Randy “Open Borders” Parraz at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting 1/31/12.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office provided members of the Board of Supervisors with a public update on a handful of the controversial topics afflicting the agency right now, but the airing of the sheriff’s laundry did little to change the minds of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s ardent supporters and critics who packed a county auditorium Tuesday morning.
Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan told board members Arpaio’s agency has made mistakes but has worked with county officials in the last 18 months to address many of the office’s shortcomings, including misappropriated funds and inadequately investigated sex crimes.
But those explanations did little to placate dozens of Arpaio critics who had come to ask questions of Sheridan and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and share their concerns with members of the Board.
When it became apparent that a question-and-answer session would have to wait until the end of the sheriff’s presentation, dozens of Arpaio critics left the hearing in protest.
Later, Chad Snow, a vocal critic of the Sheriff’s Office, told board members the group refused to listen to Arpaio apologists make excuses for the behavior that has led to accusations of mismanagement and discrimination within the Sheriff’s Office.
House Speaker moves forward to address problems with IRC
The Arizona Capitol Times is reporting that House Speaker Andy Tobin has introduced a host of measures that would set a special election enabling voters to decide whether to use legislative and congressional maps drawn by elected legislators representing constituencies – as was the practice prior to the passage of Prop. 106 in 2000. Democrats and Republicans worked together to draw the lines.
Arizonans are currently faced with oddly configured and decidedly partisan maps approved last month by Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission.
President Obama and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer had what was described as an intense encounter on the tarmac after the president arrived in the Grand Canyon state on Wednesday.
Brewer greeted the president as he arrived off Air Force One, as governors often do when the president visits a state, and handed him a letter that she described as a “welcome” note to the state, and an invitation to talk about a comeback for her state.
Obama put the letter in the limo before going to greet Arizonans waiting nearby.
The Republican governor later told pool reporters accompanying the president that Obama brought up that he was a little disturbed (her wording) by the book she published last year called “Scorpions for Breakfast.” In the tome, she said the president was “patronizing” in a one-on-one meeting about border security.
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FN Five-sevens were among the weapons allowed to walk. Photo: Wikipedia
As I wrote in a post for Big Government this past Sunday, January 22, the Arizona’s legislature has decided once more to do the job the feds won’t do, and has launched its own investigation into Fast and Furious. And during an appearance on FOX NEWS this morning, Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin explained why they’ve taken this step. He said that constituents were flooding their offices with questions about the gun-running operation, and he said one recurring question was, “You’re not waiting for the feds [to do something] are you?” He then said the answer to that question was “No.”
Said Tobin:
This is an incident that occurred on Arizona soil, with Arizona business owners, [where we lost] an Arizona agent (Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry), and quite frankly we felt it needed a lot more attention. We felt our citizens needed a place to go to share their stories. Maybe there’s more there. This was a failed program right from the start and I think the idea is to put more light on it.
FN Five-sevens were among the weapons allowed to walk. Photo: Wikipedia
PHOENIX – Two men pleaded guilty to buying guns that were destined to be smuggled into Mexico, the first convictions in the federal government’s botched Operation Fast and Furious.
The men were so-called “straw buyers” who acknowledged purchasing guns that they knew were headed to Mexican drug gangs.
The goal of the federal government’s investigation was to catch weapons-trafficking kingpins, but firearms agents lost track of many weapons they were trying to trace to smuggling ringleaders, and some guns ended up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S.
Jacob Wayne Chambers and Jacob Anthony Montelongo each pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to a conspiracy charge. Montelongo also pleaded guilty to dealing guns without a license.
The pair admitted being part of a 20-person smuggling ring that is accused of running guns into Mexico for use by the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Group urging supervisors to remove him
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s political foes vowed to disrupt Wednesday’s Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting to demand Arpaio’s resignation or removal, but the board is suggesting an alternative venue for the activists to air their concerns.
Local activists for the past two months have demanded supervisors schedule a forum on Wednesday’s board agenda to discuss recent events involving the Sheriff’s Office. The forum will not be held Wednesday, however.
Supervisors instead plan to accommodate protesters at an update meeting on the sheriff’s budget, where controls placed in that budget and audits of his operations will be discussed. Sheriff’s staff and the county attorney are expected to attend. Supervisors consider it a more appropriate venue to address public concerns.
Board Chairman Max Wilson also is planning a private meeting with Randy “Open Borders” Parraz, president of Citizens for a Better Arizona, in an attempt to quell that group’s public protests.
Parraz has agreed to meet, but protesters are unlikely to back down, vowing to pressure supervisors until November, when the sheriff, the supervisors and the county attorney are up for re-election. Parraz led a similar effort in 2008.
As Arizona state officials open their own probe into Operation Fast and Furious, the head of the House panel investigating the gunrunning scandal is crying foul over a key player’s move Tuesday to assert his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions.
Patrick Cunningham, the chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Arizona, was excused from a deposition after refusing to give more than his name and title, Fox News has learned.
Cunningham informed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee through his attorney that he would use the Fifth Amendment protection after being subpoenaed last week to testify in front of congressional investigators regarding his role in the operation that sent more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa drug cartel. Guns from the failed operation were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010.
When Obama was running for president in 2008, he promised to “fundamentally change America” – a phrase which lucid Americans took as meaning he was going to bring his leftist agenda to bear on us all. And if Obama has had any success as president, it’s certainly been his success in changing us fundamentally from a nation under law to a nation that often looks lawless. From a nation in which one feels secure into a nation in which more and more people are feeling that their security is in their own hands (literally). And this has led not only to record breaking gun sales since Obama’s election, but also to changes in state laws around the country to make it easier for law-abiding citizens to carry a handgun for their own protection.
As a result of this, Wisconsin, which was one of the few states to not have some form of concealed carry law within its borders, now has one thanks to their much maligned Republican legislature and Gov. Scott Walker. With the stroke of a pen in July of 2011, Walker made Wisconsin the 49th state in the union to allow the concealed carry of handguns. (Only Illinois, Obama’s old stomping ground, continues to deny its citizens this option right.)
Results of the “Federal Candidates Straw Poll” taken at the Jan. 14 Maricopa County Republican Committee’s Mandatory Meeting. Complete tallies can be viewed at 2012MCRCStrawPoll-Results or www.trugop.org
Your First Choice For US President: Mitt Romney
Your Second Choice For US President: Rick Santorum
Least Acceptable Candidate For US President: Ron Paul
Your First Choice For US Senate: Jeff Flake
Your Second Choice US Senate: Wil R. Cardon
Least Acceptable Candidate For US Senate: Jeff Flake
Complete tallies for the Bylaws and Resolutions ballots can be viewed at: 2012BylawsAndResolutionsResults
Text of the Bylaw Changes and the Resolutions is online at: 2012 Bylaws & Resolutions text
The January 8, 2011 version of the MCRC Bylaws: MCRC GOP_2011_Bylaws
Complete Tallies For The Election Of Five Members At Large/Installation photo can be viewed at: 2012MembersAtLargeElectionResults
