Conservative Sheriff Drops Congressional Bid After Being Hounded by Illegal Gay Lover
- Posted on May 11, 2012 at 4:43pm by
Mytheos Holt
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PHOENIX (AP/The Blaze) — A conservative Arizona sheriff who announced he is gay amid allegations of abuse of power announced Friday that he is no longer running for Congress.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said that he is dropping out of Arizona’s 4th Congressional District race and will instead seek re-election as sheriff of the county in the southern part of the state.
The Republican lawman is known for his stance on illegal immigration and border security. His image took a beating in February when a former boyfriend who is a Mexican immigrant claimed the sheriff threatened him with deportation if he disclosed their relationship.
It led to Babeu disclosing he is gay and stepping down as co-chairman for Mitt Romney’s Arizona campaign. His fundraising also dropped off after the disclosure.
In the announcement ending his congressional run, Babeu said he wants to seek re-election as sheriff instead because his chief deputy cannot run for the office. Babeu cited an earlier promise to constituents that he would maintain a continuity of leadership.
Babeu, whose statement did not mention the February disclosure, did not immediately return calls for comment.
Besides Babeu, three other Republicans are running for sheriff in Pinal County, an area between Phoenix and Tucson with a growing population, as well as two Democrats and an independent, the Arizona Republic reported. Remaining candidates in the Republican-leaning race include first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar and Republican state Sen. Ron Gould.
Gosar said Babeu’s decision “was the right one for him personally and the people in the district,“ while Gould said it ”was proper under current circumstances.”
Gould’s campaign was largely self-funded but he recently received a fundraising boost when he was endorsed by the conservative Club for Growth’s political action committee.
Gosar, of Flagstaff, decided to run in the 4th Congressional District after the 1st Congressional District became more competitive after redistricting. The 4th District includes most of northwestern Arizona, including Mohave and Yavapai counties.
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Comments (68)
blackyb
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 8:04pmGays want to recruit for they cannot reproduce. They in constant campaign mode.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 9:26pmWhere are the Marshall Dillions of our day? Oh thats right, we do not produce THAT KIND of man anymore in this country.
Report Post »brian8793
Posted on May 12, 2012 at 12:28amAre you mad because nobody has tried to recruit your sorry a$$. I bet our sheriff would kick your teeth in…
Report Post »Pilotswife
Posted on May 12, 2012 at 3:24amPaul Babeu is a really good guy. He’s done an amazing job for us here in Arizona. He is a true conservative and deserves a little more respect than what Ive seen from some of these posts. I hope he survives all this crap. We need him on our side. Some of these comments are really mean and heartless.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on May 12, 2012 at 6:13amGeese, sheriff Paul, John Travolta…..is everyone gay, or what ?
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 13, 2012 at 8:13pmTear the woodpile down, boys!
TEA
Report Post »MrWeeWee
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 7:59pmMr. Wee Wee sez “yOu gO girl” and STAND FIRM BEHIND Barack!
Report Post »demjerkoffs
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 7:38pmwe don’t need any mexican gays here we have enough gays from the U.S., he must be deported…TELL HIM NOT TO DROP HIS WALLET ON HIS WAY OUT!!!
Report Post »BigFoot
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 7:22pmNothing wrong with eating Mexican every once in a while.
Report Post »PilgrimStuckInBizarroWorld
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 7:53pmthat’s too funny lol:)
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 7:13pmRun as a Democrat Babeu, they’ll consider all this as a feather in your cap!
Report Post »Thomas Paine
Posted on May 12, 2012 at 2:57pmThat’s what he should of done, Run as a Conservative Democrat.
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 7:01pmI don‘t care that he’s gay or dated a Mexican immigrant – it’s that he tried to blackmail someone with deportation because he was embarrassed of his affair? THAT’S low.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 8:06pmHow many people would be bully into do him “favors” if he stays on as a “gay” deputy?
