Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu Mulls A Run For Congress Fans Flames Of Dangerous Border Rhetoric

Arizona Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, of Senator John McCain's television advertisement "Complete the Danged Fence," fame, is once again in the news claiming that the Arizona Border is out of control.

Sheriff Babeu is currently in the midst of a very public argument with a group of border mayors over whether or not the border is safe. 

Earlier this month San Luis, Ariz Mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla , Nogales, Ariz., Mayor Arturo Garino and Douglas Mayor Michael Gomez sent a letter to Sheriff Babeu calling into question the accuracy of the statements he has made to the news media regarding dangers posed by violence stemming from the border. The full text of that letter is here.

This prompted the Sheriff's Information Officer to fire off a letter disputing the claims made by the Border Mayors; in his letter he included photos of a dead body in the desert, but little in the way of actual statistics showing any rise in violence in Sheriff Babeus region. His full letter can be read here.

There are a couple things here which are worth pointing out:

1. The Border Mayor's letter provides statistical evidence that crime is down in their region, Sheriff Babeau's letter provides no similar evidence that violence is up.

To the Border Mayors point that crime is at historic low points along the border and the region which Sheriff Babeu is assigned to monitor. The following is from the Border Mayors letter:

"The facts show that violent crime is down or remains flat in our border region as we are sure it is in your area as well. In 2002 it peaked at 742 per 100,000 residents but has since drastically dropped to 219 per 100,000 in 2009 (per the F.B. I. Uniform Crime Reports Program)."

Sheriff Babeu's information director, provides no statistical evidence that crime has increased in his area, while the photographs of the dead body in the desert are certainly going to get some news, the letter offers no real credible evidence that violence has increased in his sector. Which actually brings us to the second point...

2. Sheriff Babeau may be mulling a run for a Congressional House seat:

With Arizona Senator Jon Kyl retiring, and Congressman Jeff Flake throwing his hat in to take his spot, Sheriff Babeau has said that members of the Republican Party have reached out and urged him to run for Congressman Flake' seat.

E.J. Montini of the Arizona Republic has the full story HERE. It is no wonder that the GOP establishment has gone to Sheriff Babeau in regards to the open seat, he has cultivated a national media presence as a talking head on the border. Appearing regularly on FOX News, he certainly has the appearance of a campaigning politician.

Wait, that is probably because before he was a Sheriff, he got plenty of practice running for election. In a profile written in the Arizona Daily Star it was revealed that Sheriff Babeu, was born and raised in North Adams, Mass. and was elected to the City Council at age 18. He only moved to Arizona after losing a Mayoral bid in his home town. The full profile can be read here.

One of the key takeaways from the profile is that while, Sheriff Babeau is a decent sheriff, but where he shines in in politics.