I can be a zealot sometimes trying to keep this web site on topic, that topic being “conspiracy theories and fringe views about Barack Obama.” Recently there have been a couple of articles that push the boundaries of the topic. One was a campaign video promoting Orly Taitz’s candidacy for the US Senate, and the second was a couple of articles about the legal troubles of Joe Arpaio.
I’m covering Orly Taitz’s Senate campaign for a couple of reasons. First, Orly is largely known for her birther activities and it’s hard to make anything about her off topic for an Obama conspiracy blog. The second reason is that should she be elected, it’s certain that she would raise an objection to the Congressional certification of the results of the Electoral College vote. The likelihood of her election bears directly on the birther topic.
While Sheriff Joe Arpaio has vaulted into the forefront of the birther story, birtherism doesn’t define him (as it does Orly Taitz). The justification for talking about lawsuits against him is the allegations contained in those suits as they pertain to an alleged relevant pattern of behavior. This is from the Department of Justice Complaint filed today (internal numbering removed):
Since at least 2006 and continuing to the present, in violation of the First Amendment, MCSO and Arpaio have retaliated against critics of MCSO practices,and particularly MCSO’s immigration practices, in an effort to punish these persons for their criticism and to prevent future criticism.
As recounted below, the filing of unsubstantiated complaints and lawsuits demonstrates the pattern or practice of retaliation for protected speech activity.
The former Chief Deputy, acting on behalf of MCSO and Arpaio, filed five separate complaints with the Arizona State Bar targeting attorneys who spoke out publicly against MCSO and Arpaio. Each of these complaints was dismissed for lack of facts or evidence sufficient to support even the initiation of an investigation.
The former Chief Deputy, acting on behalf of MCSO and Arpaio, filed four complaints with the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct targeting judges who had either made public statements critical of MCSO or had issued decisions that Arpaio or MCSO command staff disliked. Each of these complaints was dismissed for lack of facts or evidence to support opening an investigation.
Acting in concert with the former Chief Deputy, Arpaio, and MCSO, a former Maricopa County Attorney filed a lawsuit accusing people who had publicly criticized MCSO of conspiracy in a criminal enterprise. Arpaio participated as a named plaintiff in the lawsuit and substantially contributed to its filing. This case was soon abandoned as unjustified and the responsible attorneys, including former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and two of his assistant attorneys, were subsequently charged by the Arizona State Bar for having violated the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct by bringing the lawsuit.
If Joe Arpaio uses his office to falsely implicate people in crimes for the purpose of retaliation, then one must wonder if the CCP press releases about President Obama isn’t retaliation for the Department of Justice investigation that led to this lawsuit.
These stories are tangential to the main direction of this site and they will get limited coverage.
Doc wonders: “If Joe Arpaio uses his office to falsely implicate people in crimes for the purpose of retaliation, then one must wonder if the CCP press releases about President Obama isn’t retaliation for the Department of Justice investigation that led to this lawsuit.”
Doc is a very smart man.
You’re right that the two stories are tangential to your site’s mission but they do demonstrate something important and that is the lengths to which birthers, and their fellow travelers, will go to use, or misuse, the President to serve their own purposes.
My wild conspiracy theory based on nothing is that WND approached Arpaio and offered him positive coverage in exchange for merely lending his name to that press conference/book launch.
OK, so what’s the wild conspiracy theory?
I think it’s appropriate to discuss “Sheriff Joe” here. Arpaio is the one law enforcement officer in the country to publicly go alpha birther, and he has infected a lot of people.
today:
‘Nothing Changes’: How Sheriff Joe Arpaio Went To Battle Against Civil Rights Laywers Back In 1997
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/sheriff_joe_arpaio_civil_rights_1997_battle.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
6/2010
Joe Arpaio investigation began in 2008
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/07/11/20100711joe-arpaio-probe-first-steps.html
The fundamental difference between Arpaio and say Strunk/Orly/Berg et-al (for the purposes of Doc’s blog) is that Arpaio is coincidentally a Birfoon as part of his muge larger entire sleaze ridden, immoral and outright racist professional lfe.
