Not a huge fan of Arpaio and some of his methods but what he was actually convicted of was a bullshit charge. A misdemeanor criminal contempt charge. And as I said not a big fan but if he is truly as dirty as he is made out to be I can't imagine that a pissant misdemeanor would be all they could get him on.
I don't think he was actually guilty of all that much. The main problem I have with him, and many others, ends up with him being
incompetent as a sheriff, mostly through his excessive showboating.
Incompetence:
1. Unable to keep up important police work like solving murders and sex crimes.
2. Unable to keep his department operating in such a fashion as to avoid various lawsuits and having to pay out on them.
3. Unable to operate in a fiscally responsible manner - his tent city was actually MORE expensive than hardened structures.
4. Unable to actually *target* undocumented immigrants. Instead he mostly harassed the *legal* Hispanic immigrants and US citizens of hispanic descent.
etc...
Grandstanding:
His tent city, the "tank", various press releases, interviews, etc...
He tried to hide his incompetence through bluster and showboating.