Take a look back at the stories of July 2008 in this month in photos slideshow.
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Phil Gordon
By Ray Stern
After Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon accused Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies of racial profiling in an April 4 letter to the U.S. Attorney General, Arpaio "ordered an immediate investigation" into the charge, according to a Sheriff's Office press release.
The newly released report on an allegation of racial profiling involving one of Gordon's aides, Jessica Rodriguez of Buckeye, shows the "investigation" was a sham from the beginning.
At least one racial profiling complaint had been sitting around for anyone to find at the Sheriff''s Office since December. But as the sheriff's latest press release shows, the "investigators" simply filed a highly questionable request for public records with the City of Phoenix and never bothered to check their own files for a complaint until July 16.
Which would seem pretty stupid, unless you look through the lens of politics. Then all the lies begin to make sense. As New Times has chronicled, the Phoenix records request by Arpaio was apparently designed only to embarrass or intimidate Arpaio's political foe, Gordon.
More >>
by Sarah Fenske
The Phoenix Country Club continues to make headlines — this time for
booting longtime member Rusty Brown. Brown's crime? Daring to speak to the media about the ongoing civil rights imbroglio at the club.
As we first reported last July, two longtime members filed a complaint with Attorney General Terry Goddard alleging that the club discriminates against women. (Female members are barred from the club's casual dining grill — and stuck using a women's grill with far fewer amenities.) That complaint touched off a series of disturbing clashes among the club's hoity-toity members that included alleged vandalism targeting the complainants, Logan and Barbara Van Sittert. And, at the time, the club passed a new rule threatening to expel any member who makes "derogatory or otherwise injurious comments to the media."
Frankly, it's kind of hard to see how Brown qualifies. A lawyer with a solo practice in Phoenix, Brown had questioned the sex-segregated grills at a luncheon hosted by the Arizona Women Lawyers Association. His only comment to the media, as best I can tell, was a quote in a New York Times story in June that ''most men are indifferent to the policy or are against it."
More >>By Stephen Lemons
Mesa Police Chief George Gascon pens an op-ed for the Gray Lady. Phil Gordon defends racial profiling claim against Sheriff. Lettuce Ladies give everyone gas. Cops seek knife-wielding mariachi. Moron Steve Berman. Crypto parasite terrorizes Mesa. Roller derby dames do it with their helmets on. Three vanishing Mexican stories. (A new record!) Ramos and Compean stay convicted. D-Backs pound Padres 7-3. Javelin-boy goes to Beijing.
Gascon pens immigration op-ed for New York Times.
Gordon defends racial profiling claim vs. Sheriff.
Crypto parasite found in Mesa pool.
Police seek knife-wielding mariachi.
Roller derby dames do it on wheels.
Real cops eager to collar fake flatfoot.
Breaux Greer chucks spear in Beijing.
Nativist Center for Immigration Studies trumpets illegals’ decline.
Feds say illegals can “self-deport.”
Vanishing Mexicans, vanishing money.
Appeals court upholds Ramos/Compean convictions.
Politicker AZ reports latest Tim Nelson-Gerald Richard debate.
By John Dickerson
On Monday, July 28, “Sheriff Joe” made the editorial page of the Washington Post. And this bit of national coverage didn't involve some brainless TV reporter taking Arpaio’s word or remarking about how neato that pink underwear is. No, D.C.’s paper of record called it like it is. “Sheriff Joe likes to refer to his blatantly unconstitutional campaign of harassment as ‘crime suppression sweeps,’” the editorial reads.
“By equating race with immigration status, the sheriff's office has made moving around Maricopa County risky and at times terrifying for many Latinos, immigrant and native alike.”
The Post editorial succinctly unpacked the pattern of Maricopa deputies’ racial profiling — and the price it costs documented citizens who get arrested and harassed in the process. The Post's editorial board was able to identify and nail this issue from 2,300 miles away. What a shame more local reporters and editors can’t see it as clearly from so close.
Of course, the Post isn’t the first national paper to notice how backwards Maricopa County has become. The New York Times wrote a similar piece back in April. That editorial called for legislators to issue subpoenas for Arpaio and hold a congressional hearing about his tactics.
Meanwhile, local TV coverage of Arpaio is rife with hunky-dory stories about doggies and good deeds, punctuated with five-second soundbites and rarely questioning the sheriff’s self-serving “internal investigations.” (Joe Dana’s coverage of Arpaio burning county dollars in Honduras is one of the notable exceptions.)
With both the Washington Post and New York Times trained on the Joker, er, Arpaio, Gotham City, er, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is now in Washington, D.C., encouraging more national media outlets to notice the constitutional abuses funded by our local tax dollars.
As the wagons of national media circle, the question changes from "Do Maricopa County residents know that the constitutional rights of one minority group are being blatantly violated?"
Now the questions seem to be: "Do Maricopa County residents even care that the constitutional rights of a minority group are being blatantly violated?"
by Sarah Fenske
The Democratic candidates for Maricopa County Attorney squared off last night at Central High School. But what was a bit more interesting than the debate, I think, was the press conference that one candidate held before the event.
