Sheriff Babeu attacks his sister Lucy for ABC15 story

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It's only Tuesday and already this is a disturbing week of men abusing women. No, not that guy. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and the GOP's Rose Law Firm. The Arizona Daily Star reports Babeu camp attacks sister over new allegations:

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu's campaign launched a counterattack late Monday on a key source for a story broadcast Sunday by a Phoenix TV station.

The source: Babeu's sister Lucy.

The Rose Law Group, which has supported Babeu as part of the Border Sheriffs group, published a two-page dossier on Lucy's medical history and alleged behavioral problems (Pdf : Dossier on Lucy Babeu). The dossier attempts to undermine Lucy Babeu's credibility by citing her "severe" mental illness and the fact that she lost custody of her children, among other things. (Pdf : Lucy Babeu restraining order).

Lucy Babeu was one of two sources in the KNXV story who alleged her brother Paul, now a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress in congressional district 4, had an inappropriate relationship with a student.

It also put out a letter from Joshua Geyer, who was a student at DeSisto School when Babeu directed the school. In the letter (Pdf : Joshua Geyer statement), Geyer denies having had "any inappropriate sexual relationship with Paul Babeu." The letter is not notarized or a sworn statement.

All this came in response to Sunday night's story on KNXV, in which the station reported that Babeu had presided over abuse at the school and  had an inappropriate relationship with a student when he was headmaster at the school.

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I've attempted to contact Josh Geyer several times over the last few months to ask him about his relationship with Babeu. Last Monday he called back and declined to discuss the situation.

While Geyer denied any "inappropriate" relationship with Babeu, he  acknowledged being a student at DeSisto and he did not deny having a relationship. In Massachusetts, the age of consent for sex is 17, KNXV reported.

[Note: In the teacher-student context, age of consent is irrelevant. It is inappropriate sexual conduct and an abuse of an authority position, and is illegal in many states.]

For her part, Lucy Babeu said today "I could sue the hell out of Paul. This is slanderous."

She cited several portions of the dossier that she said are false, including that she doesn't have contact with her son Zachary and that she takes illegal or prescription drugs. She says she doesn't.

Asked whether Paul couldn't deem her criticisms of him as slanderous too, she said no.

"I don't say nothing but the truth," Lucy Babeu said from her home in North Adams, Mass., the Babeu family's hometown.

The Arizona Daily Star previously glossed over the DeSisto boarding school story as part of a profile piece on Sheriff Babeu. Babeu is new face of Arizona sheriffs:

In 1998, he accepted an offer from fellow Berkshire County Republican Michael DeSisto to lead the private boarding school DeSisto had founded in Stockbridge.

The DeSisto School's reputation was mixed. The school used controversial therapeutic methods and had been sued for alleged abuse by staff members, some of whom were convicted of crimes.

While Babeu worked there, the school fought efforts by a state agency to force the school to submit to licensure. Babeu acknowledges the issues but said he loved the school and that most students succeeded.

The Star reporters concede that in this profile piece "we touched only lightly [on] his leadership role at the DeSisto School, a defunct alternative boarding school in Stockbridge, Mass., in this blog post. Sr. Reporter: Babeu's near foreclosures, and other border-sheriff notes:

The school has long been touched by controversy — so much so that when we asked Babeu about what drew him to the school, he reflexively began discussing the school's problems, even though he thought the school was "wonderful."

Suffice it to say that the school was unconventional and expensive. Writer Roger Kahn, author of The Boys of Summer, wrote in his memoir about sending his troubled son to DeSisto. Here's what Kahn said about founder Michael DeSisto, whom Babeu considered a friend and political ally:

"In time, considering DeSisto as a school director and unlicenced therapist, I saw him in many guises: actor, manipulator, cultist, publicity hound, necromancer, mercenary, entreprenuer, and, when it suited what he thought was a larger purpose, liar."

The key connection I saw with Babeu is that during the sheriff's time as headmaster or executive director of the school, 1998-2001, the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services demanded that the school submit to licensure, arguing that because more than 30 percent of the students are special needs student, it was required.

The school fought the office's demand for years, starting in 2000, when Babeu was a leader there (not sure if he was headmaster or executive director at that moment). Eventually the school relented, and soon the state forced them out of business, though Michael DeSisto's death also had something to do with the school's demise.