The Desert Gadabout

MCSO Honduras: Operation Receipt Shuffle

Sheriff Joe's numbers on the cost of the Honduras sister-city operation appear to be a moving target. Do they keep these receipts in a cigar box in the basement? Are they cluttering the back seat of Arpaio's OldsmoBuick? Are they hiding under Dave Hendershott's hat?

Good thing the accountants figured out how to show a surplus, just in time for an election year, announced during a Dan Saban presser.

Arpaio, Immigration, and Reasonable Doubt

There aren't many days where I feel justified in bragging about the quality of journalism in Arizona, but I am compelled to point everyone to the Tribune's outstanding series on the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office "crime sweeps" in Mesa, the MCSO's weak label for what is obviously an immigration task force to send gardeners and construction workers back to Mexico. Avoiding typical hyperbole, the Trib dug deep into the data as well as having people well positioned to reveal credible and serious accusations of profiling.

You know the Trib has done their job when KPNX, the Gannett-owned NBC affiliate and partner to the Arizona Republic, finds it so newsworthy to hail them in their broadcast. Joe Dana, perhaps the only local broadcast journalist willing to question Arpaio, was obviously impressed.