Ken Bennett

Arizona's Secretary Of State Finally Gets What He Asked For

Nick R. Martin | May 23, 2012, 2:59PM

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett

This is what Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett has to show for two months of writing emails and nearly a week of nationwide ridicule in his investigation of President Obama's birth certificate: a single sheet of paper.

Hawaii officials sent the man in charge of Arizona's elections a one-page verification late Tuesday that President Obama was indeed born in their state in 1961.

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Arizona

Sentencing Means White Supremacist 'Serial' Bomber Likely To Die Behind Bars For Arizona Attack

Nick R. Martin | May 23, 2012, 1:23PM

Dennis Mahon. In background, damage is shown from the 2004 bomb he was convicted of sending to a city office in Scottsdale, Ariz. The explosion injured three city staffers.

Chances are, unless he lives to 102, a white supremacist who bragged about being a serial bomber will die in prison for his role in the 2004 mail bombing of a city office in Arizona.

Dennis Mahon, 61, was sentenced by a federal judge on Tuesday in Phoenix to spend the next 40 years in prison for the bombing, which injured three employees of the Scottsdale city government, including its diversity director.

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Birthers

Undead Birtherism: The Zombie Conspiracy Can't Be Killed

Eric Lach | May 23, 2012, 4:55AM

Like the monster at the end of a horror movie, birtherism refuses to stay down, no matter how many times it's left for dead. It has been over a year since the White House tried to shove a long-form stake through the heart of the conspiracy, and yet some Republican politicians continue to offer fodder for the fringe which refuses to accept that Barack Obama is the legitimate President of the United States.

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Ken Bennett

Bennett Backs Off Birther Threat, Apologizes To Arizona

Nick R. Martin | May 22, 2012, 6:43PM

Updated: May 22, 2012, 7:01 PM

After days of ridicule for launching a conspiracy theory-fueled investigation into Barack Obama's birth certificate, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett on Tuesday backed off his threat to keep the president off the ballot in November and apologized to his state.

"If I embarrassed the state, I apologize, but that certainly wasn't my intent," Bennett said in an interview with Phoenix radio station KTAR. "He'll be on the ballot as long as he fills out the same paperwork and does the same things that everybody else has."

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Ken Bennett

Is Mitt Romney A Unicorn? Arizona Secretary Of State's Birther Probe Ridiculed (Update)

Nick R. Martin | May 22, 2012, 5:20PM

In case there was any doubt about it before: The man in charge of running Arizona's elections has no plans to investigate Mitt Romney's birth certificate the way he's been looking into President Obama's.

"No, we haven't contacted Michigan," a spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Bennett told TPM in an email on Tuesday. "I don't know if Michigan has the same statute that Hawaii has."

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Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Sends 'Threats Unit' Investigator To Hawaii To Escalate Birther Probe

Nick R. Martin | May 22, 2012, 9:55AM

Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Not to be outdone by the Arizona secretary of state's recent flirtation with birtherism, Sheriff Joe Arpaio escalated his probe into President Obama's birth certificate this week by dispatching a deputy from his "threats unit" to Hawaii.

Both the Arizona Republic and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported deputy Brian Mackiewcz traveled with Arpaio's volunteer posse member Michael Zullo on Monday to try to get an official confirmation that Hawaii has the president's birth certificate on file.

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Arizona

Emails Show How Hawaii Stiffed Arizona Secretary Of State's Birther Investigation

Nick R. Martin | May 21, 2012, 5:16PM

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett

One of the more amusing things revealed last week when Arizona's secretary of state came out as birther curious was that Hawaii officials just simply don't believe he's qualified to investigate Barack Obama's birth certificate.

Sure, Ken Bennett says he's the man in charge of deciding whether President Obama is eligible to be on Arizona's ballot in November, but the response from people in Hawaii's government has been: Prove it. In essence, they're giving Bennett a taste of his own medicine, making him jump through a series of hoops to prove he has the legal authority to investigate the matter, much the same way the birthers have made Hawaii prove time and time again that the president is indeed a natural born citizen of the United States.

