The Arizona sheriff running for Congress as a Republican Saturday rejected allegations he had threatened to deport alleged former lover, a Mexican National. In the process, he said, also from the volunteer position with the Arizona campaign, Mitt Romney and came out as gay.
After a report Thursday with weekly Phoenix New Times, Pinar County Sheriff Paul Babel admitted he had "personal relationship" with a man identified only Jose.
Commissioner Jose accused of threatening to deport him after he refused to sign an agreement stipulating that he would not disclose details of their romantic involvement, the newspaper reported.
At a press conference Saturday, Babel called the allegations "absolutely, completely false, except for the matters referred to me as being gay. Where is the truth. I'm gay."
Babylon, considered the rising star in the Republican Party, is known for its hard-line stance against illegal immigration, and told reporters he was not breaking any laws, instead of paying the allegations of attempts to derail Congressional campaign.
He said he had called Romney campaign to tell her volunteer position as co chairman of the Arizona Romney for President campaign. "We support his decision," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement.
Babel, 43, had been most ping for Romney in recent months, appeared recently on the event, with former Vice President Dan Quayle.
The nearly 45-minute news conference, sheriff defending his record as a senior law enforcement cooperation agency, and confirmed the authenticity of pictures of himself in the circulation of a new era in Phoenix and elsewhere, including one of him posing in the bathroom wearing only under shorts.
"This is not the case ... Rep Wiener," Babel said, invoking the disgraced New York congressman Anthony Weiner, a Democrat who resigned after posting pictures of himself to women online.
The Phoenix New Times published photos on its website that it said came from a network installation of the magistrate is to gay dating site where people tend to solicit sex.
Messages left with a spokesman Pinar County sheriff to seek the opinion was not immediately returned Saturday.
The text messages published weekly, Babel said, according to Jose: "You can never be traded after this and you will hurt me and many others in the process ... including you and your family."
Pinar County, with a population of 400,000, is largely rural county south of Phoenix and north of Tucson.
Babel will continue his campaign for rural western Arizona in the fourth Congressional District seat, he is running against fellow Republican Paul Jacks.
After a report Thursday with weekly Phoenix New Times, Pinar County Sheriff Paul Babel admitted he had "personal relationship" with a man identified only Jose.
Commissioner Jose accused of threatening to deport him after he refused to sign an agreement stipulating that he would not disclose details of their romantic involvement, the newspaper reported.
At a press conference Saturday, Babel called the allegations "absolutely, completely false, except for the matters referred to me as being gay. Where is the truth. I'm gay."
Babylon, considered the rising star in the Republican Party, is known for its hard-line stance against illegal immigration, and told reporters he was not breaking any laws, instead of paying the allegations of attempts to derail Congressional campaign.
He said he had called Romney campaign to tell her volunteer position as co chairman of the Arizona Romney for President campaign. "We support his decision," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement.
Babel, 43, had been most ping for Romney in recent months, appeared recently on the event, with former Vice President Dan Quayle.
The nearly 45-minute news conference, sheriff defending his record as a senior law enforcement cooperation agency, and confirmed the authenticity of pictures of himself in the circulation of a new era in Phoenix and elsewhere, including one of him posing in the bathroom wearing only under shorts.
"This is not the case ... Rep Wiener," Babel said, invoking the disgraced New York congressman Anthony Weiner, a Democrat who resigned after posting pictures of himself to women online.
The Phoenix New Times published photos on its website that it said came from a network installation of the magistrate is to gay dating site where people tend to solicit sex.
Messages left with a spokesman Pinar County sheriff to seek the opinion was not immediately returned Saturday.
The text messages published weekly, Babel said, according to Jose: "You can never be traded after this and you will hurt me and many others in the process ... including you and your family."
Pinar County, with a population of 400,000, is largely rural county south of Phoenix and north of Tucson.
Babel will continue his campaign for rural western Arizona in the fourth Congressional District seat, he is running against fellow Republican Paul Jacks.
