America’s Toughest Elected Official Takes on ACORN
Posted on 19. Sep, 2009 by James Devere in Political News
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, regarded by many to be America’s toughest sheriff, might just be America’s toughest elected official. The lawsuit Melendres v. Arpaio, which alleges racial profiling by the Sheriff and his deputies might turn out to be a vehicle to investigate ACORN’s sheltered financial records. The Maricopa County Sheriff has subpoenaed a wide array of records from ACORN. Sheriff Joe has been under seige by anti-illegal immigration enforcement advocates for two years. Arpaio and his deputies participate in an ICE program that allows the deputies to detain illegal aliens if they are encountered through routine law enforcement. At issue are claims by ACORN and Al Sharpton that the Sheriff’s deputies use racial profiling to make traffic stops with the sole purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws.
The association between the plaintiff in the Melendres suit and ACORN’s campaign to have the Sheriff removed from office may allow the Sheriff’s counsel, as part of his his defense, to investigate the ties between ACORN, Al Sharpton, and what Arpaio calls a frivolus complaint from Melendres. According to a September 17th press release from his office , Arpaio “believes that the records will show that ACORN is working closely with plaintiffs and their counsel in the Melendres lawsuit in order to advance their political agenda.”
“I believe the organization used state and federal funds meant to help poor people to conduct a campaign against me and my officers,” said Arpaio. “These records will show, I believe, that ACORN is in bed with the anti-immigration enforcement organizations which continue to demonstrate in front of my office trying to thwart my officers from enforcing state and federal law.”
Arpaio’s press release also references, “Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s CEO, and the Rev. Al Sharpton went on national television to demand Sheriff Arpaio’s resignation and added their accusations of racial profiling to other critics who have made the same claim for over two years.” In one such interview, CNN’s Lou Dobbs suggested that Lewis “should say [she's] sorry to God” for the audacity of the allegations that she was making while grossly misquoting the Sheriff. Both Lewis and Sharpton have visited Phoenix to personally bolster calls for the Sheriff to step down.
It is the funding of Lewis and Sharpton in their travel and promotion expenses that will be investigated. ACORN has long refused calls to give an accounting of where the taxpayer money they receive goes and to what purpose. ACORN’s multiple affiliated groups may take community donations, government grants, membership dues, and private money (such as the $800,000 paid by the Obama campaign) and commingle such funds to be dispersed in variety of politically charged efforts. If so, Sheriff Joe’s subpoenas may be one way to crack the ACORN nut and see how deep corruption may run within this group.
Thank you Thank you. Finally we get to crack the nut ACORN. They received a percentage of every bad home loan they could get to the bank with. I support this investigation. Arizona I support what you are doing.
We have a big problem here in America. Our goverment. I can see November from my house