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Arizona

Prosecutors Want Arizona White Supremacist Bomber To Spend The Rest Of His Days In Prison

Nick R. Martin | May 18, 2012, 4:41PM

Dennis Mahon. In background, damage is shown from the 2004 bomb he was convicted of sending to a city office in Scottsdale, Ariz. The explosion injured three city staffers.

If federal prosecutors get their way next week, an aging white supremacist who bragged about being a serial bomber and who was convicted earlier this year of sending explosives to a city office in Arizona will never see the outside world again.

A jury in Phoenix found Dennis Mahon guilty in February on three charges related to the 2004 bombing in Scottsdale that injured three city employees, including the director of the Office of Diversity and Dialogue.

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Arizona

Arizona Goes Birther: Secretary Of State Says It's 'Possible' Obama Won't Be On Ballot

Nick R. Martin | May 18, 2012, 10:53AM

Arizona Secretary Of State Ken Bennett

The man in charge of running Arizona's elections has gone to the birthers. Secretary of State Ken Bennett now says he's not convinced Barack Obama was really born in the United States and so he is threatening to keep the president off the ballot in November.

Bennett's comments came in an interview late Thursday with conservative radio talk show host Mike Broomhead on Phoenix station KFYI.

Bennett said he was following the lead of the state's eccentric Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a fellow Republican who ordered an investigation into the president's birth certificate last year and concluded the document released by the White House is a forgery. Bennett said he is now trying to get verification from state officials in Hawaii that the certificate is authentic.

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Ben Arredondo

FBI Snags Arizona Republican-Turned-Democrat In Ticket-Bribery Sting

Ryan J. Reilly | May 16, 2012, 7:02PM

Update: May 16, 2012, 7:37 PM

A three-year undercover FBI operation has nabbed an Arizona Democrat who allegedly accepted thousands of dollars' worth of tickets to sporting and charity events in exchange for advancing the interests of a fake real estate company in Tempe.

Ben Arredondo, 63, was charged by a federal grand jury with bribery, fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements to FBI agents. The Republican-turned-Democrat allegedly received over $6,000 in tickets when he was a member of the Tempe City Council and member-elect of the Arizona House.

The indictment brought swift calls for Arredondo to resign. Sen. David Schapira, the top Democrat in the state Senate, put out a statement after the news hit: "The Department of Justice allegations against him are deeply troubling and, whether he is guilty or innocent, will pose too great a distraction for him to fulfill the duties of his office."

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JT Ready

Border Vigilante Reportedly Plotted Deadly Raids On Latinos

Nick R. Martin | May 14, 2012, 12:59PM

Border vigilante and white supremacist JT Ready shown posing in front of a piece of U.S. Customs and Border Protection equipment in this undated photograph.

More than two years before white supremacist border vigilante JT Ready was involved in a deadly rampage in Arizona, the FBI was reportedly told he planned to lead deadly raids on Latino households in Phoenix.

According to the Phoenix New Times, a fellow border activist named David Heppler came forward in late 2009 when he became concerned about Ready's increasingly erratic behavior. He said the well known white supremacist planned to dress up like an agent from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and lead attacks on Latino house parties with the intent to kill those in attendance.

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Joe Arpaio

'Nothing Changes': How Sheriff Joe Arpaio Went To Battle Against Civil Rights Laywers Back In 1997

Nick R. Martin | May 11, 2012, 5:49AM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio talks with media during a news conference announcing the opening of Tent City II in Phoenix, Tuesday, May 9,1995.

Joe Arpaio has been here before. At another time, during another Democratic administration, the tough talking Arizona sheriff was hit with a federal civil rights lawsuit designed to end the abusive practices of his agency.

It was 1997 when the sheriff, then 65, took to a press conference in Phoenix to react to news that the U.S. Justice Department was suing him for what it alleged was a longstanding mistreatment of inmates in his jails.

According to news reports from the time, he promised he would not back down. Everything was going to stay the same. "Nothing changes," he said.

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Joe Arpaio

As Feds Sue Arpaio, Criminal Investigation Still Looms

Nick R. Martin | May 10, 2012, 6:52PM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio talks about the sign he unveiled at ''Tent City'' in the Maricopa County Jail system announcing the number of inmates who have ''served'' time there.

