It’s instructive to hear his rambling and fact-defying rant. Let me quote Paul Babeu in his own words as he spoke to the radio audience:
“We have a crisis and a deficit not just in money. We have a deficit in leadership. We need leaders who make tough decisions for a living -- which I do. And I’m not afraid, and will not be shouted down or told what to do and how to vote. We need to stand for our country. We need to stop this spending which is out of control. We need to stop indebting not just the future of our country with this debt which has now topped $15 trillion dollars. . . . This is unconscionable.
“This must be stopped. Obama and this Congress, and all these people who vote this way must be fired! And this .is. where I could be Sheriff probably till I retire. This is far too important for our country. Patriots need to stand up. And this is where, ....
hey, I need help from our friends all across America. And this is where people can help me. Go to my website, SheriffPaul.com. Go to my Facebook, Sheriff Paul Babeu, B A B E U. And sign up! Send it to your friends. Stand up for our country! Put our interests first. Do not be shouted down by these leaders who don’t believe in our American exceptionalism, are not proud of our country. I am!”
These Paul Babeu quotes are delusional words of someone out of touch with reality. It boggles the mind to think he can peddle this double-life hucksterism while Pinal County is left to clean up his detritis of debt.
What other misspending has yet to be uncovered? What other financial shenanigans lie hidden in other funds he influences. Has he intermingled the taypayers funds with his campaign funds and expenses? What else lies hidden as he and his slate of political candidates Steve Henry and Cheryl Chase literally campaign for political office while safely esconced in cushy government jobs with their salaries and transportation being paid by Pinal County’s taxpayers?
It’s long past time for the Board of Supervisors to stop enabling Babeu’s abuse of both the Supervisors’ and the public’s trust. Finding additional funding sources to fix the Sheriff’s $3.2 million deficit-spending, as was suggested by the county budget staff last month, simply enables additional abuse by the wild-spending congressional candidate.
Enough evidence of Babeu’s misspending has surfaced during the past year to establish probable cause that other financial abuses are yet to be discovered.
The Board of Supervisors must remove the thick cloud of suspicion that permeates the Sheriff’s reckless spending. They have unquestioned responsibility to see that our taxpayer resources are managed responsibly.
Clearly the $3.2 million reckless overspending by the Sheriff is eroding public confidence in county government. No half-way accounting measures and cosmetic transfers of public funds from one government activity to another will do. Full confidence will only be restored by an independent audit entrusted with responsibility for identifying abuses wherever and by whoever they’ve been perpetrated.
Pinal’s over-taxed residents deserve transparency and accountability.
All of us must demand nothing less than an immediate and independent audit.
Meantime, vetting of congressional candidate Paul Babeu must be intensified by the free press and a determined public. We must demand genuine commitment to basic American values of honesty in all candidates and those values must be reflected beyond mere slogans both in their public and private lives. Let the vetting continue. Who knows what else will tumble out of the closet.