Tim Nelson, who is Governor Janet Napolitano's former general counsel, held the conference to denounce the current county attorney, Andrew Thomas, for his habit of spending RICO funds to promote his own agenda. As we've previously reported, Thomas has used the funds for a host of questionable purchases - many of them clearly designed to shore up his own name recognition. Most recently, as my colleague Stephen Lemons reported, Thomas even used RICO money to sponsor a right-wing radio host's book tour.
The radio host in question, Darrell Ankarlo, works for KTAR. Which is why it was incredibly funny that a "reporter" from KTAR showed up for the conference and attempted to pose "questions" vindicating the expenditure. (Interestingly enough, the "reporter" was hanging out with Thomas' right-hand guy, Barnett Lotstein, while the Nelson people were setting up.)
After Nelson gave a short speech criticizing the expenses - "what does promoting a political book have to do with public safety?" - the KTAR "reporter" began challenging him.
More >>By Stephen Lemons
Ankarlo book tour fiasco costs taxpayers $11,500. Dan Saban dodges verbal knives, kicks butt on KFYI 550 AM Bruce Jacobs’s morning show. Arizona’s modern-day version of the Trail of Tears. Channel 12’s Joe Dana reports some more on Honduras-gate. MCSO denies racial profiling. (Pause for laughter.) Female cabbie stabbed, body dumped. D-Backs spank San Diego.
$11K from the MCAO to KTAR in Ankarlo book tour.
The Republic says $11,500 too.
Arpaio-foe Dan Saban kicks ass on Bruce Jacobs.
Arizona’s modern-day Trail of Tears.
More great work from Joe Dana on MCSO’s Honduran caper.
Of course, Feathered Bastard covered same ground in April.
MCSO: Racial profiling? What racial profiling?
San Diego spanked by D-Backs, 3-0.
Teixeira traded to Los Angeles Angels.
Cards acquire former Arizona State tight end.
Female cabbie stabbed, left for dead in Phoenix, expected to recover.
Compiled By Jonathan McNamara
On: Latino Bar Business Down on Big Fight Night, Thanks to Sheriff Joe What's-His-Name
"How cute! Dan Saban has his 14 supporters writting in. I guess that's what you need to do when you can't raise money in a campagin. He knows the New Times will post anything for him and certainly won't ask any tough questions. Saban will open the door and welcome every illegal alien he can get into this state. He is already said he will not enforce illegal immigration."
-Saban52
"'Anybody But Joe' won't be on the ballot, so get used to the name, Dan Saban. He'll be your next Maricopa County Sheriff."
- Sam, President, ASU For Dan Saban
On: National Tally: Obama, 71 McCain, 38. Even Fox News Prefers Obama
"How is it that a candidate with absolutely no substance or experience could be interesting. It is almost biblical how Obama can just chant "change" and people fall all over themselves and can't tell you why. Hope and change, hope and change, hope and change......when I snap my fingers you will come to and stop acting like a jackass!"
- Dave
By Steve Jansen
ASU running back Keegan Herring
2008 Pac-10 Predictions:
1. USC
2. Oregon
3. ASU
4. California
5. Oregon State
6. UCLA
7. Arizona
8. Washington State
9. Washington
10. Stanford
Over the years, I’ve written about loads of subjects that excite me. The merits of old free jazz vinyl. A dude that “played” the Arizona-Mexico border. A vegan bondage gear maker.
Arizona State Sun Devil football is another one of those topics. However, there isn't a ton of stuff going on until the team's season begins August 30 against NAU.
More >>By John Dickerson
In March, New Times reported that the Arizona Medical Board looks the other way once doctors graduate from its addiction recovery program. The board doesn’t even track how many doctors relapse once their drug testing ends (about three out of four docs New Times followed did relapse).
But one thing the board should be credited for doing is monitoring the doctors who are still in the addiction-recovery program, known as the “monitored aftercare program,” or MAP.
Today, the board learned that one MAP physician, Tempe ER doc Edwin D. Stump, failed his most-recent drug test when his urine tested positive for alcohol. Board staff tried to contact Stump, but the doctor was either out of town or out cold.
So the board immediately suspended Dr. Stump’s license today. Stump is just one example of a functioning addict whose patients (unless they smell alcohol on his breath) have no way of knowing whether their ER doctor is an alcoholic — even though the medical board knows.
Even if a patient were to log on to the Arizona Medical Board’s Web site and had the wherewithal to pull Stump’s profile, said responsible patient wouldn’t see that Stump is an alchie. In fact, his profile reports a perfect score of zero board [disciplinary] actions.
How could it be that the board knew he was an alcoholic and didn't warn his patients? That’s because Arizona (and a number of other states) offers confidential rehab for doctors who self-report their addictions. Confidential, as in the medical board has known this guy had an alcohol problem since July 3. (Unlike Stump, most doctors last longer than a month in the MAP program.)
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