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Author of Ariz. Immigration Law Paid $300 per Hour by Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Posted June 11, 2010 by Patrick Young, Esq.
Categories: Hate Watch

Kris Kobach, the head of the Kansas Republican Party, is the author of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law. Although he has never lived or worked in Arizona, he has placed that state at the center of a national storm over racial profiling. And he is being well paid for it.

The Arizona Republic reports that Kobach is under contract with notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio to receive $300 per hour for his services. Kobach was hired back in November and paid out of public funds to advise Arpaio on arresting persons suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. According to the Republic: “Neither the Sheriff’s or County Attorney’s offices could say Thursday how much Kobach made in his six months under contract.” That is because of lax accounting practices at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office Arpaio runs.

But the sheriff’s record with a second attorney may offer some clues as to how much Kobach has profited:

Another attorney representing Arpaio in the U.S. Justice Department’s civil- rights investigation into racial-profiling allegations has received more than $150,000 for his work so far. But Maricopa County officials said Thursday they were surprised to learn of Robert Driscoll’s compensation, which they believe came from an outside account holding anti-racketeering RICO funds.

“It is, I think, further evidence of potential problems with spending of public monies by the Sheriff’s Office,” said county spokeswoman Cari Gerchick. “We can’t imagine it’s an appropriate use of funds.”

Driscoll began working for the Sheriff’s Office last summer after Arpaio’s agency became the subject of a federal civil-rights investigation.

With a background in the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, Driscoll was thought to have the pedigree to lead the Sheriff’s Office through a battle with federal investigators.

One month after he was brought in, Driscoll announced that the Sheriff’s Office would no longer cooperate with the Justice Department, accusing federal investigators of misleading Arpaio’s representatives.

But Driscoll has continued to do work on Arpaio’s behalf, to the surprise of Maricopa County administrators.

Alston & Bird, Driscoll’s firm, invoiced the Sheriff’s Office on March 24, March 29 and again April 12, county officials said.

Based on documents, the officials believe the firm was paid about $155,000, county spokeswoman Gerchick said.

County officials first learned of the payments earlier this week after they showed up on spreadsheets sent to the Department of Finance, the county’s central finance agency. The payments were included in a spreadsheet created by the Sheriff’s Office and used to track and support payments to outside counsel firms.

It is unclear why the expenses were included in the spreadsheets, officials said, because RICO purchases typically are not reported to county finance officials.

Amid concerns of questionable spending, the county Board of Supervisors last month decided to freeze Arpaio’s access to RICO funds starting July 1.