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"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

H. L. Mencken

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Did Babeu warn of cartels to help fund his race for Congress?

Rebekah L. Sanders, Daniel González and Garrett Mitchell, The Republic | azcentral.com 9:11 p.m. MST May 27, 2016

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu says drug cartels are in his county and that the public should be on alert. However, his claims are being disputed by other members of law enforcement.

A day after Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu advised Memorial Day travelers to pack a gun because of recent incidents involving drug cartels, his congressional campaign sent a fundraising email citing those official warnings.

"I don't enjoy advising Arizona residents to be armed and protect themselves when they want to enjoy all that our state has to offer -- but rival cartels, assassins and rip crews have made that the reality," Babeu's campaign message said, linking to a conservative website's account of his Monday news conference at sheriff's headquarters.

"With the situation escalating it becomes more important to win, to change our weak border policy ... to send a Sheriff to Congress!" the email continued, asking supporters for "$10, $20, $50, or more" and sending supporters to a website where they could donate to his campaign for the 1st District.

Two Democratic sheriffs in border counties said they knew of no intelligence signaling heightened danger. And they have issued no recent warnings. Pinal County is miles from the U.S.-Mexico line but serves as a pass-through for smuggling.

Babeu's alert was a political ploy, one Republican primary opponent alleged.

The sheriff sought to "prey upon the fears of good people to advance his own political agenda," retired Air Force pilot Wendy Rogers said in a written statement. "He exploits as a political football the very citizens he swore to protect."

(Rogers has in the past been accused of using fear to win votes. She was criticized in 2014 for television ads featuring footage of Islamic State prisoner James Foley moments before his beheading.)

Rogers, one of eight Republicans running in the 1st District, said Babeu admitted the border "was a calculated element of his campaign for Congress."

After a reporter asked if the news conference was related to his congressional campaign, Babeu said: "It has everything to do with that as well. I'm an elected official. I'm the elected sheriff of this county. It's not something new that I'm just talking about now. ... This is a top priority for me as a lawman and certainly as an elected official, as a representative of the people."

Barrett Marson, Babeu's campaign spokesman, said the sheriff described the warning as "political, because elected leaders decide if this border gets secured and if immigration laws finally get enforced. If you listen to the tape, that's clearly what he's talking about because he's been fighting this battle for eight years."

Marson said Rogers, who lives in Tempe, outside the district, doesn't know the issues.

She "has no understanding of the fight Sheriff Babeu and his deputies have faced for years," Marson said in a written statement, noting the Sheriff's Office has busted drug rings, arrested suspected cartel members and criticized President Barack Obama for releasing undocumented-immigrant prisoners.

"She's behaving like someone who is about to lose her fourth straight election and is near last place in an eight-candidate field," Marson said.

This isn't the first time Babeu has been accused of using official resources to benefit his campaign or for inflating the sense of danger in his county.

He caught flak for featuring sheriff's employees in television ads, posting campaign announcements on the sheriff's website and sending an official newsletter to a voter list. He erroneously claimed a family murder-suicide was the work of cartels, cited cartel crime that wasn't backed up by data and exaggerated the number of cartel scouts operating in his area.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, a Democrat, said he does not know why Babeu issued the alert, or whether it was politically motivated.

“I know Sheriff Babeu, and I don't think he is grandstanding. I hope that's not the case. But if it is, that is up to someone else to decide," Nanos told The Arizona Republic. "I don't know why he made a comment about the alert or warning ... because I have not seen that intel. Maybe that is grandstanding. I don't know."

Nanos said he is unaware of recent violence, including gunfights between cartel hit men and rip crews cited by Babeu.

Drug smuggling and illegal immigration are down in his county, which shares more miles of the border with Mexico than any U.S. county, Nanos said.

However, he said it is common knowledge that the public should be careful where drug smugglers operate along the southern border.

"We all know that there is human smuggling and narcotics smuggling in the western deserts of Arizona and if you are not careful and you are out there recreating you should pay attention to what is going on around you," he said.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada, also a Democrat, said that though he's not familiar with Pinal County's issues, he would like Babeu to release the source of his information, which would "hopefully be wrong."

Santa Cruz County has not received reports or complaints of any hit men stalking residents, he said.

Estrada would not advise hikers to carry a firearm when heading outdoors.

He said cartels would typically avoid confrontation and detection, not pursue people.

"It's wise for people to be careful, and to be careful all the time in remote locations," Estrada said. "If you're going into it expecting trouble, you have no business going there."