Some are questioning if it was appropriate for Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff of Pima County, Ariz., to use his platform following the shooting of Ariz. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to criticize political speech that he viewed as “vitriolic” in his Saturday evening press conference.
However, on Sunday’s special edition of Fox News Channel’s “America Live with Megyn Kelly,” the Pima County sheriff didn’t back away from those calls. In the wake of those remarks, Kelly asked Dupnik if he had any specific indications that the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, had been influenced by such speech. Dupnik said he didn’t but told viewers he felt the need to point that out.
“If your question is specific, I have to be specific and say, I don’t have that information yet,” Dupnik said. “The investigation is in its very initial phases. But my belief — and I’ve been watching what has been going on in this country for the last 75 years, and I’ve been a police officer for over 50 years, there is no doubt in my mind that when a number of people night and day try to inflame the public that there is going to be some consequences from doing that. And I think it’s irresponsible to do that.”
Dupnik, an elected Democrat, went on to take a shot at campaign finance and how the sources of donations behind ads don’t have to be identified.
“I think differences of opinion is what makes the world go round and round, but I think it’s irresponsible for us not at some point to address this kind of behavior and try to put a stop to it,” he said “There is no doubt in my mind that there are consequences to this kind of behavior. When people — allegedly credible people — who get up in front of cameras and microphones and say things that are not true and try to inflame the public, when millions of dollars are filtered into this country to buy very vitriolic ads and they don’t have to be identified the people that are donating money to them, I think we need to take a look at it. I think free speech is free speech, but not without consequences.”
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Kelly asked the sheriff if he thought it was appropriate to put his own political spin on this situation. But Dupnik didn’t shy away and he even spoke how he disapproved of the gridlock in the political process.
“Well, I think it’s more than just a political spin,” he said. “I’m not sure it really has anything to do with politics. You know, I grew up in a country that was totally different than the country we have today. We didn’t have this kind of nonsense going on and it used to be politicians from different parties could sit down and forget about their ideology and work on the country’s problems. We don’t see that happening today. As a matter of fact we see just the opposite. We see one party trying to block the attempts of another party to make this a better country and I think it’s time we need to look into our souls and look into our hearts and say is what we are doing really in the best interests of this country or is there something better we can do.”