Drop by Phoenix and Tell the Sheriff "Hi" for Us

Member papers of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) this week are providing links on their web sites that direct their readers to the many places online where the home address of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is listed.

AAN papers are doing so to show solidarity with Phoenix New Times, which was threatened with felony prosecution for publishing Arpaio's address on its web site in 2004. After an adjoining jurisdiction declined to press charges, Arpaio's political ally, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, convened a grand jury to "investigate" charges the paper broke the law when it published Arpaio's address.

Last week, Phoenix New Times' founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were arrested and jailed after the paper published a story about the grand jury and subpoenas they had received that demanded detailed internet records of any person who had visited the newspaper's web site since 2004, as well as all notes and records from any reporter who had written about the sheriff in the preceding three years.

After Larkin and Lacey were arrested, an outpouring of shock and anger accompanied widespread media coverage of the case. The response created a groundswell of support for New Times. The charges were dropped less than 24 hours later after Thomas admitted that his office had made "serious missteps" in the case.

Phoenix New Times has published dozens of stories critical of both Thomas and Arpaio. In fact, the paper maintains an archive on its web site of its coverage of Arpaio since he was elected sheriff in 1992.

New Times published Arpaio's home address in a story arguing that he abused a state law that allows law enforcement officials to keep their addresses from being made public. New Times said Arpaio used the law to hide nearly $1 million in cash real-estate transactions.

Thomas convened a grand jury to investigate the case even though Arpaio's home address was then and continues to be easily accessible on a number of other websites, including the Maricopa County Recorder's official web site (see first link below):

recorder.maricopa.gov/CampaignFinance/CampFinDocsSelect.aspx?Candidat eId=970003&FileYear=2004 (click "2004 Financial Disclosure Statement" for PDF)

www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/166/RipOff0166166.htm

www.zabasearch.com/query1_zaba.php?sname=arpaio&state=AZ&ref=$ref&se= $se&doby=&city=&name_style=1

www.usa-people-search.com/order.aspx?city=Fountain%20Hills&st=az&fn=J oseph&mn=&ln=Arpaio&searchpID=117102576

www.privateeye.com/(S(4pwn0l55tzc0sqfr4yy5ju45))/Search/SearchResults .aspx?vw=people&input=name&fn=joseph&mn=&ln=arpaio&city=fountain%20hills&sta te=AZ&criteria=joseph;;;;arpaio;;fountain%20hills;;AZ;;;;;;

www.voompeople.com/order.asp?1=JOSEPH;;MICHAEL;;ARPAIO;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;117102576;;&2=name&3=people&4=1&5=joseph;;;;arpaio;;fountain%20hills;;AZ; ;;;;;;;&rc=1

Arpaio continues to resist New Times' request for information relating to his real estate holdings.

— John Fox

Comments

[Breen]

That Arpaio guy makes Si Leis look like Willy Wonka. Not an easy feat.

[Margo]

Wanna tske bets on how long it'll be until the powers-that-be in Cincinnat try something like this with CityBeat, say, long about the time Leis and/or Deters are up for re-election?