澳彩开奖

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., complained about a supposed 鈥渂lackout鈥� on news of his investigation into the validity of President Obama鈥檚 birth certificate. He finally got the media coverage he craved 鈥� though hardly to a tune of his liking.

In recent months, the man who bills himself as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 toughest sheriff鈥� became the subject of a federal civil rights investigation into racial profiling. Also, Maricopa County budget officials reported that Arpaio had improperly spent nearly $100 million in jail funds to pay for other operations, including immigration patrols and raids.

Then, in December, The Associated Press reported that Arpaio鈥檚 office had 鈥渋nadequately investigated鈥� more than 400 sex-crime cases between 2005 and 2007, many involving children of undocumented immigrants. Investigators in the town of El Mirage, which paid the sheriff鈥檚 office $2.7 million for police protection during those years, told the AP that an 鈥渙verwhelming majority鈥� of the cases 鈥� including at least 32 involving child molestation 鈥� hadn鈥檛 been worked at all.

The parade of criticisms came just months after the sheriff grumbled to a handful of news outlets (most notably the far-right, online WorldNetDaily) that no one was paying attention to his promise to use his all-volunteer 鈥淐old Case Posse鈥� to get to the bottom of Obama鈥檚 origin.

That promise, in fact, made Arpaio something of a figurehead in the so-called 鈥渂irther鈥� movement, prompting arch-birther Jerome Corsi to exclaim: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a serious investigation. ... They鈥檙e collecting hundreds of pages of documentation, they鈥檙e talking to multiple experts, they鈥檙e corroborating statements. It鈥檚 ongoing 鈥� and it鈥檚 widening!鈥�

Arpaio did little to quash that claim. He appeared on a local television news program and promised the Globe, a supermarket tabloid, a 鈥渂ombshell world exclusive.鈥�

According to an unnamed source in one Globe report, the sheriff鈥檚 鈥減osse鈥� had broadened the scope of its inquiry to include rumors that the president鈥檚 father was left-wing poet and activist Frank Marshall Davis. The tabloid also said that Arpaio鈥檚 investigators, unsatisfied with the 鈥渓ong-form鈥� birth certificate the president released in April, were planning to request the document in its original 鈥渋nk-and-paper鈥� form.