Two recent issues have had two major pieces by the paper shamelessly touting Arpaio’s book. A column, by Times owner Alan Cruikshank, and a story by staff reporter Bob Burns. These fawning, one-sided pieces glossing over Arpaio's legacy and overt promotion of his book are contrary and degrading to good journalism.
I let the first shocking column slide because I respect Alan, having known him since the early ‘70s. But a second piece is astounding.
Arpaio's early career before becoming Maricopa County Sheriff is commendable, and he deserves credit for that dangerous work. However, his career as the U.S.’s third largest county Sheriff was not so.
In Alan’s column he mentions Arpaio “pursuing the truth about Obama’s birth certificate.” Such a phrase gives credence to what was actually Arpaio trying to prove a debunked internet conspiracy theory with blatant racial connotations, in tandem with Trump’s also disgraceful repetition of the same. Alan repeated the absurd self-aggrandizing “John Wayne” tough guy, larger-than-life and celebrity persona that Arpaio fantasizes of himself.
Please. Arpaio, over the course of his career as sheriff, cost us over $150 million in legal fees from a plethora of lawsuits over mistreatment, wrongful deaths while in custody, racial profiling and appalling tactics he must have picked up in some of the Third World countries he worked in.
The Times has no worries there. By his own hand, not due to a biased media attacking him, he made himself not a hero, but a disgraceful embarrassment to Arizona worldwide. His two runs for unlikely re-election because of being guilty of contempt of court, appear to be personal fundraising events.
