Joseph Arpaio is wrong for the position of Fountain Hills mayor. When I worked in the sheriff’s office as a posse volunteer, I saw how cautious people were in speaking anywhere others might hear. There was a lot of looking over one’s shoulder. When word reached him about anything perceived as criticism, retaliation quickly followed.

I served for years in the honor guard. At one point it was headed by a detention sergeant who had more courage than caution. Come election time his personal vehicle bearing the bumper sticker of Arpaio’s opponent was spotted in an employee parking lot by an Arpaio loyalist. An inmate complaint which had been investigated, found to be without merit and dismissed over a year before was suddenly reopened. The sergeant was placed and kept on enforced at-home paid suspension, with no hearing, for a year.

Cook County, Ill., and Harris County, Texas, with sheriff’s offices of similar size, each had less than half a dozen such cases ongoing. MCSO, with a sheriff adept at punitive administrative measures which avoided accountability, had over 50.

Finally, he quit, just as Arpaio’s politicized cronies intended. MCSO lost a good supervisor. We don’t need to impose that kind of fear and intimidation-laden atmosphere on our residents and Town staff. I’m voting for Ginny Dickey. Let’s not find ourselves living in Joseph Arpaio’s dark shadows.