Among all the injustices committed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Arizona police officer/virulently racist troll/stupidly insistent Obama truther, bleeding the taxpayers in his own county is probably a lesser infraction compared to other actions like unconstitutional jail conditions, illegal arrests and racial profiling. And yet! The latest development in the racial profiling lawsuit against him, which he lost in 2013, is that Maricopa County must now pay $4 million more to the prosecuting lawyers in the case, for fees accrued while he was dodging court orders and behaving in contempt of court. You could call it an asshole tax.
Talking Points Memo points out that the costs related to the case are expected to tap taxpayers of around $72 million in total by mid-2017:
Arpaio, who is seeking a seventh term in November, has since been found in civil contempt, and federal prosecutors are considering whether to bring a criminal contempt case that could expose him to jail time.
So far, the county has been on the hook for $48.2 million in the case and will face additional costs in the future because of costly court-ordered punishments handed down in Arpaio’s contempt case.
The future costs include $9.8 million for a court-ordered overhaul of the sheriff’s internal affairs operations, which the case’s judge found had been manipulated to shield sheriff’s officials from accountability.
Another new cost was $1 million for setting up a county-funded system for compensating Latinos who were illegally detained when Arpaio ignored the immigration patrol order.
Arpaio rakes in a salary of $100,000 a year and yet has not been held responsible for any of the legal fees related to his racial profiling, has been elected four times, and a recall petition filed in 2013 after he lost the suit failed.