At a big news conference in downtown Phoenix on Thursday, the Justice Department's top civil rights lawyer described Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office as an agency out of control.

"At its core, this is an abuse of power case," assistant attorney general Thomas Perez said while announcing a massive civil rights lawsuit against the Arizona lawman.

But despite the tough talk, the reality is that little in the sheriff's office is likely to change anytime soon because, as Perez acknowledged, the lawsuit could take years to resolve.

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JT Ready

Dead Arizona Border Vigilante Cleared In Immigrant Killing

Nick R. Martin | May 7, 2012, 6:55PM

Border vigilante and white supremacist JT Ready shown posing in front of a piece of U.S. Customs and Border Protection equipment in this undated photograph.

Arizona white supremacist JT Ready was many things before his death, but he was apparently not the one of the people who opened fire on a group of immigrants, killing two of them, last month in the desert north of Tucson.

Some in Arizona had speculated that Ready was involved in the killings ever since news surfaced that shooters wearing camouflage had ambushed a group of 20 to 30 immigrants the night of April 8 in a part of the desert the border vigilante was known to visit on armed patrols, looking for what he described as "narco terrorists."

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JT Ready

Neo-Nazi JT Ready Was Target Of FBI Domestic Terrorism Investigation At Time Of Massacre

Nick R. Martin | May 4, 2012, 11:35PM

Neo-Nazi and border vigilante JT Ready, who authorities said carried out a mass murder-suicide near Phoenix this week, was the target of a federal domestic terrorism investigation at the time of the incident, the head of the FBI's Phoenix office revealed late Friday.

James Turgal, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Phoenix, told an Arizona television station the probe had been active less than five years and that investigators were looking into whether Ready was involved in a series of shootings of immigrants in the desert there.

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JT Ready

JT Ready's Last Rant: Before The Massacre, The Neo-Nazi Border Vigilante Named Names

Nick R. Martin | May 4, 2012, 4:16PM

Border vigilante JT Ready poses in this photo dated Jan. 15, 2011. On his Flickr stream, he described the helicopter as belonging to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

A full three months before what police said was his fatal rampage this week, Arizona white supremacist JT Ready spilled his guts to TPM.

Ready was angry and wanted to be understood. He was running as a long shot candidate for sheriff of Pinal County, Ariz., but he was tired of being seen as a caricature.

On Jan. 23, following an interview by phone about his candidacy, the border vigilante and longtime neo-Nazi sent an email to TPM that totaled more than 4,800 words. It was obviously written in advance, but it revealed bits of his life story and told how he became arguably the loudest racist in the state.

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JT Ready

Anti-Tank Grenades Found At Ariz. Neo-Nazi Massacre Site

Nick R. Martin | May 3, 2012, 5:18PM

Police officers and FBI agents investigate the scene of a May 2, 2012 massacre in Arizona, where authorities say neo-Nazi JT Ready killed four people and then himself.

Six anti-tank grenades designed to be fired from a launcher were discovered on Wednesday at the scene of a horrific Arizona mass murder-suicide, which authorities said was carried out by well known white supremacist JT Ready.

The discovery helped expand the probe of the killings to the federal level and has led investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to begin looking into how Ready was able to obtain the illegal explosives, according to ATF special agent Tom Mangan.

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Russell Pearce

Arizona Immigration Law Sponsor Russell Pearce Defends Past Friendship With Neo-Nazi Gunman

Nick R. Martin | May 3, 2012, 12:50PM

Former Arizona state Senate President Russell Pearce (R) speaks outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 25, 2012.

As Russell Pearce's power in Arizona politics grew over the years, so too did questions about his past friendship with a man who went on to become the most vocal neo Nazi in the state.

So when that neo Nazi reportedly massacred four people in a suburban Phoenix home before turning the gun on himself on Wednesday, reporters naturally turned to the former state Senate president and primary sponsor of Arizona's tough immigration law to comment on the killings.

