A law unto himself

One man, under badge, with liberty and justice for none. Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

This story goes from ridiculous to ludicrous and is no longer even off-beat humour. This is really nasty stuff, folks.

Guambat first caught the wind of Sheriff Joe in this post: No mea culpa in Maricopa .

The shenanigans mentioned there were small potatoes compared to where he's got up to now. Now Sheriff Joe is snubbing his nose at the Feds and indicting the whole judicial system. Literally indicting, but maybe not the entire judicial system. Just the part that judges the Sheriff's bailiwick.

Arizona sheriff ups the ante against his foes

Joe Arpaio has escalated his tactics, not only defying the federal government on immigration but launching repeated investigations of those who criticize him.

The day after the federal government told Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that he could no longer use his deputies to round up suspected illegal immigrants on the street, the combative Arizona sheriff did just that.

He launched one of his notorious "sweeps," in which his officers descend on heavily Latino neighborhoods, arrest hundreds of people for violations as minor as a busted headlight and ask them whether they are in the country legally.

"I wanted to show everybody it didn't make a difference," Arpaio said of the Obama administration's order.

But he has escalated his tactics in recent months, not only defying the federal government but launching repeated investigations of those who criticize him. He recently filed a racketeering lawsuit against the entire Maricopa County power structure. On Thursday night, the Arizona Court of Appeals issued an emergency order forbidding the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office from searching the home or chambers of a Superior Court judge who was named in the racketeering case.

Last year, when Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon called for a federal investigation of Arpaio's immigration enforcement, the Sheriff's Office demanded to see Gordon's e-mails, phone logs and appointment calendars.

When the police chief in one suburb complained about the sweeps, Arpaio's deputies raided that town's City Hall.

A local television station, KPHO, in a 10-minute-long segment last month, documented two dozen instances of the sheriff launching investigations of critics, none of which led to convictions.

It was just such a Sheriff who made Robin Hood so famous.

Sheriff Arpaio Accused of More Abuses

Arpaio & Thomas: Menaces To Society

Multi-tasking Arpaio goes after deadbeats, politicians



A November poll by Rasmussen Reports said that of 1,200 likely Arizona voters, he was the Republicans' "best shot at holding onto the Arizona governorship in 2010."


See more here, here and here, with related links there, too.

Also, you might want to consider keeping up to date on this detractors and attrackees in Google News. If you have the stomach for it.