The Phoenix Democrats, representing the Latino Caucus, said revelations from Arpaio’s former chief financial officer that she warned the sheriff for years against diverting jail funds raises the stakes and the urgency for federal, state and local prosecutors to take action against him.
“He has lied. He has misspent funds,” Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, said at a Capitol news conference. “He has tried to cover up those findings, and now he has been caught.”
Rep. Richard Miranda, D-Phoenix, called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for Arizona, to step up ongoing investigations and tack on additional criminal allegations stemming from the CFO’s comments.
Since 2009, a federal grand jury has met to examine evidence for an abuse-of-power investigation into Arpaio and other current and former county employees. That investigation is ongoing.
Arpaio repeated Friday that he will not resign.
“They are all the open-borders people. The bottom line is they don’t want me to enforce illegal-immigration laws,” he said. “I don’t care what they say. My polls are very high. My public supports me.”
