The Fortnightly

Sep. 20, 2011 at 11:20am with 39 notes

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GOP Kingmaker Sheriff Tasks ‘Cold Case Posse’ With Investigating Obama’s Birth Certificate

Cold Case Posse, coming next fall on CBS!

cognitivedissonance:

Well, Sheriff Joe Arpaio went and did it. He’s using taxpayer’s dollars to investigate a settled question, and it’s difficult to argue racism is not playing a part. From ThinkProgress:

The lawman is… willing to use official resources to pursue the bogus conspiracy theory. As birther website WorldNetDaily gleefully reported:

Arizona’s Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told WND he has assigned a five-member “Cold Case Posse” to investigate the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

The decision, he says, is simply a matter of doing his duty.

Arpaio’s investigation comes in response to a complaint filed by the Surprise, Arizona Tea Party, which alleges that Obama may be using a forged birth certificate…

The Cold Case Posse is an officially-sponsored all-volunteer group of people with skills and backgrounds that make them qualified to investigate cases. The group has been inactive in recent months due to “budgetary limitations within the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office,” but apparently a wild goose chase looking into the veracity of the president’s birth certificate is an appropriate use of funds.

Arpaio is, of course, claiming that politics did not come into play regarding his decision. He’s just doing his duty. So why does he consider it his duty to cater to the Tea Party versus not misappropriating taxpayer dollars? Turns out there’s a lot Arpaio considers his duty that’s outside the bounds of common sense. Here’s a short list:

Shredding documents in a civil rights lawsuit, resulting in payment of $94,000 to plaintiff’s attorneys

Racially profiling people, with the resulting lawsuit costing $200,000+

Using political clout to order the arrests of journalists

Violating the civil rights of inmates and refusing to cooperate with court orders and the DOJ on the matter (and yes, he was sued again over this)

Advocating for the deployment of US troops into Mexico

Blasting inmates with Christmas carols, even though he’s been sued six times over this

Advocating for checking “dirty” immigrants “like fruits and vegetables” because they “bring in diseases”

Expanding a “citizen posse” program into allowing armed citizens to hunt down undocumented immigrants, and allowing Neo-Nazis “to have his back”

Profiling people based on “clothing, speech, certain conduct”

Misspending $99.5 million on “immigration patrols” and on pursuing opponents of his policies

Misspending $50 million on training trips for deputies to Disneyland and fishing resorts, plus spying on political opponents via his ‘anti-corruption’ unit