Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate and millionaire businessman Buz Mills is taking on a new challenge.
He’s focusing his fundraising efforts on helping two Arizona sheriffs defend themselves against lawsuits challenging Arizona’s controversial immigration law.
Mills is chairing the Border Sheriffs, a new non-profit organization set up to raise private funds to cover the legal fees of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, two of the state’s 15 county sheriffs named in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil-rights groups.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio also is named as a defendant in a separate lawsuit filed by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, but he is not part of the Border Sheriffs group. None of the other four Senate Bill 1070 lawsuits name any sheriffs as defendants.
Mills said the goal of the Border Sheriffs is not to defend SB 1070, which he supports as a tool for law enforcement, but to help the sheriffs on the front lines. Cochise County shares about 80 miles of border with Mexico, and Pinal County is a major corridor of travel for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.
“Helping them raise funds lets them focus on their main job: protecting Arizonans against this international violence,” Mills said.
