Arizona sheriff loses public records battle - again
Twice in a week the Maricopa County sheriff in Arizona lost public records cases, costing taxpayers even more money because of his lack of willingness to follow the law. A superior court judge awarded $25,000 to the Tucson Citizen for Sheriff Joe Arpaio dragging his heels on a request (submitted in July and got records in December), and a state court of appeals ruled that the sheriff failed to provide records in a timely matter to the Phoenix New Times. In August a court ruled that the sheriff couldn't arbitrarily withhold news releases from publications it didn't like, including the West Valley View newspaper. See story.