And Arapio’s Supporters Go There Publicly

By Michael Bryan

In my post summarizing the DOJ's 14141 action against MSCO, I suggested that one of the political ploys that Arpaio and his supporters might try is to attack the messenger: Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas Perez, Esq.

The simple fact is that Perez is Latino, and that in itself burns up the racists and xenophobes who support Arpaio. I suggested that this fact alone might become a point of propaganda (see the very end of the post) in attacking the Obama Administration's investigation of Arpaio (which, I might remind everyone, began under Bush).

Well, it has happened. Much more quickly, and publicly, than I ever expected.

First, Bruce Ash took the argument to the Buckmaster Show, claiming that the fact that the DOJ used a Latino spokesman to announce the CRD's findings was suggestive that political opportunism lay behind the investigation's handling. (Off-site link to audio, advance to about 20:30 for Ash's comments).

In fact, Bruce, Perez is not some Latino mouthpeice trotted out to attack Arpaio, as you insinuate. He happens to actually head the Civil Rights Division: who better to present the CRD's findings than the boss?

Second, Seeing Red AZ attacked Perez's integrity by suggesting that he 'perjured' himself citing another Obama attack website, Expose Obama, and claiming he's an open-borders activist citing the oh-so-reliable propagandist Michelle Malkin.

Well, perjury has a legal meaning: the facts lying behind Expose Obama's accusation are a joke. Malkin's charges stem from pure malice and the mere fact that he seems to have worked on issues important to the working poor – a cardinal sin in Malkins creepy world view.

Well, it took a lot less time for Arpaio's allies to drag their defense of Arpaio into the gutter and desperately try to change the subject from the serious allegations in the CRD's finding letter. And it didn't stay a whisper campaign, as I expected. Even I can be surprised by how low Arizona's rightwing can sink.

The attack dogs of the right are trying to impugn the integrity of a dedicated and professionally accomplished public servant with baseless slurs. They clearly seek to portray the Obama Administration's efforts to protect the civil rights of Latino-American citizens and legal Latino residents of Maricopa County as a political witch-hunt designed to whip the Latinos community into a voting frenzy for 2012.

In a related story, Napolitano's moved to cut off the MSCO's means of discriminatory practices by suspending their 287g access to ICE immigration records. I said I thought that was a political mistake because it allowed Arpaio to claim the Administration was hindering immigration enforcement. They did make such claims, of course. Well, that charge has been answered by Homeland Security moving 50 new agents into Maricopa County to take over the role that MSCO 287g certified agents has been doing. So much for that argument. 50 ICE agents working full time will accomplish much more in combating illegal immigration than the hundred or so 287g certified officers of MSCO working part-time on immigration ever could.

The terms of the Memoradum of Agreement under which the MSCO's 287g officers operate specifically require cooperation in any investigation concerning civil rights. The simple fact is that Napolitano was exercising considerable forbearance in not cutting off MSCO sooner, when Arapio was stonewalling the CRD's investigation for over a year. If any criticism can be leveled at Homeland Security in their handling of these circumstances it is that they should have announced the new ICE officers at the same time they cut off MSCO, so as not to give Arpaio and his allies an opening for their ridiculous rhetoric.

Arizona and the residents of Maricopa County, especially, deserve better than such gutter politics.