Joe vs. the Supes, Con't ...But is it "fever-pitchy"?

Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to stonewall the county in its quest to look over his financial records, reports the Republic.

Here’s the first two grafs of its story:

Maricopa County sheriff’s officials said Tuesday that financial sanctions imposed by the Board of Supervisors will affect public safety, and the office likely will challenge the moves in court.

Sheriff’s Office attorneys have an 8:30 a.m. telephone conference today with a Superior Court judge on the proposed actions.

The next graf tells us that matter has hit a “fever pitch.”

Two questions. Does all that feel “fever-pitchy” to you?

And if it did, isn’t that the lede, as opposed to the drab one the paper gives us?

The answers are “no” and “yes,” because when you get to the fourth graf, you get to see what the fever-pitchiness is all about:

The board is scheduled to consider a range of additional financial actions against the sheriff at 11:30 a.m. today. The potential sanctions include canceling Sheriff’s Office credit cards, closing its outside bank accounts, restricting non-emergency travel or putting the office’s $269 million budget on line-item. The board had promised the actions would not impact public safety.

Emphasis added.

That’s the lede:

Joe Arpaio is about to have his credit cards taken away.

The Maricopa Board of Supervisors says that if Arpaio continues to refuse to open his books for the board, it will will cut off his office’s credit cards, close some of its bank accounts, and insist on approving every expenditure the sheriff makes.