Mark Spencer

Susan Bitter Smith, Republican primary candidate in the 5th Congressional District, is playing up her tough stance on issues of illegal immigration and crime with two new endorsements from law enforcement unions and a just-released ad featuring Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

On Wednesday, the Bitter Smith campaign unveiled the backing of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544, which represents U.S. border agents, and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA), which counts 2,500 memebers of the Phoenix Police Department among its membership. 

When Maricopa County Sheriff candidate Dan Saban submitted his qualifying signatures today, turning in over three times as many as he needed to get on the ballot, he did so without the backing of the Buckeye Police Association, which represents the officers of the police department he headed until a week ago.

Yet Saban doesn't believe BPA's endorsement of his rival, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, or for that matter the endorsement of Arpaio by the Phoenix Law Enforcement Agency, is that great a liability. For Saban, it’s a slew of other endorsements he's garnered that are far more important to his campaign, and he says he has the 8,000-plus signatures to prove it.