Unimpressed with state’s announcement on presidential Ballot
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, the man leading an investigation into the eligibility of the president, says he will not back down on the birther issue despite last week’s attempts by Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett to lay the controversy to rest.
Bennett said he was happy that an email from officials in Hawaii sent to him last week “proves President Obama’s American birth and satisfies Arizona’s requirements for having the president on the upcoming election ballot.”
Despite not having opened the email when questioned by reporters, Bennett apologized to critics who said he had “embarrassed the state” by suggesting the president may be kept off the ballot.
“I can now report to thousands of constituents that we did what can be done and [Obama] is qualified to be on the ballot,” Bennett said.
Sheriff Arpaio is somewhat unimpressed with Bennett’s back down however.
“That doesn’t impress me,” Arpaio told a New York talk radio host. “Why doesn’t [Bennett] ask for the birth certificate? The microfilm, look at the originals to see if it exists? … Just saying that there is some information about the president’s background doesn’t impress me.”
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“I don’t know why it’s a big secret,” Arpaio added. “Why is just a letter coming out and saying, ‘Yes, we say that he was born there’? Show us the proof.”
“I just said from day one,” Arpaio continued, “I wanted to clear the president. I’m not accusing him of any crime; I just want to see the microfilm. We have two twins on the microfilm around the time the president was born. So let’s see the microfilm, let’s see the original copy of the birth certificate, then we’ll put this to rest.
Arpaio’s ongoing investigation contends not only that there are inconsistencies with the long form birth certificate released last year, but also that several identifying factors on Obama’s Selective Service Form indicate that the document was created in 2008 and has been altered to appear as if it dates from 1980.
A recent request for original documents by Arpaio was turned down by The Selective Service System. Both the federal agency and Hawaii’s Department of Health have refused to comply with Arpaio’s requests to allow public inspection of the original documents.
Arpaio refused to comment when asked what course of action he believed Bennett should take on Arizona’s presidential ballot.
Listen to the comments below:
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney’s campaign has also weighed in on the birther issue, with a senior advisor telling CNN that Obama’s place of birth is not an issue in the presidential race.
“I can tell you that Mitt Romney accepts that President Obama was born in the United States. He doesn’t view the place of his birth as an issue in this campaign.” Eric Fehrnstrom said.
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