Sheriff candidate Jerry DeLemus: 'I love Joe Arpaio!'
Jerry DeLemus, the founder of Rochester’s Glen Beck-inspired 9/12 Project, filed to run for Strafford County sheriff Friday promising to be a “constitutional sheriff.”
“The Constitution is paramount to me,” DeLemus explained. “None of our sheriffs in New Hampshire actually signed up to be a constitutional sheriff as an organization. I’ll be the first sheriff in New Hampshire that does do that.”
The organization he’s likely referring to is the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group the Fresno Bee describes as “a deeply misguided and ill-informed organization whose reckless rhetoric directly challenges federal and state laws:”
So far, members affiliated with the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association have merely rattled sabers, and have not overtly defied duly adopted laws. But they are not shy about expressing disdain for state and federal regulations. In so doing, these law enforcement officials foster contempt for the laws they promise to uphold.
As elected law enforcement officers, sheriffs have bully pulpits. By pushing rhetoric that encourages law enforcement officers to neglect state laws, these self-proclaimed “constitutional sheriffs” abuse their positions in favor of ideology. Their stated intent is to pick and choose which laws to enforce, especially gun-control measures.
DeLemus, who commanded the armed militia supporting rancher Cliven Bundy in his confrontation with federal officials, says he will “be more along the lines” of controversial Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio. “I love Joe Arpaio!” he said.
For the record, DeLemus’ model sheriff has been called “the most lawless lawman in America.” Last year, a federal judge issued a 142-page ruling documenting how Arpaio routinely violated federal law and the constitutional rights of Latinos in his pursuit of undocumented immigrants. Arpaio has even been accused of fabricating evidence in his obsessive campaign to prove Pres. Obama’s birth certificate is a fake.
While DeLemus vowed to stand in the way of one federal agency, the Bureau of Land Management, he promised to cooperate with another, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “If you’re an illegal immigrant,” he said, “you’re going to be arrested and given to ICE.”