Joe Arpaio

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** FILE ** Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio answers questions May 10 in a news conference. (Associated Press)

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Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio exits after announcing July 17, 2012, in Phoenix that President Obama's birth certificate, as presented by the White House in April 2011, is a forgery based on an investigation by the Sheriff's office. (Associated Press)

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A defiant Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio pounds his fist on the podium as he answers questions regarding the Department of Justice announcing a federal civil lawsuit against him and his department, during a news conference Thursday, May 10, 2012, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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** FILE ** Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducts a news conference on Jan. 10, 2012, in Phoenix. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Then-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas (foreground), with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, speaks at a news conference in Phoenix in July 2010 about the U.S. Justice Department's suit against Arizona's immigration law. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)

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Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday that he plans to ask the whole appeals court to reconsider its ruling. (Associated Press)

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FILE - In this file photo from Dec. 5, 2011, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio discusses the latest in the document release on his office's handling of many sexual assault cases over the years in El Mirage, Ariz., during a news conference in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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'WHIPPING BOY': Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio calls the Justice Department report a politically motivated assault by the Obama administration. (Associated Press)

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The controversy that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio generates hasn't stopped presidential candidates from meeting with him, as Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota did in September. The sheriff makes inmates wear pink underwear and live in tents during Arizona's sweltering summers. (Associated Press)