Sheriff Joe Arpaio is responding for the first time publicly about bad blood between him and his longtime biographer.
Author Len Sherman co-wrote both of Sheriff Arpaio's books and was employed by the sheriff's office in recent years. But Sherman quit last month and wrote a scathing op-ed piece against his former boss and friend, writing in part, "The sheriff's obsession with his own fame, combined with his determination to keep his job no matter what, have caused him to politicize a law enforcement agency and in doing so, corrupted it."
Here's Arpaio's response: "... tell him to run for sheriff."
Arpaio is running for a 7th term.
The sheriff also denied that he pressures employees to support his candidacy, an allegation made by Sherman and past employees of MCSO. Arpaio said MCSO employees are free to support any candidate for sheriff they wish, without fear of repurcussions.