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By Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press/NBCLatino

PHOENIX (AP) — Volunteers set up a table outside a music festival one day last month togather signatures for a drive to oust the notoriously polarizing sheriff of metropolitan Phoenix. The venue, with its largely liberal crowd, seemed the perfect place to drum up support.

But it didn’t take long for fans of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to show up and deliver a heckling. “Free handouts for illegal immigrants,” one of the sheriff’s backers intoned as other sign-carrying supporters raised their voices to try and drown out those of Arpaio’s opponents.

The recall group walked away with only 100 signatures, compared with the 500 gathered in the same spot a day earlier when the sheriff’s supporters weren’t there.

Click on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Gage Skidmore]

By Associated Press/Boston Globe

PHOENIX — Arizona ­authorities say a package to ­Sheriff Joe Arpaio would have exploded if opened, leading to serious injuries or death.

Maricopa County Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan made the comment on Friday .

The package intercepted in Flagstaff on Thursday was addressed to Arpaio at his Phoenix office.

Click on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Gage Skidmore]

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By Sarafina Wright and Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post Latino Voices

In the wake of his reelection to a sixth term as sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, Joe Arpaio is ready to reach out to “the Hispanics” in the local community — who have generally not been a fan of the controversial official’s policies on immigration.

“I can get along great with the Hispanics,” he said in an interview with the Arizona Republic. “In fact, I sure would like to meet them, even the politicians, maybe in the back room or whatever, have a couple of beers and try to explain. But they need to understand that I enforce the laws. I want to listen to them and hear their problems. I want them to tell me what their problems are. Maybe we can come up with a solution.”

While Arpaio won his most recent election, he didn’t win overwhelmingly — 49.3 percent of the voters did not pick him — which may be why Arpaio is trying to show his “kinder, gentler” side. The long-time foe of undocumented immigration is…

READ MORE HERE

This article was first published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.

[Photo by DonkeyHotey]

By Valeria Fernández, New America Media

PHOENIX, Ariz. — The agency that administers elections in Maricopa County confirmed Wednesday evening that it had more than 400,000 ballots yet to be counted. The announcement confirmed claims by activists here who had been protesting outside the Maricopa County Recorders Office, saying Latino voters in the county had had trouble casting their ballots on Tuesday.

Opponents of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the controversial figure known for his hard stance on illegal immigration, who is running for his sixth term as sheriff, are hoping that the uncounted ballots could swing the election in their favor. As of Wednesday evening, election results showed Arpaio leading his Democratic challenger Paul Penzone by more than 88,000 votes.

Of the 400,000 ballots yet to be counted, about 300,000 are early ballots that could have been turned in on Election Day or a few days before; and more than 115,000 are provisional ballots, according to a press release issued by the recorders office late Wednesday.

Statewide, the number of uncounted ballots is 600,000 according to the Arizona Secretary of State. That means that two-thirds of these are in Maricopa County.

The high number of uncounted ballots surpassed the expectations of county officials based on past presidential elections and has caused an uproar from voter mobilization groups that are part of a campaign to oust Arpaio.

“We want to make sure that every vote is counted,” said Petra Falcón, director of the organization Promise Arizona that together with the Campaign for Arizona’s Future spearheaded the Adios Arpaio initiative.

The initiative registered more than 35,000 new Latino voters, many of them into a Permanent Early Voting List.

On Election Day, volunteers from the Adios Arpaio initiative reported a number of problems, including that voters did not get their ballots to vote by mail and decided to do it in person, casting a provisional ballot.

“I don’t pretend to know what the reason is for this. This is an election in which the county recorder gave on multiple occasions the wrong date,” said Brendan Walsh, political director with Unite Here and part of the Adios Arpaio campaign.

The Maricopa County Recorders Office mailed out Spanish-language voting materials that had the wrong election date. They later apologized and invested in an outreach campaign to make sure that Latinos got the right information. “Now we have a massive number of ballots that have not been counted yet.”

Walsh said that there are “concerns with the process, coordination, and accuracy that is so far disproportionately affecting Latino members of the community.”

“Late” early voting surpasses expectations

“We are aware that there is a large interest in the final outcome of some races. However, our office cannot sacrifice accuracy for speed. Today we’ve tabulated 44,455 early ballots,” County Recorder Helen Purcell said in a press release on Wednesday.

The canvass of elections, which will make the results official, is scheduled for Nov. 26.

On Election Day, Purcell had said she predicted they would have about 100,000 early ballots dropped at the polling places and 75,000 provisional from Election Day. She based those estimates on numbers from previous elections.

Provisional ballots, she said, can take a bit longer to check.

“We have to make sure that in fact they’re a registered voter, they were in the right precinct, and they didn’t vote an early ballot,” Purcell explained on election night.

Provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct are not counted.

Rodolfo Espino, a political science professor at Arizona State University, said the unprecedented number of early and provisional ballots could be due to a combination of factors, including lack of proper training by poll workers and a massive number of new voters going to the polls to drop off their vote-by-mail ballots.

One factor that could be at play “is that the voter registration efforts, especially by a lot of the civil rights Hispanic organizations were very successful,” he said.

“Perhaps the recorders office did not anticipate that there would be that flood of early ballots being cast, because a lot of these organizations were not just going and signing up Latino voters; they were telling them about a process to vote by mail,” said Espino.

Volunteers from Citizens for a Better Arizona (CBA), spearheaded by activist Randy Parraz, and other groups are calling on Democrat Paul Penzone to retract his concession that Arpaio won the sheriff’s race until all votes are counted.

Penzone conceded to Arpaio’s sixth-term re-election on Tuesday night. On Wednesday evening the margin of difference between both candidates was over 88,000 votes. Arpaio received 52 percent of the vote, and Penzone 43 percent. A third candidate, Michael Stauffer, who ran as an Independent, got 4 percent of the vote.

Espino said he didn’t expect the outcome of the sheriff’s race to change, regardless of the uncounted ballots, unless a majority of these voters were Democrats and Latinos — unlike the voters whose ballots have already been counted.

He emphasized that there’s a possibility that the margin of votes separating Arpaio and Penzone may change, causing the “post-election analysis by the media having to be updated and re-written” regarding the role played by Latino voters in the race.

This article was first published in New America Media.

[Photo by New America Media]

By Valeria Fernández, New America Media

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Democrat Paul Penzone conceded the Maricopa County sheriff’s race to Sheriff Joe Arpaio Tuesday night.

As of midnight, 80-year-old Arpaio had 53 percent of the vote, followed by Penzone with 43 percent and the independent candidate Mike Stauffer with 4 percent –with 95 percent of the polls counted.

But Arpaio’s critics, among them Unite Here, Promise Arizona and Citizens for a Better Arizona (CBA) – groups that were behind a get-out-the-vote effort — expressed concerns over a large number of provisional ballots that were cast.

“We’re focused on the people that were not allowed to vote. We’re concerned about how the county recorders run the election,” said Randy Parraz, co-founder of CBA. “There were people that were not allowed to vote at all.”

Brendan Walsh, political director with Unite Here echoed those concerns.

“We were finding that people went to the polls and were being asked to cast provisional ballots,” said Walsh, when they should have received the ballot in the mail.

The group claimed that there could be more than 100,000 provisional ballots yet to be counted.

Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell said that she didn’t know the total number but estimated that it would be similar to the total cast in 2008 which amounted to about 75,000 provisional ballots.

Arpaio’s race to secure a sixth term met with opposition by Latino groups who have said for years that the Sheriff’s Office has targeted them in crime sweeps. The U.S. Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office earlier this year, accusing the agency of widespread discrimination against Latinos.

Arpaio’s wasn’t the only local race that attracted Latino activists in a push to mobilize Latino voters.

In the fight for a Senate seat, Republican Jeff Flake was ahead with 52 percent of the vote. His opponent Democrat Richard Carmona had 44 percent of the vote at 95 of the precincts counted.

This article was first published in New America Media.

[Photo by DonkeyHotey]

By Valeria Fernández, New America Media

PHOENIX, Ariz.–A movement to oust Joe Arpaio, America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff,” from office continues to gain momentum in Arizona. Actions range from a Latino voter mobilization to an infusion of support from out-of-state groups helping run anti-Joe Arpaio radio ads on Spanish radio.

Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio, 80, known nationally for his immigration sweeps is facing his toughest race in 20 years. But he remains a popular politician.

America’s Voice, a national group that supports comprehensive immigration reform, is investing part of an $80,000 advertising fund in anti-Arpaio ads scheduled to start running this Monday.

Leading in Polls

The popular and brash Arpaio—despite facing several legal actions for his conduct and management of the sheriff’s office—was trailing his nearest challenger, Democrat Paul Penzone, by from six to14 points in recent polls.

Penzone’s supporters are concerned that Independent candidate Mike Stauffer, who has about three-percent support in most polls, could split the anti-Arpaio vote.

Arpaio has a campaign war chest much larger than his opponents and has received over $8 million in donations during this campaign cycle. As of the end of September he still had about half of that amount. Most of the contributions he’s received come from out-of-state contributors, the majority of them in California.

So far his campaign has spent over $700,000 for television ads. Some have focused on Arpaio’s character and his signature as the “toughest” sheriff in America.” One ad featuring Arpaio wrapping his arm around an inmate and holding pets. But the most recent ads attack Penzone, his strongest opponent.

