A week ago Sunday, Arpaio appeared on John Hook’s Newsmaker Sunday FOX10 show defending the $43M the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has paid in lawsuits. During that appearance he claimed the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department paid out more than $400M in lawsuits over the past five years.

The Civil Litigation Unit of LASD was contacted about Arpaio’s claim and discovered the total payout in civil suits from LASD was more like $60M over the past six years. That total does not include attorney fees or Worker Compensation awards, but neither does Arpaio’s $43M.

Here’s a breakdown of the LASD financial stats, which are based on fiscal year, July 1 to June 30. For perspective, the LASD is a department of 15,000 employees with an annual budget of $2 Billion. Here’s what the LASD actually paid out in lawsuits over the past six years:

2006 - 2007 $10.8 million

2005 - 2006 $15.1 million

2004 - 2005 $ 5.4 million

2003 - 2004 $ 5.7 million

2002 - 2003 $13.4 million

2001 - 2002 $10.6 million

TOTAL 2001-2007 = $61 million

Clearly, the LASD is nowhere near the $400M reported by Arpaio last Thursday. The point is this … even if LASD had paid out $400M in lawsuits in a five-year period – which it did not – what does that have to do with Maricopa County, our taxpayers or our community?

As an elected official, he deflects accountably and responsibility for his own actions. This is a tactic Arpaio employs on a regular basis, never owning his own mistakes and even misrepresenting the facts to cover up actual events.

Recent history demonstrates Arpaio has a hard time with the facts – the Honduras debacle is a good example of that as well as his claims of coordination with other law enforcement agencies in Maricopa County before he conducts operations, and most recently his outlandish claim the LASD has paid out more than $400M in lawsuits.

We need a sheriff who does not misrepresent the facts, will be responsible and will not forget he’s accountable to the citizens of Maricopa County.