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Governor pushes for crackdown on felons

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PHOENIX — Gov. Janet Napolitano is diverting money from a grant given to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department to help arrest human smugglers, a diversion Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Tuesday is part of a conspiracy and probably illegal.

In an executive order, the governor directed Department of Public Safety Director Roger Vanderpool to set up a special squad to deal with the backlog of nearly 60,000 warrants for individuals either charged with felonies or already convicted.

At the same time, Vanderpool decided not to renew a contract signed last year with Arpaio's agency to fund most of the salaries of 15 sheriff's deputies to work on the State Gang Intelligence and Immigration Team Mission, known as GITEM. Instead, that nearly $1.6 million will go to the felony task force.

Gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer said Napolitano decided that rounding up the felons was a better use of limited resources.

But Arpaio said the governor, along with officials in Phoenix and Maricopa County, "conspired to take away … money that the state Legislature and the (county) Board of Supervisors approved specifically to enforce human-smuggling laws, money my office needs to fight illegal immigration." He said Napolitano's decision to create the felony warrant task force is "a cover-up for taking away grant money to fight illegal immigration," calling the move "despicable."

And DPS Chief Pennie Gillette acknowledged the only GITEM contract not renewed was for Maricopa County. But Gillette said taking the money only from Arpaio's agency was justified, saying nearly 42,000 of those outstanding felony warrants are from Maricopa County.

Whether the governor's action is legal is another matter.

House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, said the Legislature put $10 million into the current state budget specifically to contract with local police agencies to work with GITEM, with some of that specifically earmarked for Maricopa County. He said Napolitano cannot unilaterally decide to overrule what is in statute and use those funds instead to round up felons.

And Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said he is exploring whether to sue.

"There were agreements signed, and agreements now are not being honored," he said.

Gillette, however, said the expense does comply with the law.

"The money was entitled for immigration-related criminal activity ... and also related to human smuggling," she said. Gillette said many of those warrants are for "undocumented aliens that have committed criminal offenses that have caused them to have a warrant issued for their arrest."

But Napolitano's executive order does not limit the use of the funds to rounding up illegal immigrants wanted for felonies.

Arpaio said he believes Napolitano and her political allies targeted his agency — and his funding — because of his active role in looking for illegal immigrants.

The sheriff has engaged in a series of "crime-suppression sweeps" in several communities, flooding the area with deputies who stop people for minor violations. That, in turn, gives those deputies, who have special federal training, the opportunity to question those stopped about whether they are in the country illegally.

Those moves have angered not only immigration-rights activists but also some local police chiefs who said the sheriff's actions are endangering their own officers.

Napolitano has refused to publicly criticize Arpaio, whose actions helped get her elected in 2002, saying only she would not "referee" disputes between the sheriff and others.

Arpaio said he will continue to work with the governor. "I just want my money back," he said.

The sheriff also vowed to continue those sweeps, saying they are not being funded through that state grant. He acknowledged, though, that the 15 officers whose salaries were paid by the grant sometimes were used in those efforts.