In a March 16 press release Joe Arpaio quoted Churchill’s “we shall fight in the fields” speech as if being mayor involves pitched, bloody battles over sign placement.

Duly noted, I guess.

My other concern is his close association with Nick Fuentes’ America First PAC. Joe was a featured speaker (his photo was right next to Fuentes on the flyer) at their Feb. 25 AFPAC III conference in Orlando, where Fuentes lavishly praised Vladimir Putin and had the crowd roaring “Putin! Putin!”

In his March 10 America First TV show, Nick again defended Putin (who bombs children’s hospitals) and described our country as “the great Satan and evil empire.” The following is a verbatim transcript from that portion of the broadcast. His voice is bubbling with excitement.

“We continue to support Czar Putin in the war effort! Can we get an 07 in chat…(sic) You know we wanna just keep in mind, we wanna keep our brave soldiers in the white, blue and red in our prayers and in our thoughts as they continue to liberate Ukraine from the great Satan and from the evil empire in the world which is the United States. So, of course our thoughts and prayers, our hearts go out to you, the pride of the Czar, the pride of Moscow. We continue to root for them as they liberate Ukraine!”

I know the Town Council normally debates issues like sodium concentrations in Fountain Lake and not weighty matters like whether the U.S. is the great Satan and an evil empire, but it sure would be nice if we didn’t have a candidate for mayor traveling great distances to speak at conferences organized by somebody who loudly and vociferously promotes such a viewpoint.

Whose side are Joe’s friends on, anyway? Certainly not ours.