongdoing and said the order "slipped through the cracks."

"I didn't know all the facts of this court order, and it really hurts me that after 55 years … to be in this position," Arpaio said in April, during his contempt-of-court hearing. "So I want to apologize to the judge that I should have known more. This court order slipped through the cracks."

Perhaps if it had been aired on Al Jazeera he might have paid attention?