Arpaio clarifies stand on Obama birth certificate

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has denied that he "promised" Tea Party leaders in Arizona to investigate the validity of Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate to determine the president's eligibility for the 2012 election ballot.

Arpaio said he met in his office Thursday with a Tea Party group which presented him with 242 signatures asking for the investigation.

"What I have agreed to do, contrary to some published media reports, is simply look at the evidence these people have assembled and examine whether it is within my jurisdiction to investigate the document's authenticity," Arpaio said in a written statement Friday.

The Worldnet Daily website said Tea Party leaders in Surprise met with Arpaio and WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi Thursday to express concern that a fake birth certificate would be used to document Obama's eligibility to run in Maricopa County.

According to the WND website, "At a one-hour meeting in Arpaio's office, the tea-party leaders presented the sheriff with a petition that was drafted after a speech by Corsi the previous night. Corsi, author of a best-selling book challenging Obama's eligibility, "Where's the Birth Certificate?" presented evidence from numerous computer-imaging specialists who believe the document presented by the White House April 27 is not authentic.

The WND posting continued, "The petition calls for the sheriff to investigate the possibility that a crime has been committed against the Arizona secretary of state, who must decide whether to put Obama's name on the ballot.

Arpaio said, while he will look at the evidence, "I indicated in this meeting that I will also consider whether there is a more appropriate Arzona agency to determine the document's veracity and ultimately whether the President's name can lawfully be entered onto the 2012 election ballot."