Roberts: Joe Arpaio just cost you another $4.5 million
Hold onto your wallets. Looks like Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s feats of daring in federal court are prompting yet another reach into your pocket.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved another nearly $4.5 million in legal fees as a result of Arpaio’s contempt of court.
The fees will go to the attorneys who brought the racial profiling case and have had to continue their work long after winning, due to Arpaio’s refusal to follow court orders.
The plaintiff’s lawyers had sought $5.9 million from the county but agreed to settle for $4,489,295.
This, in addition to the nearly $4.5 million they already were awarded for the cost of bringing their lawsuit to trial.
Federal law allows the winners in a case like this (that would be the Latinos who brought the lawsuit) to bill the losers (that would be us) for their legal fees.
A $72 million price tag (maybe) when it's over
The latest payout is to cover the plaintiffs' post-trial legal fees and expenses from October 2013 to May 2016, as they sought to force Arpaio to obey a federal judge’s order to stop his immigration patrols then sought to hold him in contempt of court when he refused.
The three largest checks will be cut to: Covington & Burling ($2.6 million), the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project ($1 million) and American Civil Liberties Union-Arizona ($409,000).
DIAZ:4.5 million more reasons to vote out Arpaio
In all, we’ve now spent more than $48 million on this case. County officials earlier estimated the case would ultimately cost us $54 million. According to the Associated Press, they’ve now boosted that to $72 million, given the recent punishments meted out and additional reforms required as a result of Judge Murray Snow’s finding that Arpaio and several top deputies were in contempt for blowing off his orders.
Since Arpaio first took office in 1993, his office has cost us $142 million in legal fees, settlements and court awards.
And now, apparently, another $4.5 million, circling the drain.
Something to remember as you watch Arpaio’s campaign ads, explaining how he’s saved the county money.
