Sheriff faces recall effort following plagiarism scandal

Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez has been caught, and has owned up to, plagiarizing much of the material he presented as personal columns to his constituents.

Ethan Groh is not amused.

Groh, 29, a truck driver based in Casa Grande, has filed the paperwork necessary to launch a recall against Vasquez, whose post is up for reelection in September, regardless.

To force a recall, Groh said he needs to gather 13,819 signatures by Sept. 17.

So far, he is a committee of one.

“Nobody is wanting to get involved,” he said.

Groh noted that voters already have the opportunity to vote Vasquez out of office in September during the Pinal County General Election.

“I am doing this to make a point,” he said. “I still need people to sign this petition because that is their voice to say they are not willing to put up with what is going on.”

Groh said he first became aware of the sheriff’s plagiarism after reading about it in an East Valley newspaper (see “Babeu calls out sheriff on plagiarism and more”).

“I researched it myself,” he said. “He did plagiarize those articles, one of them word for word. That made me mad. But what made me real mad was the way he reacted afterward.”

Vasquez has since apologized to those who read and those who published his columns, under the belief that he had written them himself (see “Vasquez responds to charges of plagiarism”).

Groh said it’s too little, too late.

“He was not making a big issue about it, and was laughing about it, maybe trying to cover it up,” he said.

What irks him the most, however, is that the sheriff sits on the board of the Peace Officers Standards Training Post, a commission designed to monitor the ethics of those in law enforcement positions.

If someone else on a police force in Arizona had been accused of unethical behavior, Vasquez would be among those weighing in on whether that officer should lose certification to serve in the state.

“This man can sit back and judge these people,” Groh said.

Groh said he hopes others who agree that the sheriff has got to go will join his effort to collect signatures countywide.

“I am willing to spend my time and money doing this. I can’t watch this happen no more,” he said.

Neither spokesperson for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office could be reached for comment.

Getting involved:
What: Recall Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez
How: Circulate petitions to collect 13,819 valid signatures
Deadline: Sept. 17
Contact: [email protected]