Against a backdrop of uniformed personnel and political supporters, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu on Saturday denied allegations that he and his attorney tried to intimidate a former boyfriend into keeping quiet about their relationship and declared he would stay in the race for Congress.
Babeu, 43, who has been a rising Republican star, called the charges, first published Friday on the Phoenix New Times website, “completely false” and characterized them as a ruse to out a conservative law-enforcement leader as gay, a fact he publicly acknowledged for the first time.
News conference | Career timeline
“I’m here to say that all these allegations that were in one of these newspapers are absolutely, completely false, except for the issues that refer to me as being gay. Because that’s the truth: I am gay,” he told reporters, photographers and TV camera crews at a news conference in front of his agency’s headquarters in Florence.
Babeu vowed to stay in the 4th Congressional District race in western Arizona, but it was unclear if his defiant denials of wrongdoing were enough to stanch the damage to his political future.
Bruce Merrill, a veteran Arizona political scientist and a senior research fellow at Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said he thinks the allegations and revelations will deal a fatal blow to Babeu’s campaign.
“You can’t overcome that, if it’s legitimate,” Merrill said. “I would be surprised that he would even continue to stay in the race. That’s the end of his political career.”
Babeu’s supporters at the press conference stood by him, praising his record and character.
Chris Emmons, a police officer and commissioned officer in the military, said he has served with Babeu in different situations and he epitomizes “the warrior ethos” of “service and not self.”
“That’s what he represents for Pinal County, the state of Arizona, and one day, God willing, he will be there in Washington supporting us all,” Emmons said.
The New Times reported that a Mexican man identified only as Jose alleged that Babeu and his attorney, Chris DeRose, threatened that he could be deported if he didn’t sign an agreement not to disclose his romantic affair with Babeu, who has a national reputation as a border-security hawk. Babeu said Saturday that he had “a personal relationship” with Jose, who volunteered on his political campaign, and acknowledged that provocative photographs of himself that accompanied the story on the New Times website were authentic.
“In regards to this whole idea of deportation, at no time did I or anyone who represents me ever threaten deportation — ever,” Babeu said. “This issue was the vehicle in which this (his sexual orientation) could be brought out publicly.”
Babeu’s two main opponents in the congressional race did not hesitate in criticizing him.
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., hit him hard not only on Jose’s allegations but for answering them with a news conference on Pinal County property in his sheriff’s uniform and flanked by county personnel.
“This is about an abuse of power, a misuse of public trust, bad judgment and the continued use of official resources for personal and political gain,” Gosar said in a written statement.
State Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, zeroed in on the revealing photos that have come to light showing Babeu in different states of undress. “To take those kind of pictures of himself and to post it on those kinds of websites shows a severe lack of judgment by an elected official,” Gould said.
Babeu disputed suggestions that the photos represent a scandal comparable to the one that last year led to the resignation of U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. Weiner inadvertently posted a graphic photo of himself on Twitter. Unlike Weiner, Babeu said, he isn’t married and isn’t lying about the photos.
“These were photos that are mine, that I sent to an individual, that was meant only for their observation,” Babeu said. “Not to be splashed on the Internet or on TV or anything like that. There still needs to be some bounds for privacy.”
In another political ramification, Babeu on Saturday severed his ties to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Babeu was a high-profile endorsement for Romney and served as an Arizona campaign co-chairman for him. In December, Babeu introduced Romney at an event with former Vice President Dan Quayle in Paradise Valley. The Babeu controversy surfaced just a few days before Wednesday’s high-stakes Republican presidential debate in Mesa and in the crucial run-up to Arizona’s Feb. 28 presidential-preference election.
“Sheriff Babeu has stepped down from his volunteer position with the campaign so he can focus on the allegations against him,” Romney spokesman Ryan Williams told The Arizona Republic in a written statement. “We support his decision.”
Meanwhile, Melissa Weiss-Riner, Jose’s attorney, released a statement that said Jose retained her firm after he was contacted by Babeu’s lawyer and “felt intimidated and needed someone to help protect his rights.”
She described Jose as a campaign volunteer who created and maintained several websites and accounts for Babeu from roughly 2008 until late 2011.
