 From left to right, WND’s Jerome Corsi, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Surprise, Ariz., tea-party leaders Julie Wise, Jim Wise and Jeff Lichter |
WND has received an advance copy of the letter the Surprise Tea Party in Surprise, Ariz., plans to deliver tomorrow to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio at his downtown Phoenix office, asking the lawman to investigate Barack Obama’s alleged proof of natural-born citizenship.
“The Surprise Tea Party is concerned that no established law enforcement agency or other duly constituted government agency has conducted an investigation into the Obama birth certificate to determine if it is in fact an authentic copy of 1961 birth records on file for Barack Obama at the Hawaii Department of Health in Honolulu or whether it, or they, are forgeries,” the letter addressed to Arpaio reads.
The letter in its entirety can be read here.
In addition to delivering the letter, the Surprise Tea Party is delivering to Arpaio a petition containing 242 signatures that were obtained at an evening meeting of the group last week.
They will also present a binder containing the published reports of 20 experts with established credentials who conducted forensic examination of the computer PDF file published on the White House website and the Xerox copies of the Obama birth certificate handed out by the White House to the press during an April 27, 2011, press conference.
Brian Reilly, one of the leaders of the Surprise Tea Party who signed the letter, believes Arpaio will take the group’s request seriously.
“The petition we are presenting to Sheriff Arpaio got some 240 signatures in a two-hour evening meeting last week in Maricopa County,” Reilly told WND. “I remain confident Sheriff Arpaio will review seriously the materials we are presenting, and I believe Sheriff Arpaio will make his best effort to find out the truth.”
The letter notes that to date, despite continuing legal challenges, the Hawaii Department of Health has refused to make public or to release to independent forensic examination by qualified examiners the original Obama birth records yet held in its files.
The group further noted that Doug Vogt, a scanner expert who has analyzed the Obama birth certificate documents released by the White House, has already filed a criminal complaint with the FBI, charging the document is “created forgery,” to no avail.
WND has previously reported on Vogt’s studies here, here, and here.
The Arizona State Legislature on April 15, 2011, passed a bill that would have required candidates for the presidency to prove to the Arizona secretary of state their eligibility to be president under Article 2, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution in order to have their names placed on the Arizona presidential ballot or vice presidential ballot. Arizona Governor Janet Brewer, however, vetoed the bill.
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| From left to right, WND’s Jerome Corsi, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Surprise, Ariz., tea party leaders Brian and Denise Reilly |
“Having exhausted all available governmental and law enforcement resources at our disposal,” the Surprise Tea Party explains in the letter to Arpaio, “we are turning to you as the highest law enforcement officer in Maricopa County where we reside.”
The letter continues, “We are asking for your assistance because you have a demonstrated history of enforcing Arizona laws in Maricopa County, even when enforcing those laws is unpopular in Arizona or out-of-favor with the wishes of a federal government that may choose to ignore the law to the detriment of the residents of Maricopa County.”
The letter expresses confidence that Arpaio will take his law enforcement responsibilities seriously and will neither ignore the request nor delegate it to some other government agency that will choose to not respond, perhaps for political reasons.
“But, quite frankly, Sheriff Arpaio, you are our last resort to see Arizona statutes enforced to preserve the integrity of Arizona election law,” the letter states.
It continues:
You are the chief law enforcement officer of Maricopa County, and no government official either at the state or federal level can forbid you to conduct an investigation you deem to conduct or direct how you choose to protect the citizens of Maricopa County.
We know you have the political courage to undertake an investigation requested by the residents of Maricopa County when your conscience dictates that doing so is within your rights and responsibilities as our Sheriff.
We are confident you will have the wisdom to involve other governmental and law enforcement agencies only if you know in your heart that those agencies will do their duty to find the truth of the allegations that concern us as residents of Maricopa County.
Referencing the First Amendment right to petition government officials, the letter ends with the following request: “In the most solemn manner possible, we are asking you to examine our evidence and investigate our concerns according to your best judgment, in order that the residents of Maricopa County can be assured the continued legitimacy of votes we cast as citizens of Arizona in future presidential elections conducted in this state.”
Following the WND publication of an article announcing the Surprise Tea Party’s intent last week, Arpaio’s office issued a written statement indicating the following:
What I have agreed to do, contrary to some media reports, is simply to look at the evidence these people have assembled and examine whether it is within my jurisdiction to investigate the document’s authenticity.
I indicated in this meeting that I will also consider whether there is a more appropriate Arizona agency to determine the document’s veracity and ultimately whether the president’s name can lawfully be entered onto the 2012 election ballot.
The presentation WND senior staff reporter Jerome R. Corsi made to the Surprise Tea Party in Surprise, Ariz., on Aug. 17 can be seen in its entirety on YouTube.
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