Report Post »Where did that silly word “gay” come from, anyway? It had to be a “gay” person that made it up.
shimauma
Posted on May 12, 2012 at 9:15amwell “gay” is synonymous with *stupid* and babeu made an obviously stupid lifestyle choice and stupidly tried to black mail another *stupid* person, so I would say all this is just STUPID.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 6:59pmIt’s getting to be the weekend again, and some of us are getting cranky because soon we will not be able to post until Monday (if there is no Bank Holiday). Some of us begin to get testy and we break things. It all works out in the end.
Roll me up and smoke me when I die @parasitiK ApparatchiK.
TEA 13
Report Post »ronin_6
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 6:28pmNever ever trust any homosexual ever. I live in the San Fran area and find them to be the most duplicitous, devious, selfish, self righteous bunch of heterophobes anywhere. Yeah it sounds like hate speech cause it is.
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 6:58pmAmen to free speech!!
Report Post »Joseph2
Posted on May 12, 2012 at 7:27amYo Ronin6, I‘ll try to keep an open mind about this Arizona sheriff since I don’t know him or much detail about this case–could be a pack of lies about him threatening deportation and all. I do sympathize with your position on “gay” people though. All my gay acquaintances from twenty years ago who I used to consider friends have turned on me because I don’t buy into gay marriage. Now I’m a Hater supposedly. It’s getting old. I don’t need that sort of abuse. In fact, there are days when I start to take your attitude–that gays just aren’t worth knowing. Too much drama and hassle. They think there‘s no way they’ll ever be forced back into the closet but if this continues on it’s present course I can see things going south for this subgroup in a hurry. History repeats in cycles. Arrogance and hubris are lethal when combined and are not attractive traits.
Report Post »moussiagilda
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 6:03pmNo, you frauds. That didn’t happen. No.
Outnumber ‘em.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:57pmIt saddens me, we no longer try to help these poor abused souls, and no longer try to track down the predators that did this to them, so the cycle can be broken.
Report Post »ronin_6
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 6:29pmI used to think like you. But their hateful agenda has turned me against that kind of thinking.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 6:47pmThe Obama’s Safe Schools czar, Kevin Jenning, supposedly has an idol, Harry Hay. Apparently Harry Hay was molested at age 12 in a public swimming pool. And now Harry Hay is gay. I believe in the cycle for a significant proportion of gays.
Report Post »zoro51
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:47pmyou PLAY you pay period.. GET THE GELL OUT OF AZ im GAY n I dont LIKE how YOU ran the office like you have.. THEN to intimadate a ILEGAL BF.. mary you SUCK.. JUST GO AWAY NOW!
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 7:13pmIt is always good to have illegals in whatever country. That always works.
Stupid liberals call strike breakers scabs & then turn around & vote people in who would flood the country with cheap labor.
Now that is stupidity.
Report Post »Teabunny
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:42pm…and now comes the campaign to expose every conservative, like the ones who support GOProud…to show the right to be hypocrites… or the times they stood against Homosexuals…or made comments bashing transgender (never noticing their own players who bash ann coulter, without cause) to promote Obama. Machine politics at its best (worst) they don’t just attack one or 2…they will whip up a “nest” of “haters and hypocrites” that way each incident ..magnifies the others.
Report Post »WatchingAmericaDie
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:39pmThe Republican party is corrupt enough, and the queers will only corrupt it more. Is the RNC looking for an equivalent to Barney Frank?
Report Post »rfycom
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:29pmNow that is some spicy sex. Not only was it biracial, he was a cop, and the dude was an illegal align. Goes to show you what I have seen time after time. You never know what that conservative who sits in church on Sunday done did on Saturday night. Sure is good God will forgive you over and over and over and over.
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 7:00pmIt’s the juiciest conservative christian sex scandal since Ted Haggard. Good stuff.
Report Post »Strong, moral majority we have in this country.
rickc34
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:26pmLet him run for office let’s see the dems try and use his lifestyle against him, oops they already did.
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:17pmPaul Babeu seemed to be an incredibly good Sheriff, and I think he would have been good for Arizona as a Congressman.