“Jose continues to live in fear, and is currently in the process of moving again,” the law firm’s statement said. “Therefore, he is not available to speak with the media at this time.”
In an interview with The Republic, DeRose on Saturday said neither he nor Babeu ever questioned Jose’s immigration status, and he categorically denied that they threatened to deport him.
“He is as legal as the day is long,” DeRose said. “We’ve never had any reason to doubt his legal status.”
DeRose also said he never spoke to Jose and that all communication was in writing. He said on Sept. 6, he delivered an initial cease-and-desist letter to stop Jose from accessing campaign computers without permission.
The next day, Jose responded in writing, agreeing to comply, DeRose said. Several weeks later, DeRose said, they suspected that Jose was posting personal information about Babeu on various Internet sites. DeRose told The Republic on Saturday that he then asked Jose’s attorney if her client would be willing to to sign an agreement not to engage in that kind of activity. He said Jose, through his attorney, declined.
The Republic asked DeRose several times on Friday and Saturday to provide copies of his written communication with Jose’s attorney following the cease-and-desist letter, but DeRose has not provided it. DeRose said his conversations with Jose’s attorney were cordial.
“Aggression was the farthest thing from my demeanor,” DeRose said.
The allegations may affect Babeu on a larger scale.
Pete Rios, chairman of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors, said he will consult the Pinal County Attorney’s Office regarding alleged abuses of power and possible misuse of county resources. An internal audit may be an option, said Rios, a Democrat and critic of Babeu’s; he did not elaborate on what resources could have been misused.
He predicted that Babeu eventually will resign.
“Clearly this is an issue that is not going away anytime soon,” Rios said. “It will be with the sheriff for quite a while and Pinal County for quite a while. We’ll see if the sheriff sees the light and that he is truly damaging his department, law enforcement and Pinal County with these allegations.”
If there is a full-fledged investigation of any allegations, it would likely be conducted by an outside agency, possibly by the Arizona Department of Public Safety or the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said Kostas Kalaitzidis, a county attorney spokesman.
Bryan Martyn, a Pinal County supervisor and longtime friend of the sheriff’s, said he stands by Babeu and wants any wrongdoing to be exposed.
“If there are criminal allegations here, we can pursue those,” Martyn said, “but I don’t see any reason we should ask the sheriff to step down based on an allegation.”
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who like Babeu is nationally known for an unyielding attitude toward illegal immigrants, also said Saturday that he did not plan to call for Babeu to quit.
“All I can say is he’s the sheriff of Pinal County, and it’s up to him to face his issues, not me,” Arpaio said.
Arpaio added that Babeu “has been begging me to endorse him” in the 4th district primary. Arpaio supported Gosar when he ran in 2010 in the 1st Congressional District, but had said he was reconsidering his support after Gosar chose to switch districts this year. Gould also has requested his endorsement, Arpaio said.
“I don’t even think I’m going to get involved,” Arpaio said. “We’ll see what happens with Babeu.”
U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., who represents much of the district where Babeu is running, said at a Republican candidates’ forum in Sun City West on Saturday afternoon that he was unaware of the allegations. Franks said he instinctively mistrusts the New Times, a weekly newspaper with a liberal reputation, and has been impressed by Babeu’s character in the past.
Max Wilson, GOP chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said the scandal will hurt Babeu.
“I feel pretty deceived about it,” he said.
Sean Noble, a Republican political consultant, said Babeu has done little to put concerns about official misconduct to rest and needs to go.
“He has only created more questions as a result of the press conference,” said Noble, who was chief of staff for former U.S. Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz. “In my mind, he hasn’t done what he needs to do to answer the questions that are out there.”
Babeu first came to widespread national attention after appearing in a 2010 commercial for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s re-election campaign. In the spot, McCain and Babeu are walking along the border. After McCain calls for completion of “the danged fence,” Babeu turns to him and says, “Senator, you’re one of us.”
McCain could not be reached Saturday for comment on the Babeu controversy.
Republic reporters Robert Anglen, Ronald J. Hansen and Sean Holstege contributed to this article.
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