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JT Ready

Border Vigilante Identified As Gunman In Arizona Massacre

Nick R. Martin | May 2, 2012, 8:25PM

Updated: May 2, 2012, 10:26 PM

Longtime white supremacist and border vigilante JT Ready saw himself as part of a war that few others would fight. He amassed weapons. He donned a uniform. He formed his own brigade of volunteers to walk alongside him as he hunted what he described as "narco terrorists" flowing across the Arizona-Mexico border.

On Wednesday, reports out of Arizona said Ready died, not at the hands of drug runners, but with his own gun during a mad rampage inside a suburban home just east of Phoenix. Along the way, the reports said, he took the lives of four other people, including a toddler.

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Joe Arpaio

A Guide To The Many Investigations Into Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Nick R. Martin | April 26, 2012, 5:57AM

Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio (right) at a June 7, 2011 fundraiser for Pinal County, Ariz., Sheriff Paul Babeu (left). The fundraiser took place about four weeks after Babeu cleared Arpaio of wrongdoing in an eight-month investigation.

It may seem at times like the investigations into Sheriff Joe Arpaio are endless. In the past four years, he and some of his closest aides have been the subject of at least five investigations into accusations that they became corrupted by the power and perks of the office.

Throughout it all, his aides have fallen, but the Arizona lawman remains untouched. Two investigations cleared him outright, one stalled and was transferred to another agency and two more have dragged on as officials in Washington, D.C. decide whether to act. Meanwhile, Arpaio continues to taunt his pursuers.

More recently, a disciplinary panel in Arizona that was looking into allegations against one of Arpaio's allies said there was evidence "beyond a reasonable doubt" to show that the sheriff participated in a federal crime in December 2009. Still, Arpaio, 79, remains a player in the Republican Party and continues to run for office, aiming for his sixth term as sheriff this year.

Understandably, it might be hard for a casual observer to keep all the investigations straight. TPM has compiled this guide to the many investigations and what resulted from them. It shows that Arpaio has been a target for years, but that he also has given political and financial help to some of the very people who cleared him or shelved investigations.

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Arizona

Arizona Immigration Law Supreme Court Hearing Will Have Impact Other States

Ryan J. Reilly | April 25, 2012, 6:41AM

When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments over the constitutionality of Arizona's strict immigration law on Wednesday morning, it wouldn't just be Arizonans who are paying close attention.

The high court's decision on whether the Arizona's measure, considered the harshest immigration law in the land when in was passed back in 2010, steps on the federal government's toes will likely have an impact on several other states which have passed similar measures. The Justice Department has sued three other states with immigration laws similar to Arizona's -- Alabama in August, South Carolina in October and Utah in November.

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Joe Arpaio

Ex-U.S. Attorney To DOJ: Charge Arpaio Now Or Forget It

Nick R. Martin | April 19, 2012, 1:33PM

Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio

The way former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton sees it, federal prosecutors already have enough evidence to charge Sheriff Joe Arpaio with a crime. So, he said in an interview with TPM this week, it's time for the Justice Department to act.

"If this investigation began in 2008," Charlton said, "then it's time for these guys to make a decision."

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Joe Arpaio

Feds Want Sheriff Joe Arpaio To Rein In His Famous Posses

Nick R. Martin & Ryan J. Reilly | April 19, 2012, 6:00AM

The Wild West-style posses that helped make Sheriff Joe Arpaio famous early in his career will be greatly diminished if the U.S. Justice Department has its way.

According to a draft of the agreement that the DOJ spent months trying to strike with the Arizona lawman, the posses he's used in everything from photo ops to crime crackdowns would be banned from getting anywhere near immigration enforcement.

Although talks appear to have broken down and the Justice Department has indicated it will file a civil rights lawsuit against Arpaio's department, the 123-page draft of the agreement obtained by TPM provides a window into what types of things the feds want to stop cold.

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Joe Arpaio

The Evidence That Might Be Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Undoing

Nick R. Martin | April 18, 2012, 5:30AM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

There are times when Sheriff Joe Arpaio has seemed untouchable. In his nearly 20 years in office, he has survived political challenges, court judgments and criminal investigations.

But a ruling filed last week by an arm of the Arizona Supreme Court could prove to be a road map to the Republican lawman's undoing.

