Arpaio wants exemption from fiscal responsibility

More specifically, he is insisting that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors not cut his office's budget when they cut the rest of the county's budget because of a revenue shortfall.

From AZCentral.com -

While the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is dealing with the county's budget shortfall in the current fiscal year, administrators are beginning to brace for some of the most severe cuts in the agency's history in light of more bad economic news for the county.

Already faced with a hiring freeze and looking at a proposed suspension on capital spending for new projects, Sheriff Joe Arpaio pushed back to county administrators earlier this month with a memo that details his strenuous opposition to further cuts.

Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson has asked each department to identify 20 percent of their budgets that could be cut. The proposals are due Dec. 8.

"This is not an option for my office," Arpaio wrote, adding a request that administrators exempt law-enforcement agencies from the hiring freeze.

Ummm...maybe instead of posturing, he should just cut out his department's junkets to Honduras, lawsuit-inducing murders of prisoners, and public-endangering grandstand ploys...Oh wait -

Posturing, particularly for TV cameras, is what he does best, and what he has always done best.