Four years ago Pinal County elected a sheriff with no experience and a proven history of lying. Since then, there has been an avalanche of scandals, on-going investigations and embarrassing national publicity for our county and state.
Besides the sheriff himself, his deputies, administrative employees, political friends and family have all become tainted.
We watched him reward political allies and punish political enemies. He hired disgraced Chandler police officers, destroyed the financial health of the PCSO (and is presently lying about it), and attacked anyone who disagreed with him.
A federal program to distribute surplus equipment around the country had to be suspended because this sheriff decided to run a political and financial scam. He destroyed a working relationship with a nationally-honored volunteer mountain rescue group because it wasn’t under his political control. He has deliberately lied about the level of crime on the border (which is nowhere near our county), the level of illegal immigration (lowest in years) and the level of border security (higher than ever before).
All the while, he was campaigning for Congress, which was his ultimate goal, possibly using public, taxpayer resources (another ongoing investigation). When that fell apart with the revelation of his online sexual escapades, he was forced to “settle” for the office of sheriff. And in order to make sure he has no interference, he has hand-picked a “team” of would-be office holders that he can count on to do his bidding— supervisors, county attorney, even the Recorder, which is an absolutely non-political office— that he intends to shove down our throats.
Having four Republican candidates on the sheriff’s primary ballot will potentially split the vote, and Babeu could win. I’m hoping that won’t happen, but it’s not in my hands. Republicans, you have to fix this mess, hopefully with the help of Independents who choose a Republican ballot.
If you’re still not sure, ask your kids, or your neighbors’ kids. I’d be willing to bet there’s not a child in Pinal County over the age of ten who hasn’t seen, and snickered at, the XXX pictures of Sheriff Babeu online. That alone — which was enough to knock him out of the Congressional race — should disqualify him as sheriff.
