Janet Napolitano must be feeling desperate. In a foolish attempt to halt the enforcement of illegal immigration laws by Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio, she issued Executive Order 2008-22. Her order takes money from a grant dedicated to the Maricopa County Sheriff's office to fund a task force under her direct control through the Department of Public Safety. The new task force would seek out felony warrants and give priority to gang-related criminals and "undocumented" aliens.Arizona Speaker of the House, James P. Weiers, says DPS has been allocated plenty of money for that purpose plus $1 million devoted to a Lexis-Nexis system which can find anyone. He said the agency should not have needed the sheriff's $1.2 million grant. The Speaker informed the press, that DPS has not used any of its own money yet which makes the governor's move very suspicious. In addition, none of the budgets of the other counties were touched.
The sheriff told the press today that the governor's Chief of Staff lied in saying that the sheriff was not sharing intelligence. The sheriff stated that his office sends intelligence constantly to her office.
It defies human logic that you can get more done with a task force than you can with a Sheriff with 160 federally trained officers, 4,000 employees and crime/immigration enforcement programs already in action. Napolitano has been governor for six years and attorney general prior to that says Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. He finds it strange that only now she addresses the matter of felony warrants and at the last minute denies the grant her office promised to the sheriff.
What incredible gall! Everything about this move spells dirty politics. The governor's judgment is clouded by her ambitious desire to please special interests groups. The residents of Arizona mean squat—her agenda reigns supreme. Every conceivable poll taken in the state shows overwhelming support for the crime suppression and immigration enforcement being performed by the sheriff. Frankly, I'm kinda of glad this happened because it shines bright light on the real priorities of the Governor of Arizona.
Never mind a recall, impeach her now.
