Posted on 07/07/2011 1:46:33 PM PDT by Tucson_AZ
Guest Commentary: "Pima Republicans should be standing behind Brian Miller regarding Jose Guerena, not throwing him under the bus"
After a 20-month investigation, the Pima County Sheriff's Department simultaneously served search warrants at four residences of people who were suspected of possessing items used to distribute and sell illegal drugs.
One of the residences was the home of Jose and Vanessa Guerena. Jose bled to death on the floor of his home, in front of his wife and 4-year-old son, after being shot by law-enforcement officers. No drug equipment was found, nor was anything else illegal located.
I'm sorry, I should not have mentioned that nothing was found, because that fact is irrelevant. Much has been made of the fact that Jose Guerena was an honorably discharged U.S. Marine combat veteran, and much has been made of the fact that his relatives appear to be drug dealers. An American's rights are not enhanced by military service, nor can they be erased by suspicions of illegal activity. We all have the same rights under the law, until they do that "due process" thing.
Of course, it's useful for law enforcement to know beforehand whether or not the people living at a residence have a history of criminal violence before they serve a warrant. Fortunately, Jose Guerena was a family man who had a job and a past free of crime and violence ... so they sent a SWAT team.
The "War on Drugs" has ramped up the use of these SWAT (special weapons and tactics) teams. What makes the weapons and tactics "special" is that they are normally associated with military operations rather than law enforcement.
This is a problem, the seriousness of which cannot be overstated. The mission of the police is to help people defend themselves against force and fraud. The mission of the military is to kill people and break things abroad. Take a look at the video released by the PCSD. Does it look more like a police action in Tucson or a military operation in Faluja?
Brian Miller, chairman of the Pima County Republican Party, understood the implications of this raid, and he began calling for a discussion and review of PCSD policy regarding the use of SWAT. He received support from Ken Rineer of the Pima County Republican Liberty Caucus, but few others.
Republican District 26 state Rep. Terri Proud actually sent out an e-mail in which she called for Brian Miller's resignation. Five Republican members of the state Legislature from Pima County sent a letter to precinct committeemen disavowing Miller and his work on this issue. Finally, in a recent emergency meeting of the Pima County Republican Central Committee, Miller was stripped of virtually all of his responsibilities as chairman.
Sheriff Clarence Dupnik did little to allay the concerns of Brian Miller. In an interview with KGUN Channel 9, he declined to speculate whether or not Guerena was involved in his relative's home-invasion murder, saying it would be "unprofessional." Moments later, he made the wild speculation that the only reason Guerena did not fire his rifle was that he "forgot" the safety was on—an unlikely scenario for a Marine combat veteran. Dupnik also engaged in some unprofessional mind-reading when he stated that Guerena thought they were there to arrest him. I suppose that if they had any evidence of his active involvement in criminal activity, it would have been an arrest warrant, not merely a search warrant.
The questions remain: Did Jose Guerena have to die? Was a military-style assault the best way to serve a search warrant? Should militarized units be used for routine police work?
Brian Miller was correct in drawing attention to these issues as Pima County Republican Party chairman. His fellow Republicans should have made a priority of helping our community, our law-enforcement agencies and their own party by dealing with Miller's shortcomings separately.
In an effort to placate the local police unions, the local big government Republican power structure has launched an aggressive smear campaign to muzzle Brian Miller.
In the month after Chairman Miller had the audacity to advocate the very conservative principle of citizen oversight of government, the Pima County Republican Party Executive Committee has devolved into a mob mentality. They've now taken his keys to the building, actually changed the locks on the doors and have set a special meeting to fabricate new rules to kick him out of office!
The Establishment wing of the Pima County Republican Executive Committee is now censoring the official facebook page, and not allowing anyone but admins to post on the wall. They are removing registered Republicans in Pima County from the group. They are also "cleaning up the page" by deleting past comments that documented abuses by the Executive Committee (such as hindering fund raising so that Chairman Miller might be blamed and other fraudulent, fabricated allegations publicly issued against Chairman Miller).
When confronted about this, we received the following response... "This is our page, and we can do what we want with it!" The fact of the matter is that this is the People's page. As Americans we have a right to speak at any venue where the Republican party is, and Facebook is no different.
Fox News has now picked up on the Pima GOP placing limitations on free speech - http://www.fox11az.com/news/GOP-Facebook-drama-125034644.html
If you are in Pima County we need you now! Please join with us in this fight against tyranny.
http://pimalibertypledge.com/
ping
Looks like the Pima County GOP needs an enema.
The Sherrif is a DemonRAT communist statist totalitarian collectivist PIG and should be FIRED for malfeasance and then tried for accessory to murder.
20 months?!?! A few weeks ago it was a 6 month investigation!!?!?
How much more bull$hit has to be put out before folks wake up and smell the coverup!!!!!!
I suppose the executive committee of the Pima County Republicans is more authoritarian than conservative. In the eyes of many Republicans, police and military personnel can do no wrong. If breaking down the door without knocking and proceeding to murder the home’s resident is right use of police authority, then we might as well repeal the 4th amendment because it doesn’t mean anything anyway.
Pajamas Media’s Bob Owens was very much interested in and on top of this case, (also with Erik Scott case in Las Vegas, and the new Fast&Furious scandal), we need to continue to keep these stories up front on citizens’ minds.
Be very afraid. If the libs have their ways, we are all going to become docile sheep. Now it seems even the GOPers are afraid to stir up a hornet’s nest. It is much easier to ‘sacrifice a single individual’ and suppress dissenting voices in order to maintain their status quo.
BFL You guys don’t know the whole story. Am at work; will explain later. (ot try to)
Miller opened his big mouth without having access to all the important evidence. By getting out in front of the event and appearing to pander unnecessarily to the Mexican-American community, he did himself no good and managed to split the Republicans. There are two sides to this story, and those who have opposed Miller have NOT joined the Dupnik camp.
Please explain the need for a SWAT team to serve a warrant on a person with a history of non-violent contact with the cops.
There is absolutely no reason at all to break down the door of an honorably discharged Marine with no criminal record. It’s called knocking. I’ve been following this case, and it’s clearly a case of police abuse. Yes, police abuse is possible, contrary to the beliefs of so-called “conservatives” who will defend anyone who happens to wear a uniform as if they are somehow morally superior to the rest of us mundanes. This is the kind of garbage that our Founding Fathers fought a war over.
Raw police video of the shooting of Jose Guerena by Pima County Sheriff’s Swat team
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd_OJmTL3jk&feature=player_embedded
PimaGOP is NOT pro Dupnik....quite the opposite. This is not an issue of whether the actions of the SWAT team meet the approval of Pima GOP.
This is a matter of the job of the Chairman....which is NOT to put out inflammatory e-mails from the GOP site. There are a lot of other issues involved; our whole southern delegation to the legislature is upset.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2743536/posts
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Is it true that the AZ police union prez told them that?
Where can I find the text of Miller's letter?
1. Robert Mayer (the Tea Party person quoted) may not have known the 'exact words', but did the president of the AZ police union contact GOP candidates and elected officials with something along the lines Mayer alleges?
2. You characterized Miller's letter as inflammatory. Where can I find the text of his letter?
I'm not much on FReepmail discussions. Could you reply on this thread?
What is the whole story?
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