Maricopa County officials will aid feds in Arpaio investigation

[maddezmom]

Source: azrepublic


Maricopa County officials will aid feds in Arpaio investigation
by JJ Hensley - Aug. 14, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
.

The U.S. Department of Justice does not have the power to compel Sheriff Joe Arpaio to turn over documents related to its ongoing civil-rights investigation of the Sheriff's Office.

But Maricopa County administrators believe they do have subpoena power, and they're willing to use that to help the Justice Department out if it means saving taxpayer money on legal fees in the long run.


The offer was contained in a letter that Tom Irvine, an attorney for county administrators, sent Thursday to Thomas Perez, an assistant U.S. attorney general.

The letter noted that Arpaio's unwillingness to cooperate with the federal civil-rights investigation could expose county taxpayers to more liability.

"For Maricopa County, it sure makes a lot of sense to cooperate in a federal investigation as opposed to opposing. . . . From a policy standpoint and a financial standpoint, why not cooperate as opposed to fighting it?" asked Wade Swanson, director of the county's Office of General Litigation.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/08/14/20100814joe-arpaio-federal-investigation.html#ixzz0wZhY76RP


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/08/14/20100814joe-arpaio-federal-investigation.html

[Turbineguy]

1. This will bring out the

pro-slavery crowd in support of Arpaio.

[rasputin1952]

2. What am I missing here?...

This is an investigation apparently concerning Federal Civil Rights breeches...how can the DoJ, not have subpoena power?

Glad to see Maricopa County is not sheepish in this.

Arpaio, as he has many times to others, should "have no fear if he is innocent"...I find it difficult to see Arpaio as innocent, if he were and if he were an honest law man would cooperate w/another law enforcement entity.

[Alcibiades]

3. This is a rather complicated area of law

Lawyers? Hello?

It's not a question of sovereign immunity, because that does not apply to county government and is specifically exempted in civil rights cases in any event. From what I read of the article, I think that the feds were able to issue subpoenas for that, but they want some financial information that is apparently not covered under the statute.

I'm probably wrong: I'm a political scientist, not a lawyer, and this is a rather complicated question of law. That the state thinks it has the power, but the DoJ does not, may also mean this requires an understanding of Arizona law.

[rasputin1952]

4. As far as my expertise, it is limited to two semesters of

Business Law, and a semester of Constitutional Law. Criminal Law is a whole different thing for me, although we did touch on it because a good deal of Business Law situations also involve Criminal Law.

It seems to me that the DoJ would trump local of state law. I lived in AZ for a few years, essentially their laws are pretty much like everyone else's, except LA, they are under Napoleonic Law which is whole different animal.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out...as for Arpaio, no doubt in my mind that he is capable of being a criminal.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. Sounds like Joe Boy has a hidden enemy.

He just got stabbed in the back by 'em. :rofl:

[EFerrari]

6. A charmer like Joe? How can that be?

lol

[maddezmom]

7. Maricopa County feud: What happens next?

Maricopa County feud: What happens next?
Release of grand-jury records raises key questions


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/08/15/20100815maricopa-county-joe-arpaio-andrew-thomas-feud.html#ixzz0wf0XJwgS