The Arpaio campaign’s new spot focuses on a nine-year-old police report accusing Penzone of domestic violence after he had an argument with his former wife. Both parties had minor injuries, and Penzone was listed as the victim by the Glendale Police Department. No charges were filed.

Arpaio is facing growing opposition on the home front from a number of grassroots campaigns to oust him. Under the banner of “Adios, Arpaio” (“Goodbye, Arpaio”), Campaign for Arizona Future, has added over 34,000 new Latino voters to the rolls.

The campaign is organized by immigrant-advocacy group Promesa Arizona in Action and the Unite Here union, which represents many service workers. With support from the AFL-CIO and Unite Here the campaign has been infused with $500,000.

Online groups working with social media such as People Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, have created their own ads as well. Anti-Arpaio activist Devin Fleenor launched a campaign to place an ad featuring Arpaio’s role in his agency’s failing to investigation over 400 sexual crimes involving minors.

In spite of his popularity as a no-nonsense crime fighter, Arpaio’s mishandling of the child-abuse cases, and his recent “birther” investigation into President Barack Obama birth certificate put a dent in his support even among some conservative Republican voters. A political action committee, Citizens for Professional Law-Enforcement, was formed recently aiming to capitalize on those issues to defeat the sheriff on Nov. 6.

The group has a series of ads in public and cable TV, focusing on these issues. One of them features a press conference in which Arpaio apologized to the victims of sex crimes. The spot turns his words during the press conference against him, as he states, “If there were any victims out there, I apologize to those victims–if there were any.”

Dreamer Youth Oppose Sheriff

The America’s Voice radio ads feature young Dreamers –undocumented students inviting people to support Democratic candidate Penzone for sheriff.

“We can’t vote, we don’t have the privilege to be going out to cast a ballot. Because we consider ourselves American, we have the responsibility of going out there to inform the community,” said Erika Andiola, 25, an undocumented immigrant, who earned an undergraduate degree in psychology.

Andiola had a personal experience with the sheriff’s office. Deputies went to her house looking for her mother in 2008, because they were looking for undocumented workers. They didn’t find her mother, but arrested her uncle instead.

“He’s breaking families across Maricopa,” Andiola said. “He’s not focusing on what he should be doing, going after people who committed crimes.”

Latinos are a growing political force in Arizona with over 400,000 registered to vote. According to the polling firm Latino Decisions, about two-thirds of the Latino electorate knows someone who is undocumented. Also, 55 percent know a Dreamer between ages five and 31.

In recent years, Arpaio has faced growing criticism from Latinos over allegations of racial profiling during his immigration sweeps. These accusations led civil rights groups to file a lawsuit against the sheriff that is awaiting a federal court ruling. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a separate suit against Arpaio’s office for civil rights violations.

Arpaio’s office has also been the target of criticism over the cost of lawsuits and settlements stemming from deaths in his jail. Recently, Phoenix reached a $3.25 million settlement in the wrongful death of Deborah Braillard, who died while in the sheriff’s custody in 2005 because she was refused treatment for her diabetes.

In another closely watched race, America’s voice is also buying ad spots supporting Democratic candidate Richard Carmona for the U.S. Senate. Carmona, former Surgeon General of the United States under President George W. Bush, is running against Republican Rep. Jeff Flake for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. John Kyl.

This article was first published in New America Media.

[Photo by Gage Skidmore]

By Simon McCormack, Huffington Post Latino Voices

The family of a Gulf War veteran with schizoaffective disorder who died after an alleged beating from Arizona jail officers has filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio and several other agencies.

“When he went into that facility everyone knew he was mentally ill,” Michael Manning, the lawyer representing the family of Ernest Atencio, told The Huffington Post. “He wasn’t resistant, violent or combative and they mocked him, they made fun of him, and when they finished with that, they decided they would just beat him up.”

Atencio was 44 years old when he was arrested in 2011 on an assault charge after he yelled at a woman in a parking lot in Phoenix, according to a video produced by the ACLU, which is not a party in the Atencio lawsuit but does have pending litigation against Arpaio’s office.

Once inside a Maricopa County jail, Atencio — who had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, according to the ACLU — was beaten and shot with a stun gun by jail officers in an unprovoked attack, the lawsuit claims.

The family said the altercation began when Atencio refused to take off his shoe,according to an ACLU blog post. After the alleged beating by the officers, Atencio was given a “cursory exam” by health care personnel before being carried face down to a “safe cell,” the ACLU details, and was then stripped naked and beaten again before being left in “dire medical condition” facedown in the cell.

In May, a medical examiner’s report failed to reveal the exact cause of death, according to the Arizona Republic. The report said “acute psychosis, law enforcement subdual and … multiple medical problems” contributed to his death.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office didn’t return a call for comment from HuffPost, but Deputy Chief Jack…

READ MORE HERE

This article was first published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.