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Joe Arpaio

Latino Leaders Tire Of Waiting For Justice Department To Act On Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Nick R. Martin | April 16, 2012, 1:55PM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio talks about the sign he unveiled at ''Tent City'' in the Maricopa County Jail system announcing the number of inmates who have ''served'' time there.

Justice Department officials have had some tough words for Sheriff Joe Arpaio in recent months. They've accused him of civil rights abuses, threatened him with a lawsuit and leaked angry letters saying that they've run out of patience with him.

But amid it all, some of the very people the Justice Department claims to speak for in their civil rights probe of the Arizona lawman have told TPM they have little faith the federal government will come through for them. Not even a massive lawsuit, they said, will ease their skepticism.

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Daniel Patterson

Troubled Arizona Lawmaker Resigns

Nick R. Martin | April 12, 2012, 2:17PM

Former Arizona state Rep. Daniel Patterson

An Arizona lawmaker accused of a string of violent and unethical behavior resigned from the state House on Wednesday before his fellow lawmakers could throw him out of office.

State Rep. Daniel Patterson of Tucson quit just hours after an ethics panel recommended he be removed from his seat and only a short time before the full House was scheduled to vote to do so.

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Arizona

Arizona Lawmakers Compare Colleague's Troubles To Trayvon Martin Case

Nick R. Martin | April 11, 2012, 10:47AM

Former Arizona state Rep. Daniel Patterson

It's probably not the defense state Rep. Daniel Patterson was hoping for.

Troubled and accused of violence, the Arizona lawmaker saw two of his fellow legislators come to his defense on Tuesday by comparing him to none other than George Zimmerman, the Florida neighborhood watch volunteer at the center of a national firestorm for killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.

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Andrew Thomas

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Ex-Right Hand Man Disbarred Over Ethics Violations

Nick R. Martin | April 10, 2012, 12:18PM

Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas

Updated: April 10, 2012, 4:02 PM

In a Phoenix courtroom filled with fellow lawyers and some of his biggest critics on Tuesday, the former Arizona prosecutor who served for years as Sheriff Joe Arpaio's right-hand man was stripped of his license to practice law.

A three-member state disciplinary panel ruled that ex-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas abused his powers as a prosecutor to target his political enemies. Because of that, they ruled he would be disbarred.

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Andrew Thomas

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Legal Bulldog Faces Disbarment

Nick R. Martin | April 10, 2012, 5:52AM

Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, foreground, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio at a July 6, 2010 news conference.

If things went differently, Andrew Thomas might have had a bright career in Arizona politics.

In six years as the top prosecutor in Maricopa County, he stood side-by-side with Sheriff Joe Arpaio and earned a reputation as an aggressive and ambitious politician. A pair of conservative warriors in a Republican stronghold, the two teamed up to push for tougher treatment of illegal immigrants and to pursue what they saw as widespread corruption by local government officials.

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Arizona

Arizona Lawmakers Say They're Afraid Of Their Colleague

Nick R. Martin | April 4, 2012, 4:56AM

Former Arizona state Rep. Daniel Patterson

If what his colleagues in the Arizona statehouse say is true, Rep. Daniel Patterson might be the most feared politician in the state.

But it's not his politics they say they fear. It's his angry, threat-filled outbursts that they say are becoming all too normal. One such outburst managed to rattle a fellow lawmaker enough that she says she now sleeps with a weapon at her bedside — just in case.

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Paul Babeu

Babeu's Office Investigated Over Missing Records In Ex-Boyfriend Scandal

Nick R. Martin | March 30, 2012, 3:29PM

Pinal County, Ariz. Sheriff and congressional candidate Paul Babeu

Investigators in Arizona are looking into whether embattled Sheriff Paul Babeu's office destroyed records that may have shed light on whether he threatened to deport his immigrant ex-boyfriend after their breakup.

A report published Friday morning in the Arizona Republic said the inquiry is focusing on roughly 6,200 files that seem to have disappeared after state investigators requested they be preserved.

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Arizona

Extremists Go To 'War' In The Arizona Desert

Nick R. Martin | March 20, 2012, 5:07AM

At left, one of the bombs prosecutors say Jeffery Harbin made. At right, the border fence near Sasabe, Ariz.

