Joe Arpaio

When Maricopa County Sheriff candidate Dan Saban submitted his qualifying signatures today, turning in over three times as many as he needed to get on the ballot, he did so without the backing of the Buckeye Police Association, which represents the officers of the police department he headed until a week ago.

Yet Saban doesn't believe BPA's endorsement of his rival, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, or for that matter the endorsement of Arpaio by the Phoenix Law Enforcement Agency, is that great a liability. For Saban, it’s a slew of other endorsements he's garnered that are far more important to his campaign, and he says he has the 8,000-plus signatures to prove it.  

The Arizona Republican Party is fuming over what it sees as Governor Janet Napolitano's latest blow to anti-illegal immigration efforts.

In an executive order signed Monday, Napolitano redirected over $1 million slated to go to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office for immigration enforcement. The funds will be used instead for a task force she's appointed to serve tens of thousands of outstanding warrants statewide.

Coupled with her veto of a bill that would have enabled county and municipal law enforcement agencies to have greater cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Arizona Republican Party is making its displeasure known, and accusing the governor of refusing to enforce laws and obstructing Sheriff Arpaio's efforts.

The question, though, is how far are frustrated Republicans willing to go to stop Gov. Napolitano?    

Democrat candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff, Dan Saban, will submit more than 8,000 signatures tomorrow.  2,480 valid signatures are required by June 4th for Saban to obtain ballot status against Sheriff Joe Arpio.

Guadalupe Mayor Rebecca Jimenez had accused Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of racial profiling in her community during April crackdowns of illegal immigrants.  Yesterday Jimenez was pulled over by the sheriff’s deputies and ticketed for a cracked tail light and driving without proof of insurance.

Jimenez has been threatening to drop the Sheriff’s office who currently provides law enforcement services for Guadalupe.  Inside Edge assumes this may speed up that process a little. 

The following is an op-ed release Sheriff candidate Dan Saban has issued regarding the Governor withholding funds from Sheriff Joe Arpaio:

The current Sheriff wasn't doing his job of serving warrants, so the Governor had to step in and do it. That's a shame because sheriffs have always taken responsibility for serving them. Here's a little history to back up my claim.

Annie LoydAnnie Loyd, independent for Congress in CD3, is running no longer.

Loyd had been incredibly visible for a candidate without party affiliation, and leaves the race with numerous questions, such as whether she will throw her support behind either Democrat Bob Lord or, less likely, Rep. John Shadegg.

She said she sees a need to address the immigration question immediately, and feels running for office to be contrary to her more community-based goals, but left unsaid whether any specific catalyst prompted her to leave the race.

L to R: Joe Arpaio, Susan Bitter Smith, Ed PhillipsAt her Scottsdale home Friday evening, Susan Bitter Smith at last officially entered the six-person Republican primary field in CD5. Though some have questioned the soundness of her last-in-the-water strategy, Bitter Smith sought to belay any doubts by beginning her campaign surrounded by political supporters, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and replete with an oversized Taxpayer Protection Pledge that the campaign claims is "the biggest of any candidate."

Anyone expecting a repeat of Nevada's Republican Party Convention today was sorely mistaken. Despite an effort to secure the election of supporters of Rep. Ron Paul as delegates to the Republican National Convention in September, the "Unity Slate," crafted by the party to ensure that only delegates who fully support the state's favorite son would be represent Arizona in Minneapolis this September, was elected with almost no changes.

Ed Hermes may have only had his bachelor's degree for two years, but he's been an up-and-comer on the political scene since before he graduated ASU. Already he's jumping into his first electoral bid, targeting Fulton Brock, Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

Brock, who owns an asset management firm, is a former representative in the Arizona House and has sat on the Board for 12 years, will doubtless prove a formidable opponent. Still, Hermes is set on making sure he goes.

Independent congressional candidate Annie Loyd: Politicker PhotoAnnie Loyd, independent candidate for Congress in CD3, appeared today at a meeting of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to decry Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's sweeps aimed at rounding up illegal immigrants. After making the case that county monies shouldn't go toward enforcing immigration policy, Loyd appeared at the head of a group of community activists and civil libertarians to demand accountability for what they claimed were tactics that "divided the community" and could possibly "lead to violence."