The seeming conflict of interest with the illegal immigrant is concerning, though, I will agree.
Report Post »oneshiner
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 6:11pmHey, Washington D.C & WH is full of gays or womanizers. What’s wrong with a decent Sheriff from Arizona taking his turn? His only mistake was threatening his gay friend. I believe he was a very good Sheriff. I don’t oppose people who want a choice in a lover, but I do oppose a legal marriage.
Report Post »Otherwise we’ll be having marriages of everything under the sun except what God recognizes.
spirited
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 6:12pmYes.
Report Post »patsne
Posted on May 14, 2012 at 1:26pmI would not abandon Sheriff Babieu just because he is gay – but if he did try to blackmail the ex, or if any of the allegations about him having releationships with students when he was a teacher in the past are true that would concern me – his own sister supposedly outed him on some of this, although this does not make any of this true. It’s tough because you know how the left will go so hard after anyone who is conservative, especially if they happen to fall into one of their pet groups – a minority, a woman or gay. I just want to know the objective truth about whether or not there was anything illegal or grossly unethical that Babieu was verified to have been involved in.
Report Post »Constantine Ivanov
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:16pmThis is what happens in America since Americans were forced by homosexual Liberasts to look at others between their legs instead of looking at their eyes and souls.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:06pmWell, at least now, he could get married.
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:06pmHe needs to pack it in….stick a fork in him…his goose is cooked….
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:23pmYou’re right; his goose is cooked. One thing puzzles me though. If the boyfriend in question was an illegal alien and Babeu was an secure borders guy, how come he didn’t turn the guy in as soon as he knew it? I guess that would be a rhetorical question because the answer is obvious.
Report Post »toomuchgovt
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:04pmI thought the headline was a joke. He was dating an illegal, what part of illegal doesn’t he understand? or does the law apply to everyone but him? Was he married to a woman and dating a man? Did he lie to his constituents about being gay too? That is a BIG lie. Anyone in law enforcement needs to be honest with who they are 100% or they will not be able to honestly uphold the law. There are too many temptation in those positions. We give them too much power.
Report Post »FromSeaToSea
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:03pmGay and conservative don’t really go together. The Blaze is getting a little sloppy. To much AP (Associated Press) being uploaded to this site. AP is owned by the elite syndicate. Their agenda is liberal.
Report Post »brian8793
Posted on May 12, 2012 at 12:30amConservative and REDNECK obviously do. I’m sorry your wife is hooking up with the pool guy, but do gays really deserve to get put down for it?
Report Post »MrSunshine
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:02pmGeez, I thought that headline was right out of the Enquirer!
Report Post »LOJ
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:02pmToo bad he didn’t stay straight because he is very capable, and a good law enforcement officer.
Report Post »Patriot Z
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 4:53pmgood, he is unfit. I dont care about the gay part, but come on he got busted. The libs will try to use this as a “gotcha” moment. but the difference is we not going to justify it,we not going to try and cover it up or make him a victim. WE conservatives are not asking for perfection, but accountability.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:03pmIndeed, he was unfit for the positon.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:04pmThey won’t…he’s a homosexual..the lefties won’t touch him.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:17pmActually some of us are not afraid of LGBT persons and do hold them accountable. You just have to deal with the fear, hate and inadequacy that might come to insecure egos from facing a virile, martially adept, fully armed and ready for action oath taking lawman who is also a flaming homosexual.
TEA – it’s all about Taxes!
Report Post »Shasta
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:51pm@AvengerK posts “They won’t…he’s a homosexual..the lefties won’t touch him”
I don’t think so. Just look how the liberals go after any black American if he dares to espouse conservative views. Nothing is more important to the liberals, or any progressive for that matter, than politics.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 4:51pmWhat Issue… was he Conservative… upon?
Report Post »Teabunny
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:10pmimmigration. He threatened to deport him!
Just ask the conservative club for growth.
Report Post »Teabunny
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 5:14pmhe supports traditional marriage.
Report Post »