An annual fundraiser this weekend for the Fresno County Republican Party is attracting national attention. Controversial former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is slated to speak at the party’s so-called First and Second Amendment celebration.
The event was initially billed as a Second Amendment celebration.
But Fresno County Republican Party Chairman Fred Vanderhoof says with recent unrest on college campuses, hearing from the firebrand sheriff has become an important defense of free speech. Arpaio is known for his strident views on immigration enforcement.
“The reason why we chose to make it the First and Second Amendment celebration is because now it has become a free speech issue. And we have the constitutional right to invite him. And he has the right, of course, to speak to whoever wants to hear him,” says Vanderhoof.
The party says interest in the event has been high, with national media attention, and what organizers call a ticket sellout. The party is also expecting protestors, but Vanderhoof says they are welcome as long as they stay within the bounds of the law. All the attention and concerns about disrupting traffic caused the party to move the event this week from Tornino’s to another banquet hall in the Sunnyside neighborhood.
Vanderhoof says they invited Arpaio to speak before he was pardoned by President Donald Trump. The Sheriff was convicted earlier this year for criminal contempt of court for his refusal to stop racially motivated law enforcement activities in Maricopa County Arizona.
