Sheriff Babeu Tried To Hide His Relationship By Blaming Comments On His "Mentally Ill Sister" [View all]

[kpete]

TUE FEB 21, 2012 AT 10:00 AM PST
AZ-04: Sheriff Paul Babeu originally tried to blame website comments on mentally ill sister
byDavid Nir


Here's one little detail from the whole Paul Babeu saga that hasn't gotten much attention, but which my fellow blogger-in-arms James L took note of. The Phoenix New Times article which broke the story about Babeu—the Republican Arizona sheriff running for Congress who allegedly threatened to deport a former lover if he failed to keep their relationship secret—included this passage about Jose, Babeu's ex:

Jose admits that he lashed out on news websites featuring stories about Babeu. He says he commented anonymously that the sheriff was not who people thought he was. He says he once wrote a comment on Chino Valley eNews that Babeu had an account on adam4adam.com, where gay men arrange sexual liaisons.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2012-02-16/news/paul-babeu-s-mexican-ex-lover-says-sheriff-s-attorney-threatened-him-with-deportation/

The comment in question was posted back in January, long before the New Times piece exploded on to the scene this past weeked. When the comment appeared, though, eNews attempted to follow up on the story with Babeu's campaign, and this is what they were told:

http://www.prescottenews.com/news/current-news/item/19483-babeu-campaign-denounces-allegations-in-phoenix-new-times-article
However, in that Phoenix New Times article, there is mention of a comment that was left on one of the eNewsAZ networked websites. When that comment, dated January 7, 2012, was posted, it was immediately deleted by the eNewsAZ editorial staff due to the nature of the content.

At the time, we asked Chris DeRose, Babeu's campaign manager, about the comment, and he responded that Babeu had a sister with a mental illness who was posting comments like this on various websites. We had already deleted the comment, so we pursued it no further.

Did you catch that? Babeu, in trying to hide his relationship with Jose, tried to blame these comments on his mentally ill sister. What a guy.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/21/1066990/-AZ-04-Sheriff-Paul-Babeu-originally-tried-to-blame-website-comments-on-mentally-ill-nbsp-sister?via=blog_1