First we have Republican Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who abuses his power and targets his political enemies. Now we have tea party darling, and Republican Sheriff Paul Babeu, who is also being accused of abusing his power.

But unlike Joe, and the DOJ report that alleges racial profiling by the MCSO, the abuse of power claim against Babeu is not by the feds, but by an ex-boyfriend named Jose, who says that Babeu threatened him with deportation if he exposed their relationship.

In case you missed the Phoenix New Times article that broke the story yesterday about Babeu's love affair gone bad, you can read it HERE -- as well as view the graphic, Anthony Weiner-like photos of Babeu in his underwear.  No kidding!

Desperate for damage control, Babeu is taking a page out of, you guessed it, Old Joe's playbook, and is blaming all this on his "political opponents."  And this strategy may work as Sheriff Babeu is thought of by my fellow Republicans as a younger rendition of Sheriff Joe, and like Joe, he has been elevated to rock-star status by get-tough-on-crime, rabid anti-immigration worriers.

But if the truth be told, both men are a symptom of the corruption that has plagued the AZGOP and the state for years.

As one blogger put it -- "Hypocrisy, corruption, targeting your enemies, abuse of funds, and personal self-aggrandizement are now favored traits by leaders of right-wing causes, and their conservative supporters who have been in control of the state forever."

Babeu's response to all of this? “Quite frankly, it’s none of your business,” he snapped."

And he may be right about that, because like Sheriff Joe, Babeu has no plans to resign, or to end his campaign for Congress.  Although Babeu has resigned as Arizona co-chair to the Mitt Romney campaign.  Babeu said in a recent press conference that, “We’re not hiding or ashamed of anything.  I want to set the record straight, because I want to get on to the real business of Arizona.”

Only time will tell if Sheriff Babeu has the same Teflon coating as Sheriff Joe as Arizona political junkies known that peddling red-meat border security and anti-immigrant rhetoric gets votes. And unlike former U.S. Rep., and married Anthony Weiner, the New York Democrat who was forced to resign after sexually graphic photos of himself showed up on the Internet, Babeu is single, and is loved by Arizona conservatives.

Who knows -- maybe something good will come out of Babeu and his alleged illegal cabana boy story. Now that one of Arizona's favorite immigrant bashing politicians is out of the closet, perhaps the Republican party, that claims to take the moral high ground on family matters, will finally stop bashing gays.