Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, the top law enforcement leader of one of Arizona’s most populous counties, is joining Collin County GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner as a special guest on Feb. 24 at Southfork Ranch.
The sheriff has made headlines for his comments about the Jan. 6 insurrection. In the fall, Lamb defended the insurrectionists to a Politico reporter: “Just because somebody was there doesn’t necessarily mean they’re guilty,” he said. “I guarantee you [the rioters] are very loving, Christian people. They just happen to support President Trump a lot.
Lamb oversees Arizona’s third-most populous county, which is home to 500,000 people in a rural area sandwiched between Phoenix and Tucson.
On the day of the insurrection, Lamb attended a rally in Phoenix to protest the certification of the votes for the 2020 election.
Lamb was already in the public purview before he made his Jan. 6 comments.
In summer 2020, he made headlines for saying he’d refuse to enforce Arizona’s extended stay-at-home order.
The sheriff, a frequent contributor for Fox News and Newsmax, also kicked off a streaming service called American Sheriff Network last year, which takes viewers on Cops-style a ride-a-long with law enforcement for $5 a month. After 32 seasons and decades of criticism, the show was canceled in the summer of 2020 after George Floyd’s murder.
Despite offering ride-a-longs for his online network, Lamb’s department is one of the largest in Arizona that doesn’t have body-worn cameras for its officers, an Arizona-based NBC affiliate station reported last summer.
His previous public speaking engagements include multiple appearances with former President Donald Trump at the White House — and speaking time at the far-right American Priority Conference, which was at Trump’s resort in Miami in October.
Conservative radio talk show host Glenn Beck will also headline the dinner as the keynote speaker.
The controversial sheriff’s appearance is another addition to the litany of recent Collin County political affairs featuring polarizing political personas. Those include:
- Lara Trump, keynoted an event hosted by the Collin County Conservative Republicans and the Dallas Jewish Conservatives at the Marriott Hotel in Allen.
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., keynoted the Frisco Conservatives annual winter gala and received the organization’s Conservative of the Year award
- Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., keynoted the Collin County Conservative Republicans’ winter social.
- A high-profile conservative conference brought big-name politicians, businessmen and pundits to Frisco, such as Michael Flynn, Alex Jones and Eric Trump.
The dinner will kick off at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 with a silent auction and VIP reception beginning at 6 p.m. An individual ticket for the dinner, with open seating, costs $125.
