Mary Anne, how wonderful to hear from you. It's rare these days. The ACLU has taken on the sheriff a number of times on issues, mostly dealing with prisoner abuse. I agree that they will probably not embroil themselves with this current issue especially now that the owners of the newspaper are off the hook.

I do like electoral solutions to things like this but the only worry I have about using that method is the example of J.D. Hayworth who was recently booted out of office in an election. Now Foghorn Leghorn (as many of us around here call him) is a local talk show host and still has a very public forum for spreading his insanity. I'm sure the same thing would happen with Sheriff Joe should he lose an election.

I'm not so sure these guys would have much of a podium though if we could actually put them behind bars. The media may like to give a voice to ex-politicians but they probably would steer clear of them if they were found guilty in a criminal case. Let's hope so at least. We were treated to having to listen to G. Gordon Liddy for a number of years around here.

I also worry about the electoral intelligence of our whacked out county. Maricopa County has a large elderly population that typically vote solid Republican in elections and our underfunded state school system seems intent on putting out uneducated children who are easily swayed by hype from guys like Sheriff Joe. I really want to have faith in my neighbors to see the light but my fear is they are hopelessly uninformed.

Art