Simon McCormack is an editorial assistant for the Huffington Post. He lives in New York City.

[Photo courtesy ACLU Video]

By Valeria Fernández, New America Media

PHOENIX, Ariz.–A movement to oust Joe Arpaio, America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff,” from office continues to gain momentum in Arizona. Actions range from a Latino voter mobilization to an infusion of support from out-of-state groups helping run anti-Joe Arpaio radio ads on Spanish radio.

Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio, 80, known nationally for his immigration sweeps is facing his toughest race in 20 years. But he remains a popular politician.

America’s Voice, a national group that supports comprehensive immigration reform, is investing part of an $80,000 advertising fund in anti-Arpaio ads scheduled to start running this Monday.

Leading in Polls

The popular and brash Arpaio—despite facing several legal actions for his conduct and management of the sheriff’s office—was trailing his nearest challenger, Democrat Paul Penzone, by from six to14 points in recent polls.

Penzone’s supporters are concerned that Independent candidate Mike Stauffer, who has about three-percent support in most polls, could split the anti-Arpaio vote.

Arpaio has a campaign war chest much larger than his opponents and has received over $8 million in donations during this campaign cycle. As of the end of September he still had about half of that amount. Most of the contributions he’s received come from out-of-state contributors, the majority of them in California.

So far his campaign has spent over $700,000 for television ads. Some have focused on Arpaio’s character and his signature as the “toughest” sheriff in America.” One ad featuring Arpaio wrapping his arm around an inmate and holding pets. But the most recent ads attack Penzone, his strongest opponent.

The Arpaio campaign’s new spot focuses on a nine-year-old police report accusing Penzone of domestic violence after he had an argument with his former wife. Both parties had minor injuries, and Penzone was listed as the victim by the Glendale Police Department. No charges were filed.

Arpaio is facing growing opposition on the home front from a number of grassroots campaigns to oust him. Under the banner of “Adios, Arpaio” (“Goodbye, Arpaio”), Campaign for Arizona Future, has added over 34,000 new Latino voters to the rolls.

The campaign is organized by immigrant-advocacy group Promesa Arizona in Action and the Unite Here union, which represents many service workers. With support from the AFL-CIO and Unite Here the campaign has been infused with $500,000.

Online groups working with social media such as People Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, have created their own ads as well. Anti-Arpaio activist Devin Fleenor launched a campaign to place an ad featuring Arpaio’s role in his agency’s failing to investigation over 400 sexual crimes involving minors.

In spite of his popularity as a no-nonsense crime fighter, Arpaio’s mishandling of the child-abuse cases, and his recent “birther” investigation into President Barack Obama birth certificate put a dent in his support even among some conservative Republican voters. A political action committee, Citizens for Professional Law-Enforcement, was formed recently aiming to capitalize on those issues to defeat the sheriff on Nov. 6.

The group has a series of ads in public and cable TV, focusing on these issues. One of them features a press conference in which Arpaio apologized to the victims of sex crimes. The spot turns his words during the press conference against him, as he states, “If there were any victims out there, I apologize to those victims–if there were any.”

Dreamer Youth Oppose Sheriff

The America’s Voice radio ads feature young Dreamers –undocumented students inviting people to support Democratic candidate Penzone for sheriff.

“We can’t vote, we don’t have the privilege to be going out to cast a ballot. Because we consider ourselves American, we have the responsibility of going out there to inform the community,” said Erika Andiola, 25, an undocumented immigrant, who earned an undergraduate degree in psychology.

Andiola had a personal experience with the sheriff’s office. Deputies went to her house looking for her mother in 2008, because they were looking for undocumented workers. They didn’t find her mother, but arrested her uncle instead.

“He’s breaking families across Maricopa,” Andiola said. “He’s not focusing on what he should be doing, going after people who committed crimes.”

Latinos are a growing political force in Arizona with over 400,000 registered to vote. According to the polling firm Latino Decisions, about two-thirds of the Latino electorate knows someone who is undocumented. Also, 55 percent know a Dreamer between ages five and 31.

In recent years, Arpaio has faced growing criticism from Latinos over allegations of racial profiling during his immigration sweeps. These accusations led civil rights groups to file a lawsuit against the sheriff that is awaiting a federal court ruling. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a separate suit against Arpaio’s office for civil rights violations.

Arpaio’s office has also been the target of criticism over the cost of lawsuits and settlements stemming from deaths in his jail. Recently, Phoenix reached a $3.25 million settlement in the wrongful death of Deborah Braillard, who died while in the sheriff’s custody in 2005 because she was refused treatment for her diabetes.

