No More Money For Sheriff Joe’s Well Compensated Attorneys

Written by Jill Garvey

It doesn’t take a genius to know that when the dust settles in Arizona, Sheriff Joe and a slew of other elected officials will be exposed as corrupt and spendy little buggers.

Sheriff Joe, in addition to being the focus of a Department of Justice investigation into civil rights violations, racial profiling and abuse of power, is also the reason for $46 million in lawsuits brought by county officials who say they were wrongfully arrested, abused, or investigated by the Sheriff.

But that’s not all – Arpaio has also been funneling County money to private attorneys to implement his anti-immigrant agenda and defend him in various legal entanglements.

More evidence surfaced on that this week with the news that funding for two of Sheriff Joe’s attorneys was cut off by Maricopa County officials. Kris Kobach, the Kansas attorney at the center of Arizona’s racist law SB 1070, was officially retained by the Sheriff’s office in 2009 to train deputies on how to fully exploit the 287(g) program. An official tally on how much he has been paid to date is still unclear; however, it is known that his fee is $300/hour and he has cost taxpayers in other states anywhere from $100,000 – $300,000 for similar “services.”

This isn’t the only negative press Kobach has received this week. On a website dedicated to ensuring that Kris Kobach “does not ever hold an elected office again,” a blog post detailed eight news headlines criticizing the attorney.

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The second attorney in question, Robert Driscoll, was hired by Arpaio’s office last year to defend him against federal investigators. According to the Arizona Republic, what surprised County officials was that he continued to be paid by the Sheriff’s office even after he announced that it would no longer cooperate with the Justice Department, accusing federal investigators of misleading Arpaio’s representatives.

In less than one year, it’s believed that Driscoll’s firm received $155,000 from a Sheriff’s office slush fund. Apparently, it only came to the attention of County officials when it was accidentally reported on an expenditure form.

It’s clear that the anti-immigrant movement, with Sheriff Arpaio as ringleader, is not only tearing apart Arizona’s communities, it’s billing taxpayers to do it.