Group plans ads attacking Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's massive financial advantage over his challengers in the November election is well documented and on display on Valley airwaves daily as television advertisements tout his 20 years in office.

But an independent expenditure group formed late last month aims to raise money to highlight the sheriff's mistakes and buy airtime for ads focusing on fiscal mismanagement, misguided investigations and other issues. The group said its ads will be designed to appeal to a base of conservative voters who view some of the sheriff's projects with increasing skepticism.

The founders of Citizens for Professional Law Enforcement have a track record of success. The group's chairman, Phoenix attorney Jesse Wulsin, and its treasurer, Phoenix attorney Stephen Benedetto, were also behind a non-profit political group named Phoenix Citizens United that targeted Mayor Greg Stanton's opponent in last year's mayoral race.

Independent expenditure committees are not allowed to contribute money to a candidate, but they may spend money to influence an election. State law prohibits a candidate from having any involvement in the operation of an independent campaign committee.

Phoenix Citizens United was the subject of a complaint filed last year with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office alleging campaign-finance violations during the Phoenix mayoral race. That investigation is open and ongoing, according to a spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Bennett.

As an independent committee, the anti-Arpaio group does not expressly endorse either of his two opponents, former Scottsdale Police Lt. Mike Stauffer, an independent, or former Phoenix police Sgt. Paul Penzone, a Democrat.

The independent committee plans to focus on financial issues in Arpaio's office instead of attacking his treatment of inmates and undocumented immigrants, as many of his critics and prior opponents have with little success, said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, a co-chairman of the group. The recent decision by the U.S. Justice Department to close a long-running criminal probe into Arpaio's agency without filing charges does not detract from that message, he said.

"No matter what the DOJ came down with, if you look at the mismanagement, the lack of control over spending, the misappropriation of time and energy to chase down a conspiracy theory using taxpayer dollars, those are the issues that are appealing to these people, including to Republicans, with this campaign," Gallego said. "The history of Sheriff Joe in terms of misappropriation of funds, targeting political enemies and using tax dollars to do that is what's going to drive participation."

Arpaio has been criticized by his opponents for raising more than $7.5million for his campaign largely from out-of-state donors. Arpaio critics also have made an issue of the fact that a former sheriff's captain lost his job this year for lying to investigators about his role in the Sheriff's Command Association, a political-action committee that raised money from affluent, out-of-state donors. That money was used to run ads against Arpaio's opponent in 2008.

Complaints against independent expenditure committees are common, and Arpaio's camp could raise questions about Citizens for Professional Law Enforcement. But the nature of the committee allows Penzone and Stauffer to maintain a distance from the fundraising group while enjoying the benefits of campaign attacks on Arpaio.

"We feel, unlike with what the sheriff did with SCA, we're certainly going to be complying with the law and being transparent as possible," Gallego said. "Our goal is, at the end of the day, to inform the public about Arpaio's shortcomings, and we will be partnering with any donors and, of course, complying with the law in terms of financial disclosure."

Arpaio's campaign has dealt with a variety of other campaign groups, some targeting the sheriff and others ostensibly raising money on his behalf.

The sheriff's campaign had $4.3million on hand as of early August, and Arpaio's campaign manager, Chad Willems, said the campaign would show similar results on a finance report due late next week.

"There are several groups out there that are purporting to be doing a variety of different things. This is just another one of them," Willems said. "We're just going to continue to run our campaign."

A pro-Arpaio committee, Americans for Sheriff Joe, requested contributions from donors around the country based in part on the rumor that billionaire liberal George Soros was going to bankroll an anti-Arpaio group. Americans for Sheriff Joe has raised more than $2.2million, according to the most recent filing, but spent more than $1.8million on operating expenses.

Penzone, meanwhile, has reaped the rewards of the Democratic Party's work on his behalf. Earlier this week, state Democratic Party executive director Luis Heredia sent an e-mail to supporters as part of a "nationwide call to action" to generate financial support for television ads on Penzone's behalf. The effort raised $24,000 in a single day, according to Penzone's campaign.

Penzone's campaign welcomed the arrival of Citizens for Professional Law Enforcement as another sign that Penzone, the former public face of Silent Witness, was gaining the traction to unseat Arpaio.

Stacy Pearson, Penzone's campaign manager, said three things were needed to successfully challenge Arpaio this year: "A strong contender, which voters get in Paul Penzone. There had to be continuing missteps by Arpaio, which he's demonstrated in 'birther' investigations and ongoing sex crimes. And there had to be citizens that got involved beyond complaining. Those groups mobilizing, that's going to be the difference between what happened in 2008 and what happens in 2012."

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