In another closely watched race, America’s voice is also buying ad spots supporting Democratic candidate Richard Carmona for the U.S. Senate. Carmona, former Surgeon General of the United States under President George W. Bush, is running against Republican Rep. Jeff Flake for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. John Kyl.

This article was first published in New America Media.

[Photo byMike Licht, NotionsCapital.com]

By Elise Foley, Huffington Post Latino Voices

PHOENIX — The nation’s self-professed “Toughest Sheriff” Joe Arpaio is pretty good at getting attention, be it through birther investigations or keeping undocumented immigrants in a tent city and forcing them to wear pink underwear.

Some of his constituents in Maricopa County, Ariz., are sick of it. And on Wednesday, they proved they’re capable of creating a spectacle, too.

Anti-Arpaio protesters carried a man posing as “King Arpaio” into a Maricopa County board of supervisors meeting Wednesday morning to protest the board’s failure to condemn the sheriff. The “king,” a grey-haired and balding man wearing a gold crown, aviator sunglasses and a red velvet cape, was carried by a “royal posse” wearing jester’s hats. He yelled that he would win four more years — Arpaio has been in office for two decades and is 80 years old — and that he has plenty more pink underwear to distribute.

One hundred or so other protesters, organized by progressive group Citizens for a Better Arizona and led by the group’s president, Randy Parraz, yelled back that Arpaio will be ousted soon. They followed the “king” in disrupting the meeting with prayers, chanting and singing until the frustrated chairman, Republican Max Wilson, finally adjourned it and said he would meet with Parraz and a small group of others.

The group wasn’t having it. They wanted the chairman and others on the board to speak publicly, and the whole group, carrying “King Arpaio” on his throne, walked the block to administrative office. They huddled in the hallway outside Wilson’s office, and demanded that their meeting be public and include everyone — an effort that was ultimately unsuccessful, but they vowed to keep trying.

The protesters had several complaints. One was Arpaio’s office’s failure to adequately investigate — or investigate at all — 400 sexual assault allegations between 2004 and 2007. They wanted the sheriff to refund the county for money used on investigating President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, and criticized the time he spends trying to find undocumented immigrants rather than investigating other crime. They also demanded more justice for a woman, Deborah Braillard, who died in 2005 after the sheriff’s office denied her diabetes medication for three days.

At the meeting, the board was set to approve giving Braillard’s family a settlement of $3.2 million. In protesting the fact that it took so long to settle with the family, the group ended up delaying the vote and making the family wait even longer, if only by a matter of hours or days. Parraz and protesters took issue with that assessment when asked about it by reporters, saying the board could have continued the meeting and held the vote.

The protesters expected arrests at some point during the action, but it didn’t happen, even though Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputies were in the room at the board of supervisors meeting and were seemingly ready to act.

Three of Arpaio’s critics stood up…  

READ MORE HERE

This article was first published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.

[Photo by Elise Foley]

By Griselda Nevarez, Voxxi

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is facing his toughest re-election race in his 20-year tenure and a group of young Latinos in Arizona are working to ensure he doesn’t get re-elected.

As the voter registration deadline loomed in Arizona on Tuesday, at least 300 high school and college-age Latinos were canvassing neighborhoods to register the last batch of eligible Latino voters.

Among them was 15-year-old Jackie Garcia, a sophomore in high school. She spent the whole day Tuesday knocking on doors and registered six Latinos voters.

Garcia wore a white T-Shirt with a yellow rectangle on the front and a shadow figurine of a man riding a horse in the middle.

“It’s supposed to be Arpaio running away on his horse, because he knows we’re coming to get him and we’re going to defeat him,” she told VOXXI about her shirt.

The logo on her shirt has become the symbol of the voter registration campaign, known as “Adios Arpaio,” that seeks to encourage Latino voters to vote in November to boot Arpaio out of office.

The campaign is composed of several organizations, including Promise Arizona in Action, and is led by the Campaign For Arizona’s Future. It concluded its five-month voter registration drive Tuesday night at the Arizona State Capitol building in Phoenix where it announced that it registered about 34,200 new voters, surpassing its goal of 30,000.

Arpaio is widely known as the nation’s toughest sheriff for his hardline immigration policies. But among Latinos in Arizona, he is known for his efforts to go after the state’s undocumented immigrants who are working to support their families instead of going after serious criminals.

This year, despite having a massive fundraising advantage and being well-recognized, Arpaio is facing his toughest re-election race to date.

He is running in a close race against the Democratic candidate Paul Penzone, a former Phoenix police sergeant. The third candidate also running is Mike Stauffer, a 29-year police veteran who has low chances of winning.

The most recent poll of the Maricopa County sheriff’s race shows Arpaio is leading Penzone by 5.5 percent. Of the 850 likely voters surveyed for the poll released last month, 44.5 percent said they would vote for Arpaio, 39 percent said they favored Penzone, and less than 10 percent back Stauffer.

