On page 156 of this issue is a detailed account of Arpaio’s fight with the controversial New Times, a free weekly newspaper that many dismiss as a “rag.” I was an editor there almost 20 years ago and have since watched the paper with interest. While it pulls stunts I think are childish and undermine its credibility, it also consistently has garnered tons of journalism awards and has done some outstanding reporting on a variety of subjects. Sheriff Joe is one of them.
But you’d be wrong to think Sheriff Joe’s war on the media is a war against the New Times. No, he’s showing himself to be an equal-opportunity-meanie where the media is concerned. Now swimming in the same stewpot are news organizations such as KPNX-TV Channel 12, the Tucson Citizen, the West Valley View and almost the entire Spanish-speaking media. Even The Arizona Republic has editorialized about the dismal state of affairs in a piece titled, “Arpaio’s Petty Stonewalling.”
The editorial began: “The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has been treating the state Public Records law like a defiant kid treats a list of household chores. Ignoring it. Dawdling over it. Turning it into a petty fight. Message to Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his staff: Oh grow up!”
The editorial page’s scolding is all the more remarkable since The Republic’s editorial editor, Phil Boas, is Joe Arpaio’s son-in-law, which must make Sunday dinner at the in-laws a pretty interesting experience. (He’s also one of the journalists in town I respect.)
Other news groups that have endured the sheriff’s pettiness have pursued another route: They’ve taken the sheriff to court to force him to follow the law. In virtually every challenge, the press has won and the sheriff has lost.
Consider the following:
• The West Valley View fight, which cost taxpayers at least $75,000, has been called “the most absurd public records case in Arizona history” by Dan Barr, the First Amendment attorney who won the case. This protracted fight was over the sheriff department’s refusal to send press releases to the View, a weekly newspaper that covers Avondale, Goodyear and Litchfield Park.
“I’ve never heard anyone fighting public records [requests] over press releases,” Barr says. “The only reason you create the document is to give it to the press.”
The newspaper sued, and Sheriff Joe lost in Maricopa County Superior Court, which called him “petty.” He then lost in the state Court of Appeals, whose judges said he was acting in “bad faith.” The Arizona Supreme Court rejected Arpaio’s appeal request.