The Arizona Republic's Robert Robb calls bullshit on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio:

There is plenty in Babeu's report, the memo by Deputy Chief Frank Munnell that triggered it and other public records to fully implicate Arpaio in the ethical cesspool his office had become.

The Babeu report clearly shows that the office staged the serving of a search warrant in one of the investigations of Supervisor Don Stapley to maximize media coverage of it. According to one deputy chief, Arpaio personally ordered that the search warrant be expanded beyond what was necessary to establish probable cause, presumably so it would read more salaciously in the press.

According to Hendershott, Arpaio ordered Stapley arrested on a new set of charges shortly after the first set was dismissed, even though the prosecutor in the case and the chief investigator in Arpaio's office didn't think they were ripe yet. Arpaio told this newspaper he had ordered the arrest.

Arpaio was told by legal counsel that the board had a right to financial records it was seeking, but allowed Hendershott to stonewall anyway. Arpaio had seen Hendershott blow up inappropriately at other senior staff. According to the Munnell memo, several senior members of Arpaio's staff had told him what a serious problem Hendershott's management had become.

Under Arpaio, the Sheriff's Office became a rogue agency and a threat to the rule of law.

Arpaio is to be blamed for that.

[Arizona Republic]