I am a military female veteran of the Armed Forces who is fed and tired with the corrupt Sheriff Joe Arpaio abusive actions. I served the Air Force
(Above) Veteran, Independent and Woman voter of Arizona via DeeDee Garcia Blase who was an explosives K-9 handler in the US Armed Forces.
honorably during the first Gulf War era under President George Bush, Sr. I served 4 years active duty and an additional 4 years inactive. As a drug and explosive K-9 handler, I worked in the capacity of a law enforcement officer, too.
I am also an independent voter now living in Maricopa County, Arizona who became disgusted with partisanship politics and left the Republican Party for good.
I want to point out something that is gnawing at me as I analyze Arpaio’s advertisements in his effort to get re-elected.
In his first ad, the corrupt Sheriff Joe Arpaio depicts himself as a veteran.
Why did the Arpaio campaign launch this as his first ad?
Why did he depict himself as a Veteran?
Does Arpaio depicting himself as a Veteran erase the killing of Military Veteran Marty Atencio in his jail? Absolutely not — in fact, it underscores why Arpaio ought to be ousted. Every military veteran is precious, and to me the mysterious Mexican-American deaths that are occurring in Arpaio’s jail is insufferable.
Under Arpaio’s supervision, his jail is responsible for the death of Marty Atencio — a Latino Veteran who served our country.
According to TPM:
A military veteran with a history of schizophrenia, Atencio was arrested by Phoenix police on suspicion of assault and brought to one of
Marty Atencio (Latino Veteran) died in Arpaio’s jail.
Arpaio’s jails in the early morning of Dec. 16, 2011. The arrest took place just hours after the Justice Department released a scathing report accusing the sheriff and his office of regularly abusing the civil rights of Latinos.
Surveillance video released just days after the death showed that at some point during the booking process Atencio folded his arms and backed up against a wall. That’s when officers grabbed him and began to wrestle him to the ground. During the struggle, the video showed, one of the sheriff’s detention officers used a stun gun to shock Atencio into submission. Soon he was dragged into a holding cell, where he was stripped naked and left laying motionless on the floor for several minutes until medical help was called. He was quickly declared brain dead and several days later was taken off life support.
Below is the video where you can literally see how Marty Atencio died in Arpaio’s jail. Notice how he did not put up a fight Arpaio’s officers yet was tasered anyway and left for dead? I cannot imagine any mother’s grief in losing her son in jail in an unjust manner.
Moderate Republicans and Independents in Maricopa Couny have an option now (since most Independent voters swing conservatively in our County anyway) — and they have an option with Independent candidate Mike Stauffer for Sheriff. We know that Republicans will not vote for the Democratic candidate simply because he has a (D) beside his name; more importantly, Mike Stauffer is the only candidate on the ballot who has the education, qualifications and experience to run a complex organization.
Currently Independent voters hold an 8.8% lead over Democrats in 2012 while in 2008 Independents were outnumbered 10.4% by Democrats. Republicans have a 23% advantage over Democrats, and only a 16.3% advantage over Independents a difference of 7%.
For the first time in Maricopa County history, Independents now out rank the Democratic Party in registered voters. While Independent voters are largely apathetic in their voting turnout, the Open Government initiative has been set to appear on this years election ballot. The 33% of newly registered Independent voters are sure to turn out in record numbers to support a “top-two” measure to level the political playing field.