Mike O’Neil, a political analyst from Arizona, told VOXXI he has never seen the five-term Sheriff run in a competitive race such as this one.

“He is in more jeopardy of losing than ever before,” O’Neil said of Arpaio.

O’Neil pointed to a number of reasons why he thinks the Sheriff is facing a tough reelection bid. Among them, the misappropriation of nearly $100 million in salaries that occurred over an eight-year period under Arpaio’s leadership and his office’s failure to properly investigate hundreds of sexual-abuse cases.

Jackie Garcia, right, attended a rally in August to celebrate the “Adios Arpaio” campaign, which registered 11,000 Latino voters. The campaign wants Latino voters to vote in November to boot Arpaio out of office. (Photo Voxxi/ Adiós Arpaio campaign)

Immigration issue takes a back seat in sheriff race

The Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper, noted those two incidents, along with a lengthy list of others, in a Sunday editorial announcing its endorsement of Penzone over Arpaio.

O’Neil also told VOXXI the issue of immigration, which helped Arpaio gain national support, is “running its course” and is not an issue that’s at the top of the list for many voters.

Meanwhile, Arpaio’s supporters disagree saying illegal immigration concerns many of the state’s residents, noting that Arizona continues to be a popular corridor for illegal crossings.

They also note that Arpaio’s tactics to fight illegal immigration have been copied by other law enforcement agencies. And his endorsement is still one of the most sought after by other immigration hardliners running for office.

But even though fighting illegal immigration has been one of Arpaio’s top priorities in recent years, his television ads hardly mention the issue. Instead, the ads show him as a tough opponent of animal abuse and tout his office’s success in rounding up so-called deadbeat dads.

Latino activists say it is a sign of the change in rhetoric from politicians talking about immigration.

Petra Falcon, executive director of Promise Arizona in Action, said that change began shortly after the state passed its controversial immigration law in 2010.

“People started seeing that the law was so divisive … so they stood up and said we’re going to put a stop to it,” she told VOXXI.

Shortly after Gov. Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law, hundreds of Latinos and other residents who opposed the law mobilized to recall its author, state Sen. Russell Pearce.

In November 2011, Pearce lost to his challenger, Jerry Lewis, and again lost his bid to return to the state legislature last month.

Falcon said she expects the same could happen to Arpaio.

“People say Arpaio is a goliath and that no one can take him out of office, but they said that about Russell Pearce as well,” she told VOXXI. “I do think there is a chance to see Arpaio out in this election.”

Grecia Lima, the field director of Promise Arizona in Action, said volunteers with the Latino voter “Adiós Arpaio” campaign are working to make that happen. She said about 100 to 200 volunteers turned out daily to during the five-month registration drive.

“We have been able to engage so many volunteers, because they want someone who puts public safety first before public image,” Lima told VOXXI. “They want someone who will have their best interest at heart.”

She said that starting this weekend, volunteers with the “Adiós Arpaio” campaign will begin contacting the newly registered voters and Latino voters to encourage them to vote for Penzone.

Ricardo Valenzuela and Rosa Cabezas put up the total number of the “Adios Arpaio” campaign registered Latino voters. The campaign wants Latino voters to vote in November to boot Arpaio out of office.  (Photo Voxxi/ Griselda Nevarez)

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Griselda Nevárez is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington D.C.

[Photo by Voxxi]

By Robert Lovato, Latino Rebels

(Latino Rebels asked Roberto Lovato to record his thoughts and impressions about a meeting he and others from the Caravan for Peace had with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio last week in Phoenix. Here is what Lovato sent.)

“America’s Toughest Sheriff” has the softest hands of any lawman in the West.

Observing Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s hands up close, it reconfirmed a basic understanding I had about him, the lack of which has led many to give Arpaio more anger than is healthy: that he’s more showman than lawman.

I noticed the story of Arpaio’s hands during a meeting that he held last Thursday with Javier Sicilia, the poet and leader of the Caravan for Peace (Caravana) who had brought a small group of Mexican and US nationals to meet with “Sheriff Joe.” We were in Phoenix as part of a 21-city bus tour that seeks an end to the drug war that—along with the undeclared immigration war in Arizona and across the US—has defined Arpaio’s larger-than-life public persona for years.

We knew we were heading into potential conflict in Arizona and we found it directly inside Arpaio’s office, along with the tragicomedy of the yellowish, saggy-skinned and nail-bitten hands of the Tea Party icon. Arpaio rejected our initial request to meet with him and then changed his mind after we visited his office.

He even went so far as to invite local media, who responded to his invitation within 10 minutes, as if they were on call and ready to accommodate the sheriff.

