Pinal County's Jail Commander.

One of the statements made by Sheriff Vasquez was, Paul Babeu was elected Sheriff because Paul is a better politician…I beg to differ. It may be a defining moment and one of the biggest disconnects Chris Vasquez has with his responsibilities to the office. Sheriff Vasquez; you didn't loose because Paul is a good politician, you lost because the voters threw you out of office, it's that simple. The inference you make is if Paul was a poor politician you would have won. To assign your loss to anything else is a slap in the face of the voters.

Sheriff Vasquez doesn’t seem to understand why he lost the election. He doesn’t understand why the Sheriff’s office is in a depressed state of low moral; he doesn’t understand why the rank and file within the office doesn’t support him.

I think Sheriff Vasquez is clueless on why he lost the election.
Maybe I can explain;

I’m not trying to state the obvious; but Paul Babeu was elected Sheriff because the people of Pinal county had very little faith or confidence in Vasquez and refused to accept the same ole’ Sheriff’s office.

Case in Point; Deputy Chief Terry Altman was hired in April 2005 to run Pinal County’s Jail system and according to the East Valley Tribune he was hired as a result of a nation wide search.

Prior to Altman’s appointment as Deputy Chief of Pinal County's jail, he was in charge of the jail system for Brevard County, Fl. and under his command, five Brevard County inmates committed suicide in three months causing Altman’s demotion….he should have been fired.

So what does Sheriff Vasquez do?....hires Altman to run our jail. Maybe Vasquez should have hire Dr. Kevorkian, we may have lost less inmates and is just as qualified.

Are we to believe that a nation wide search resulted in hiring the most qualified person to run Pinal County’s jail system...really! And Sheriff Vasquez doesn’t understand why he lost the election...wow! People may not know who Terry Altman is, but his incompetence reflects poorly on the county never the less.

I wonder if Terry Altman placed on his resume that under is command five inmates lost their lives, or that he was demoted as commander of Brevard County jail. In any case, Altman should have never been hired.

Should Altman be shocked that he will be replaced in Sheriff Babeu’s administration? If he is, he's also clueless.

I refuse to accept that Altman was the best pick for Pinal County.

The bottom line; Sheriff Vasquez was removed from office by the people of Pinal County because of his lack of leadership and incompetent decisions like hiring Terry Altman. At a minimum Sheriff Vasquez should have fired Altman as a result of the Pinal County inmate suicides.




- Bill