Sheriff Paul Penzone beat Joe Arpaio. Undoing his legacy proved much tougher
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In the end, Paul Penzone could not overcome the legacy of the man he toppled.
Penzone, the Maricopa County sheriff, announced on Monday — to the surprise of many — that he would not seek reelection.
Nor even finish his second term. He plans to step down in January.
”One cloud still hanging over this office,” Penzone said.
The cloud being the federal oversight resulting from discriminatory policies and practices installed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio until voters had enough and ended his 24-year tumultuous tenure.
Arpaio left a thick cloud to scatter
That cloud was always destined to be slow to scatter.
It took six years between the filing of Melendres v. Arpaio in 2007 and the ruling by a U.S. District Court judge that the Arpaio’s immigration enforcement practices, including so-called crime-suppression sweeps and traffic stops that targeted Latinos, were discriminatory.
There were separate investigations and a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office emerged from the mess with federal monitors and compliance orders that continue to this day.
At last count, the county has spent a quarter of a billion dollars in corrective actions.
Penzone undid many of Arpaio's policies
Penzone, a Democrat, rode into office in 2017 vowing to reverse Arpaio’s policies.
He did a good amount of it, including closing the infamous Tent City jail and turning the site into a drug rehabilitation center. He established advisory committees that represent Latino and other historically marginalized communities.
Notably, he discontinued the practice of holding jail inmates at the request of federal immigration agents even after they had posted bail.
While some past sins faded, other problems arose in recent years:
Drug smuggling into jails — in particular, fentanyl. Staffing problems that worsened over the pandemic and persist. Hundreds of positions unfilled.
Nonetheless, a third term seems to be Penzone’s for the taking.
Penzone still is derided on immigration
He won the 2016 election against Arpaio by 12 percentage points and bested another Republican challenger by a similar margin four years later.
Had he decided to run again, he would (at this point) be facing the same set of GOP hopefuls in 2024 that he faced in 2020: Jerry Sheridan, Arpaio’s former right-hand man, and Mike Crawford, a former Glendale police officer.
Penzone in 2016: 17 things to expect from me as sheriff
But neither he nor the department could fully get out under the cloud of racial discrimination.
Penzone is slammed for continuing the practice of allowing federal immigration officials to screen inmates for immigration status. As a result, inmates awaiting trial have been deported.
Even well into his second term, Hispanic and Black drivers to were found to be more likely than white drivers to be held longer or searched by deputies during traffic stops.
Every step made is scrutinized. The federal judge overseeing the Melendres case at one point castigated Penzone for leaving a court-ordered community meeting meant to help mend fences the Hispanic community.
No more 'emotional reward' for the work
Law enforcement unions criticize Penzone for a big backlog of internal investigations and the staffing shortage.
Some of the very same community advocates who helped sweep him into office level the same criticism they had of his predecessor.
Penzone had defeated Arpaio and Sheridan, whom critics dubbed Arpaio-lite.
Now he’s called the same derisive term by community advocates.
Republican political consultant Chuck Coughlin said that “the emotional reward” of the job for Penzone is simply no longer there.
Dampened, undoubtedly, by the cloud of his predecessor that shows no signs of fully dissipating.
Reach Abe Kwok at akwok@azcentral.com. On X, formerly Twitter: @abekwok.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Paul Penzone beat Joe Arpaio. Undoing his legacy was much tougher
