As much I try to ignore Sheriff Joe, here's a news morsel which I must blog about:

 http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/12/02/20091202courtdisrupted02-ON.html

 The full article gives the sordid history of this recent and, in my opinion, purposeful disruption of the Maricopa County Superior Court system by the Sheriff's department.  However, encapsulated it goes like this:

1.  Sheriff's deputy skims through a defense attorney's file, while the defense attorney wasn't looking, picks out a piece of paper, tells another deputy to copy it and place it back into the file (without informing the judge, the attorney or anybody else what he was doing); 

2.  Sheriff's deputy weakly tries to explain away this blatant violation of the Attorney-Client privilege (arguably, theft, as well), by stating it was all for "court security".  [like you can hide a gun on a piece of paper which is later photocopied].

 3. Judge Donohoe finds this Deputy in contempt, but, incredibly, orders the Deputy to apologize to the defense attorney whose file he pilfered, if the defense attorney is not satisfied with the apology, then he goes to jail. [yeah, I know, is this really how "law" is practiced here in Maricopa County?].

4.  Sheriff's deputy refuses to apologize and he reports to jail.

5. The same day that he reports to jail, about 20 other deputies called in "sick" thereby preventing the court from conducting an untold number of proceedings.

6.  Then, on the same day, today, a "bomb threat" was "allegedly" made from, of all places, the Maricopa County Public Defender's Office.  [who made the allegation: Coincidentally, the Sheriff's Office, of course].  

7.  Large areas of Downtown Phoenix are closed off now (as I write this) with Phoenix police taking over in riot gear.

Is there a Coup d'Etat going on in Phoenix right now?  Is Sheriff Joe trying to exert his power by expressing his displeasure about the contempt ruling and sentence for one of his deputies by purposefully disrupting the very Court system which he is charged with protecting?  How many victims were screwed today by not having their court cases heard?  How many prosecution cases might be jeopardized by the Government's failure to transport Defendants to court? 

Have we really fallen this far in this County?

I'm sorry, but there's no way I'm buying that 20 deputies coincidentally call in sick on a Wednesday (which also happens to be the same day where their fellow deputy reports to jail).  What we need is a reputable news reporter to do an in-depth investigative piece on the potential abuse of power happening here in Phoenix.  There have been other instances of the Sheriff trying to exert power over Superior Court. If nothing else, for a talented writer, there has to be a good book in here somewhere.  Somebody get on it.  Just my .02.

 @dballecer on Twitter