“I’d like to speak to your heart,” Javier said, in an appeal to a fellow Catholic in Arpaio. “Tell me where (in the Bible) it says that you have to humiliate human beings. Where does it say you have to hate your enemy?”

“I don’t like to talk about religion,” Arpaio responded, while putting is hands in front of him as if to push away an evil spirit or to cover his heart.

“You should not mix politics and religion…. It has no bearing on the illegal immigration problem or the drug problem,” Arpaio continued as he made manual buffers of his hands, which he also thumped on the table for emphasis as he looked at the cameras.

When Javier, a serious Catholic who regularly quotes Gandhi and whose bear hugs have become legendary in the Mexican media, offered his own hands to Arpaio in one of the less tense moments of a very conflict-ridden meeting, the sheriff responded by pulling his hands back and covering over one hand with the other.

When Arpaio disagreed with everything from the bilingual interpretation of the meeting to US drug war policy, he mustered whatever energy there was in his 80-year-old hands to accompany his “Let-me-tell-you” talk, which has now become his stock-and-trade, both in person and on TV.

While his ham-fisted actions—denouncing, persecuting, and humiliating immigrants—are, indeed, reprehensible acts worthy of our repudiation, they are just part of the performance made obvious by Arpaio’s soft, operatic hands. Remembering this branded performance of fingers, fists, and other gestures may help us better keep our anger in check. It is a performance just like any other performance we might see anywhere else. Arpaio’s hands are telling us that we can still fight his vicious policies and practices, because in the end his finger puppets are just part of the tragicomedy that is “The Sheriff Joe Show.”

This article was first published in Latino Rebels.

Roberto Lovato of Presente.org is currently traveling with the Caravan for Peace, and you can follow his updates at his Twitter page: @robvato.

Friday August 3, 2012

What are the main health issues affecting Hispanics in the U.S.? (Voxxi):  Three in 10 Latinos are uninsured, according to a more recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services. This translates into bigger challenges when it comes to health prevention and intervention, which in turn lead to higher prevalence of chronic diseases. The most common conditions affecting Hispanics in the U.S. include, in order of death toll, heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, stroke, diabetes, chronic liver disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, homicide, perinatal conditions, and influenza/pneumonia.

Anaheim Political Representation Debated in California (Fox News Latino):  Should Anaheim city government better reflect its community? That’s what City Council members in the California town will discuss today, weeks after two fatal shooting by police officers touched off days of protests.

Latino Justice sues Orange for diluting Hispanic voting strength (Orlando Sentinel):  The civil rights group Latino Justice filed suit against Orange County leaders today, arguing that its elected officials constructed new political boundaries that are “discriminatory and violates the civil rights of Latinos by diluting their voting strength.”

Testimony ends at racial profiling trial in Ariz. (Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle):  Testimony concluded Thursday at a trial aimed at settling allegations that an Arizona sheriff’s office known for its hardline immigration enforcement has racially profiled Latinos.

The Long, Lawless Ride of Sheriff Joe Arpaio (Rolling Stone):  Joe Arpaio, the 80-year-old lawman who brands himself “America’s toughest sheriff,” is smiling like a delighted gnome. Nineteen floors above the blazing Arizona desert, the Phoenix sprawl ripples in the heat as Arpaio cues up the Rolling Stones to welcome a reporter “from that marijuana magazine.”

Hispanic Journalists Ban Coverage Of Their Open Meeting (Jim Romenesko):  A UNITY News reporter who had been assigned to live tweet the [National Association of Hispanic Journalists] board’s discussions was asked to stop reporting and to leave the room. The reporter sent out three messages on the social media network before she left and waited outside the meeting room, at the request of her editor.

Friday July 27, 2012

Survey: Among black, Hispanic Americans, complexity reigns on abortion issue (CNN):  A large majority of black and Hispanic Americans identify as both “pro-life” and “pro-choice” when it comes to abortion, according to a survey released Thursday. The poll finds that both minority groups are more likely than Americans in general to embrace or to reject both labels.

Head of Arpaio’s immigration unit admits errors (Tucson Citizen):  One of the men in charge of the Maricopa County sheriff’s human-smuggling unit when the agency was most fervently pursuing undocumented immigrants supplied Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies with inaccurate or false interpretations of federal immigration law.

At Arizona sheriff’s trial, Latino driver tells of humiliation (Reuters/Chicago Tribune):  A U.S. Latino citizen fought back tears at an Arizona sheriff’s racial profiling trial on Wednesday as he described being pulled over by a deputy and having his groin frisked during a traffic stop he said was motivated by his ethnicity.

Arizona deputy tells court he risked life for Hispanic immigrant (Reuters):  A deputy from a controversial Arizona sheriff’s office fought off accusations of racial profiling by telling a court on Thursday that he had gone as far as risking his life to rescue a Hispanic illegal immigrant from kidnappers.

