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Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio scoffs at the possibility that a federal civil rights and racial profiling investigation into his immigration raids and crime sweeps could be expanded into a broader look at his office’s use of power and finances.

Arpaio said the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights investigation is a politically motivated inquiry by the Barack Obama administration into his immigration enforcement tactics, and he has no indication yet whether investigators are or will be looking into any other matters, including finances. The hard-nosed sheriff said the FBI and Justice Department will not find any financial irregularities within his office.

“I have nothing to hide. Let them look,” said Arpaio, who acknowledged that such investigations can be drawn-out affairs. “They are just coming down here hoping to find something.”

But some legal and public officials with familiarity of Justice Department and FBI inquiries into the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office say the federal investigation could be expanded. That includes investigators taking a closer look at financial management, contracting and vendor relationships, and how various pools of money are used by the MCSO, according to the officials and legal sources who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.

The MCSO’s $270 million budget includes jails and law enforcement. County budget cuts could result in MCSO having a $228 million annual budget for the next fiscal year, according to Maricopa County spokesman Richard de Uriarte.

Federal investigators could examine MCSO’s vendor contracts; its equipment and vehicle purchases; how it uses federal grant money; the movement of pools of money within the office; and its overall financial management and use of county and federal money, according to a source familiar with the inquiry.

Arpaio stressed he is not aware of any criminal or financial probe by the feds into the MCSO, and that the Obama administration does not like his get-tough stances on immigration and law and order.

Justice Department attorneys began looking into Arpaio’s crime and immigration sweeps in late 2008 and earlier this year confirmed a federal civil rights investigation of the sheriff’s immigration and criminal enforcement, said Justice spokesman Alejandro Miyar.

Miyar said the MCSO inquiry started at the end of President George W. Bush’s second term, but the investigation has become more aggressive since Obama became president and Eric Holder took over as U.S. attorney general in January. Miyar would not comment specifically on the status of the Arpaio investigation, but said he was not aware of any expansion of the probe beyond the MCSO immigration and crime sweeps.

Arpaio, 77, confirmed federal investigators had been to his office and were conducting interviews, but said those inquiries will not deter his arrests of illegal immigrants and raids of businesses that employ them.

“You don’t see me stopping,” said the sheriff, who criticized the motivation and manner of the federal investigation.

There are some calls from Arpaio critics for a comprehensive financial audit of MCSO, but de Uriarte said he was not aware of any immediate efforts by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to conduct an audit.

The sheriff has been battling with the county board and other local officials over immigration issues, including spats with County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. The MCSO said June 17 it was investigating restaurant lease deals between Wilcox and the city of Phoenix-owned Sky Harbor International Airport.

Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas led an investigation that indicted Supervisor Don Stapley in December on charges of not disclosing business and real estate development deals on public financial disclosure forms. Stapley denies wrongdoing.

Former Maricopa County Schools Superintendent Sandra Dowling also is suing the county and Arpaio over a 2006 SWAT-team raid of her Phoenix home. Dowling was indicted on numerous counts, including theft, but ended up pleading guilty only to the charge of improperly giving her daughter a job within the county school system.

Arpaio’s office also has an investigation into Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard’s handling of the state prosecution of former Arizona Treasurer David Petersen. Goddard denies wrongdoing in that case.

Arpaio, who was elected to a fifth term in November, said his political adversaries in Arizona are encouraging the Justice Department to go after him,,,,,,,,,,,
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/06/15/daily60.html

Sheriff Arpaio does have an unconventional way of running his office. His ideas and way he handles law enforcement, in my opinion, should be commended, not attacked. Why should tax money and grants from a state or federal level go to pay for "extras" at a jail or prison. Incarceration is a punishment, not a 5 star vacation. The money the county and state have saved have been shifted to other programs that are beneficial to the people that live there. Sandra Dowling pleaded down. Indictments handed down on someone have to have justification and a grand jury to see merit in them. Was the raid on her home wrong? No it wasn’t. I view the lawsuit as a result of a high position and profile person trying to make up lost income and to make herself look like a victim. Sheriff Arpaio has to be careful though in how much or who he investigates. One wrong thing done in his past or during an investigation can kill a career real fast. One "oops" throws all the "atta-boys" out the window.

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