S/O/B and their ilks are fundament(ally Birfoons with coincidental other moral, ethical and sanity issues.
As a resident of AZ I have watched all of Arpaio’s BS for years.
Once he held his Obama BC presser, my first comments were to reference his previous actions against his political enemies and that this was his MO.
Joe never does his BS under oath, just so he can avoid perjury charges.
Indeed, even in the recent case of his former prosecutor lackey getting disbarred, Sheriff Joe was mentioned as a culprit, but in the end he wasn’t the one prosecuting.
The real question is, where will he find a prosecutor and the like to be willing to risk their career now that it’s been shown what the cost is? Not only is Thomas disbarred, he’s facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs as a result of doing whatever Arpaio told him to do in charging political enemies.
(And beyond that, as actual prosecution for such things starts to come around, will Thomas bite the bullet and make a deal to testify against Arpaio?)
Sheriff Joe is hardly the moron that Orly is. Orly is plain stupid. She does not listen and certainly does not learn. I guess some of her behavior is dictated by her early childhood, but her birther antics indicate, to me at least, a level of cunning but no real smarts.
Joe has been abusing the power of his office for a long time now and it is finally catching up with him.
The Dubya Bush administration were also power abusers. The only difference between him and Dubya Bush’s cabal of fellow abusers, is that they are managing to get away with it, because they have more power than he does.
He came out with all this birther crap in response to the DOJ investigation into the many allegations of abuse of his office. The final straw was the death of a man while in custody. His CCP is merely trying to throw some dust up to distract from the real problems he is facing.
Ain’t going to work. At this point in time, the birthers and their claims have lost all credibility. If they had been able to score even 1 point in all their court cases, things might be different. But they haven’t and his latching on to them at this point must mean he is getting desperate.
The open thread is no longer accepting comments, so posting this here.
SD is hearing a challenge to keep Obama of the ballot as we speak. The complaint was filed in February by Thomas Scheveck. I’m going to guess he was inspired by Orly as it is incorrectly filed as a HAVA complaint and Orly had advised her minions to use that form all over the country.
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/rapidcityjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/ed/ced0b7c6-9a19-11e1-888f-001a4bcf887a/4faadab15fa78.pdf.pdf
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/rapid-city-man-wants-obama-tossed-off-state-ballot/article_d24fb55a-9a4b-11e1-9e74-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story
There’s another reason why the suit against Sheriff Joe belongs here. To the birthers, the suit is further evidence against Obama, as it is only beong done in retaliation for Arpaio going after the President.
So what if the investigation that led to the suit started under GWB?
It’s only a matter of time before Thomas starts singing like a bird.
What a shocker-the SD ballot chalenge failed. Took all of 11 minutes.
http://my605.com/pierrereview/?p=6000
The stupidity in this birther complaint lies squarely at the feet of Taitz, Donofrio and Apuzzo. I hope the courts take notice of the origins of this legal incompetence and historical revisionism by politically or racially motivated birther bigots.
The repeated misspelling of Barack is another nice giveaway of the mental prowess here.
Like you I’ve observed this little drama for a very long time.
I caution others to not underestimate Arpaio. He is, if nothing else, a wiley political survivor. Here are some good insights into him and what to expect from E.J. Montini of the Republic:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/05/10/20120510montini0511-lawsuits-not-press-battles-rein-arpaio.html
More shocking news from North Dakota!!
“PIERRE — The state board that regulates the beauty shop professions in South Dakota is getting a new face.
Lori Berreth of Artas was appointed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard to the state Cosmetology Commission. She succeeds Ila Davis of Ipswich.”
OMG! This conspiracy runs all the way from the Tidal Basin to the Northern Plains. I know for a fact that Ila Davis watches “Glee,” and that Lori Berreth WASN’T EVEN BORN IN NORTH DAKOTA!!
You kook-aid drinkers better wake up!!! This is the worst case of criminalism since the Game, Fish, and Parks Commission tried to stop patriots from shooting muskrats on public land. PUBLIC LAND!! That means it belongs to “We the People” not “We the Sheeple”!
