Civic arson
The following editorial appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune ...
... Arpaio’s hardline tactics in fighting illegal immigration – and, arguably, his eager promotion of Obama birtherism – made him a tea party and Fox News favorite. Some on the right may not mind a sheriff who engaged in unconstitutional racial profiling; who is proud that temperatures routinely top 120 degrees every summer in his tent jail; who goes after humans being smuggled instead of their smugglers and who arrests unauthorized immigrants at factories and farms but not their employers.
But those who are able to rationalize this away and who actually care about democratic norms should be appalled with the grotesque ways Arpaio used his power to bully and abuse his critics. Two county supervisors won nearly $4.5 million dollars in settlements over bogus charges orchestrated by Arpaio’s aides and allies. The Phoenix New Times CEO and top editor won a $3.75 million settlement after being arrested on bogus charges that followed critical coverage of the sheriff.
... pardons of people found guilty of federal crimes are in a different category than ill-chosen remarks. Arpaio is not a valiant retired law-enforcement officer who may have made a few mistakes but deserves a break. He was a tyrant with a badge who abused his power to torment his critics – and a lawman who targeted an entire ethnic group despite an explicit order from a federal judge to stop doing so because it was unconstitutional ...
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/aug/26/trump-pardoning-arpaio-would-be-civic-arson/
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