Early last year, a young neo-Nazi called his girlfriend from a jail cell in Phoenix. She was upset. She was confused. She wanted to know why FBI agents were in her living room saying they caught him making pipe bombs and stockpiling other explosives.

"Why were you guys making that stuff?" she asked. "Why did you have it in your truck?"

"Because," he told her, "we wanted to make those things for the border."

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Steven Seagal

Steven Seagal, Joe Arpaio Deputies Sued For Reality Show Tank Raid

Jillian Rayfield | March 8, 2012, 11:54AM

Actor Steven Seagal and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office are facing a lawsuit for allegedly conducting an "improper" raid on a man's home and driving a tank through his front gate, while filming an episode of the reality show Steven Seagal: Lawman.

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Joe Arpaio

Arpaio's 'Volunteer' Investigator Profits From Birther Probe

Nick R. Martin | March 5, 2012, 11:57AM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, with Cold Case Posse lead investigator Michael Zullo by his side.

By his own account, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's investigation into the president's birth certificate is far from over. But already, the supposedly volunteer investigator leading the sheriff's probe is raking in a profit from it.

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Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Claims Obama Birth Certificate A 'Fraud'

Nick R. Martin | March 1, 2012, 6:29PM

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio dove head first into the birther movement on Thursday, arguing at a news conference in Phoenix that President Obama's birth certificate is a fake and that crimes were committed in its creation.

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Joe Arpaio

The 6 Weirdest Publicity Stunts Of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Career

Nick R. Martin | March 1, 2012, 6:10AM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio talks about the sign he unveiled at ''Tent City'' in the Maricopa County Jail system announcing the number of inmates who have ''served'' time there.

There may be nobody in Arizona better at ginning up publicity than Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

During his 20 years in office, the flamboyant Republican icon has proved time and again that he knows how to get his name in the news.

Today will be no different.

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Arizona

Unions Face Off With Koch Group Over Arizona Bills

Nick R. Martin | February 29, 2012, 5:45AM

A protest against bills introduced in Arizona to restrict the rights of unions. Feb, 9, 2012. (Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Press)

The battle over government employee unions in Arizona is far from finished.

As Republican lawmakers marched forward Tuesday on a bill that was previously thought to be dead, two major national groups on opposite sides of the issue were calling in reinforcements.

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Unions

Anti-Union Bill Back From The Dead In Arizona

Nick R. Martin | February 28, 2012, 2:35PM

One bill in a series of proposed laws that would devastate public unions in Arizona has come back to life and is set to be debated later today on the floor of the state Senate.

The measure was on life support two weeks ago after Republicans said they didn't have enough votes to pass it. But it was given a second chance and could quickly get a formal Senate vote if it moves past the debate.

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Arizona

White Supremacist 'Serial Bomber' Convicted, Twin Acquitted In Arizona Trial

Nick R. Martin | February 24, 2012, 5:50PM

Updated: February 24, 2012, 8:15 PM

A white supremacist who once claimed to be a serial bomber was convicted Friday in federal court in Phoenix for a 2004 Arizona bombing while his twin brother was acquitted in the same trial.

Dennis Mahon was convicted of three felonies related to the mail bombing of a city diversity office that injured its director and two other employees.

His twin brother, Daniel Mahon, was acquitted of a felony count of conspiring in the bombing plot. The judge ordered him to be set free.

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Paul Babeu

Small Payment Could Be Big Problem For Babeu And His Immigrant Ex-Boyfriend

Nick R. Martin | February 23, 2012, 11:03PM

As he deals with fallout from a scandal involving a campaign volunteer who turned out to be his secret boyfriend, conservative Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu has insisted time and again that whatever work the man did for his campaign was strictly unpaid.

While Babeu's campaign finance reports initially appear to back up his claims, TPM has uncovered an unusual entry on a 2010 disclosure that deserves more explanation but which so far the sheriff has declined to discuss.

The entry is bound to raise eyebrows in light of revelations that Babeu's own brother, who is also a politician in Arizona, paid the man with campaign funds from his own account during the same time frame in early 2010.

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