The fact that it was a teleconference probably sped things up a bit.
Good point.
Apuzzo’s already telling people on his blog that Arpaio can challenge Obama’s eligibility as part of his defense:
“The Justice Department is part of the Executive Branch of Government. The Chief Executive is the President. Every one in that Department therefore obtains his/her orders from the President. If Sheriff Joe should be personally charged with criminal and/or civil wrongdoing, he probably would have standing to challenge the executive action against him, arguing that Obama is not eligible and so therefore neither is the action against him”
It’s in the comments of the Strunk defense article, comment made on May 10, 9:23PM.
How did that defense work out for Lakin?
The Birthers seem to be incapable of learning from previous mistakes.
Or anyone else who’s tried to raise it? Doing this has harmed or runied the lives of several,Dr. Terry Lakin most of all but also Dr. Connie Rhodes and the late Lt. Col Stephan Cook.
But as has been noted above, birthers seemingly never learn.
Mario should represent Clueless Joe. They were meant for each other.
“So what if the investigation that led to the suit started under GWB?” i previously posted 2 links:
‘Nothing Changes’: How Sheriff Joe Arpaio Went To Battle Against Civil Rights Laywers Back In 1997
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/sheriff_joe_arpaio_civil_rights_1997_battle.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
6/2010
Joe Arpaio investigation began in 2008
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/07/11/20100711joe-arpaio-probe-first-steps.html
when i posted them elsewhere, the reply was: arpaio was found INNOCENT
i have YET to find an “INNOCENT” determination re arpaio
I think we should start a blog pool on how long it takes the judgte to shut down this course of action. I suggest we measure it in nanoseconds.
Even though Mario seems to be sufficiently deluded to raise his NBC theories in an attempted defense of Arpaio, I think Arpaio is bright enough never to mention his investigations in a courtroom. Arpaio’s Birther adventures are for camera and book sales only.
I think Connie Rhodes got religion, fired crazy Orly and ran on off to Iraq like a good little girl who was not about to ruin her medical career for crazy stuff.
Or maybe her family (e.g., someone who loves her) pulled her aside, got her away from Orly long enough for her head to clear from listening to Orly’s voice which hymotized (spelled wrong but at work and can’t look it up right now) her, and she (Connie) saw that she’d better dump Orly.
Mario may be an even worse lawyer than I gave him discredit for. I would just love to see him show a precedent where a Court ruled that the President of the United States, by virtue of his office, was directly and personally responsible for the actions of the entire Executive branch. One would hope the President isn’t that much of a micro-manager.
Of course, the de facto officer doctrine would immediately come into play, so the point is doubly moot.
So he is saying that anyone who is charged with a Federal crime has standing. Mind-boggling.
It’s no wonder that Mario gives his “legal advice” for free on his blog. Who would pay for his garbage?
Is Apuzzo not the losing lawyer in at least two cases now? I am losing count… Will Arpaio want to go down in flames? Good luck..
“This case was soon abandoned as unjustified and the responsible attorneys, including former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and two of his assistant attorneys, were subsequently charged by the Arizona State Bar for having violated the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct by bringing the lawsuit.”
You forgot to add… “and subsequently disbarred. Andrew Thomas and his aide, Lisa Aubuchon, were disbarred. Another aide, Rachel Alexander, had her law license suspended for six months.”
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/andrew_thomas_ethics_arpaio.php
It;’s the dog who barked the night.
We all know Mario is an averagely competent attorney, at worst. Therefore he doesn’t say or do things like this because he believes them to be true or effective, but to raise shit amongst the morons.
And since Mario’s past proves that Mario doesn’t do things unless they benefit Mario financially, Mario is being paid to raise shit — handsomely paid, on a full retainer if I may hazard a guess (which BTW he has never denied),
You must stop to look at Mario as a fool; he is the paid mouthpiece / propaganda tool of the KKK or like organization.
Beat me to it.
Heavy drinkers?
Kinda like mosquitoes and the West Nile virus.