Many governors across this country have become fairly draconian with their stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders, claiming it is for the saftey of the people while trampling over their constitutional rights. Here is a sheriff who just says no!
HEMMER: The President is in Phoenix, Arizona. Going to bring you that event to you in a moment here. He’s visiting with Native Americans. Also this hour meeting with Honeywell International. They manufacture N95 masks so tuned for that. Meanwhile, also in that state, the Republican governor, Doug Ducey, says that those who violate his stay-at-home order could face up to six months behind bars and a $2500 fine. Two sheriffs say they will not enforce the penalty including those in Pinal County. That lies between Tucson and Phoenix, where President Trump is right now. Almost half a million people live in that county. They have reported 478 cases, 15 deaths, so far. Mark Lamb is the sheriff of that county. Sir welcome to our program. Good afternoon to you.
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LAMB: Good afternoon, Bill. Thanks for having me.
HEMMER: You have a good relationship with the governor?
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LAMB: I do we get along very well. We just disagree on this one.
HEMMER: Tell me about it. Go ahead and make your case. What’s the rub?
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LAMB: You know I think with all of this whole pandemic, its crazy times. We’ve gotten into some very murky waters as a relates to the Constitution. We have seen across the country where I think there has been some clear constitutional violations. As sheriffs, our responsibility is that we take an oath to the Constitution of the United States. We are here to protect the people from government overreach as we are here to protect their rights. I feel like an order like this, to arrest people, to cite them, was going too far. Now we are going to go out and continue to educate these people. That’s our duty. We are going to warn them. We are going to advise them. But I just don’t think it’s conducive to our community to arrest them, cite them, and fine them.
HEMMER: So nobody goes to jail in your county? That is what your saying, nobody pays a fine. What does the governor…
LAMB: Not for that. People still go to jail in our county. Just not for that.
HEMMER: Smart clarification. What has the governor said about your resistance sherrif?
LAMB: I haven’t heard from the governor. I did reach out to him the first night I did an interview. I just expressed my — this is nothing personal. This is just a disagreement on this, on where we are at here. I think we’ve got to get businesses back. We are dealing with the public safety aspect of people being out of work. Increased domestic violence, increased neighbor problems, and the intensity of the calls that are going on. We’ve been in more fights with people the last couple weeks than we have over the last six months and it’s hurting my deputies, and so we’ve got to get people back to what they know, back to paying their bills. And unfortunately most of the decisions being made across this country by government people are made by people who collect a paycheck every two whole weeks. You know I’m here to speak up for the people who have invested their lives into their businesses who need to go out and work to pay their bills and to put food on their table, and we’ve got to start thinking of those people. It does come with some risks.
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HEMMER: There is risk there and I just wonder how you manage that. I guess you take it a case at a time right now, but you heard the numbers I just read off here. Just a final comment on how you try and you walk the line between what is constitutional in your view and what is safety for the people living in your county sheriff.
LAMB: Yeah, it’s a tough one, and there are people that are going to be angry with what I have to say, the stance I’ve taken. There are also people that are glad we are standing up for the Constitution and their rights. We deal with risk every day, especially in this profession. Right now, you are three times more likely to die in an automobile accident than you are from Covid or at least here in this state. Now having said that, my heart goes out to anybody who’s lost a loved one during this from coronavirus but risks are a part of daily life.
