Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Earlier this week, Respect Arizona, the organization behind the recall of crazy uncle Joe Arpaio, announced that it is suspending its paid signature gathering campaign due to a shortage of funds (you can help alleviate this cash flow problem by using the link to contribute and to volunteer to circulate petitions).
This announcement from Respect Arizona caused The Arizona Republic(an), which first opposed the recall effort and then supported it, to have another manic depressive episode. Laurie Roberts clutched her pearls and reached for her smelling salts with a post assigned two doom and gloom captions. Joe Arpaio recall doomed by political miscalculation and Joe Arpaio recall in trouble:
Just 12 days after anti-Joe Arpaio forces announced that they had collected an impressive 120,000 signatures in the campaign to recall Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the campaign has taken a nosedive.
Lilia Alvarez, campaign manager of the Arpaio recall, confirmed the campaign is out of money and can no longer pay petition circulators. Instead, Respect Arizona will rely on volunteers to get to the promised land of 335,317 valid signatures by May 30.
Alvarez remains optimistic that it can be done.
“Money isn’t really the answer,” she said. “It’s whether people are hungry for change or not.”
* * *
My take: no money = no recall.
I’ve never heard of a petition campaign of this magnitude that didn’t rely heavily on paid circulators.
The interesting question, of course, is this: why haven’t the big-name Democrats, the unions and other Arpaio opponents backed this effort to oust the sheriff?
More appropriately, the question for the leader of "Dekookify The Capitol" is why haven't the members of the GOP establishment whom the Arizona Republic(an) represents and speaks on behalf of stepped up? Are they so pants-wetting terrified of the kooks in the Tea Party who idolize crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio that they won't step up? A handful of wealthy establishment Republican businessmen could write a check and put paid circulators back out on the streets today. If they truly want to take the GOP back from the kooks they have allowed to overrun the party, this would be a good place to start. This needs to be a bipartisan effort — it can't be a Democratic Party effort alone, which answers your question Ms. Roberts.
It turns out that crazy Uncle Joe's adoring sycophants are not so confident that the recall is "doomed." On Thursday, Larry Klayman, a lawyer with the wingnut Judicial Watch and World News Daily conspiracy web site that heavily promotes crazy Uncle Joe Arpio's Birther Posse investigation of President Obama's birth certificate, followed through on his threat to file a frivolous lawsuit seeking to stop the recall effort. Activist files lawsuit to halt Arpaio recall:
Larry Klayman, a lawyer who helped bedevil the Clinton administration in the 1990s through his group Judicial Watch, called the current recall effort against Arpaio an ongoing criminal activity. Klayman’s suit seeks court orders to shut the recall down and return the money donors raised to support it.
Chiefly, the suit takes aim at how quickly the recall started: only days after Arpaio began his sixth term. Klayman said the Arizona Constitution requires recalls to wait at least six months into a new term, and a state law that suggests otherwise is legally invalid.
“It’s not only unconstitutional,” Klayman said. “It’s an abuse of process.”
* * *
Klayman’s lawsuit, filed on behalf of a group called Citizens to Protect Fair Election Results, does not involve Respect Arizona and instead seeks steps by state and county election officials to end a recall that he said could cost as much as $5 million.
I have previously explained why Klayman's vexatious litigation is frivolous and without merit. Time to make the big push to recall Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio:
These Tea Party tools are pissing away their money. There is settled case law in Arizona that the six month prohibition against recall applies only to individuals elected to their first term, not to incumbents who are reelected, despite what Klayman may think.
Klayman might want to check the Secretary of State's 2011 recall handbook (PDF):
"The commencement of a subsequent term in the same office does not renew the six month period delaying the circulation of petitions." p. 20]
The defendants/respondents should move to dismiss this vexatious litigation for failure to state a claim, and request sanctions and attorneys fees for bringing a frivolous lawsuit not well grounded in fact or law for purposes of harrassment.
This latest development has the Arizona Republic(an)'s Laurie Roberts back on a manic high today. Arpaio recall attorney should climb out of the gutter:
Klayman, perhaps best known for his birther work and his column in WorldNetDaily (internet newspaper to conspiracy theorists everywhere), was hired by Arpaio’s supporters to block the recall.
On Tuesday, Klayman e-mailed a letter to Respect Arizona, offering to hold off on filing his lawsuit if recall organizers would withdraw their recall petition in light of reports that they are out of money.
William James Fisher, chairman of Respect Arizona, sent back a one-word reply:
“Nuts!”
The reply was made famous during the Battle of the Bulge. Germans had surrounded Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division, and the German commander sent word to Brig. Gen Anthony McAuliffe, asking him to surrender. McAuliffe’s response: “Nuts!”
Somehow, I doubt the German officer’s response was anything like Klayman’s.
Within an hour, Respect Arizona’s Lilia Alvarez says Klayman fired back this response.
“WHAT KINDA NUTS IS TALKING ABOUT. DOES THIS HOMO WANT MY NUTS! HA. LET’S GO TO WAR. BEST, L.”
Klayman, reached by phone Thursday evening, says he didn’t intend for that response to go to recall organizers. He says it was meant as a joke and sent to his associate because he thought It was “bizarre” for Fisher to refer to his private parts.
“It caught me by surprise,” he said, noting that his initial letter had been conciliatory. “Why not be respectful to each other?”
Klayman said he had never heard the World War II story of the defiant reply that whipped up soldier morale.
Evidently, he’s never heard that it’s not nice to call someone a “homo” either. In fact, it’s downright offensive. But I guess it’s acceptable in certain circles.
Keep it up, Larry, and I’m guessing money will come flying into Respect Arizona, allowing the group to once again gear up this recall operation.
Yes it should, Ms. Roberts, yes it should. Donate here Respect Arizona | Recall Arpaio.
Respect Arizona previously had responded to Klayman's idiotic "cease and desist" letter with a lengthy legal analysis response. Maricopa County’s Lawless Lawman Lashes Out in Fear of Losing Office (.pdf). The frivolous lawsuit filed by Klayman reportedly does not even name Respect Arizona as a defendant/respondent. That's some fine lawyerin' there, Larry.