Scalia says he didn’t attack Obama on immigration (USA Today):  Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia defended his inclusion of President Obama’s immigration policy in a recent opinion on a controversial Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants.

Florida at the forefront as states plan fresh assault on voting rights (The Guardian):  Voting rights groups are struggling to hold back a tide of new laws that are likely to make it harder for millions of Americans to vote in the presidential election in November and could distort the outcome of the race for the White House.

Latino legislators set up PAC to get out Hispanic vote (Associated Press/Fort Worth Star-Telegram):  State Reps. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio and Ana Hernandez Luna of Houston unveiled the One Texas PAC, with Martinez Fischer pledging to match the first $50,000 in donations. The PAC will concentrate on supporting Hispanic candidates for the Texas Legislature, engaging Hispanic voters and mobilizing them in districts where they can make a difference in an election, Martinez Fischer told The Associated Press. The group’s strategy of directly engaging voters sets it apart from other advocacy groups, he said.

Thursday July 19, 2012

Obama opens up massive 48-point lead among Latino voters (Houston Chronicle): A nightmare scenario for Republicans is playing itself out. In sloooooooow motion. A new poll of Latino voters released today shows that President Barack Obama has opened up a nearly fifty percentage point lead over Republican Mitt Romney in the race for the White House, 70 percent to 22 percent.

62-28%: Latinos Favor Tax Cuts for All Incomes in Poll (Politics 365):  This week a new McClatchy-Marist poll came out showing that Latino voters favored tax cuts for all incomes by 62 to 36 percent. The same poll showed that despite this position on taxes, Latinos favored President Obama over Mitt Romney 67 to 28 percent. President Obama has been making the case thatAmericans who earn over $250,000 should not receive an extension of the Bush tax cuts, instead they should be taxed at the old Clinton era rates.

Texas wants access to immigration database to check voter rolls for noncitizens (Houston Chronicle):  Texas elections officials on Wednesday joined a growing number of states across the country seeking access to a massive immigration database to check voter rolls for possible noncitizens.

Voter photo ID battle is a long way away from over (Austin American-Statesman):  Even with the conclusion last week of a federal trial on Texas’ new voter photo ID law, it became clear Wednesday that the issue of voter rights won’t go away anytime soon. Two moves — one by the Texas Democratic Party and the other by the Texas secretary of state’s office — highlight how politically charged and long-lasting the issue remains in Texas.

GOP Voter Suppression ID Laws May Affect Millions of Legal Voters (Alter Net):  Stricter new voter ID laws passed by GOP-controlled legislatures have the potential to affect millions of voters in 10 states this fall, including large numbers in the presidential swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to a new report by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School.

Arizona sheriff faces racial profiling allegations (USA Today):  Joe Arpaio would dismiss his critics in his signature brash style at countless news conferences and in numerous appearances on television. Now, the sheriff in Arizona’s most populous county will have to convince a federal judge who is presiding over a lawsuit that heads to trial on Thursday and is expected to last until early August.

Groups seek to block Arizona immigration law (Associated Press):  Opponents of Arizona’s hardline immigration enforcement law launched a new effort Tuesday aimed at thwarting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that will allow police to enforce the so-called “show me your papers” provision.

Russell Pearce, Arizona Immigration Law Architect, Eyes Political Comeback (Huffington Post):  The ousted state senator who championed Arizona’s illegal immigration law says he has no regrets but that he’d like voters to give him a second chance. Removed from office in a November 2011 recall election in which the immigration issue was a major focus, Russell Pearce is now running to return to the Arizona Legislature, where he was Senate president.

Poll: Virginians support strict immigration checks (The Virginian-Pilot):  Results of a new Quinnipiac University poll indicate that Virginians strongly favor the controversial 2010 Arizona law requiring police to check the immigration status of people they suspect are here illegally.

 Report: Apprehensions for immigration violations drop to 40-year low (U.S. News & World Report):  The number of apprehensions of people for federal immigration violations has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years, reflecting a decline in the northbound traffic of illegal immigrants from Mexico, according to a government report released Wednesday.

 Hispanic Millennials–Who Are They? (Hispanic Business):  Let’s get to know Hispanic millennials. First of all, their age range is 18-29, they are the first generation that is predominantly native born, and while they prefer English over Spanish, millennials still very much embrace their Hispanic culture.

Hispanics Favor Beer, Thirst Quenchers: Mintel (Hispanic Business):  While Hispanics over-index on nearly all nonalcoholic beverages, they are most likely of any ethnic/race group to consume thirst quenchers and sports drinks, as 56 percent report doing so versus 38 percent of white consumers, 50 percent of black consumers and 39 percent of Asians.