One of the state law mandated duties of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors [BoS] is filling county elected positions if they become vacant, though the state law doesn’t define a process for making the appointment. 

In 2018:

1) The BoS appointed the LD28 state senate seat upon resignation by the GOP representative.  

Vote Christine Porter Marsh for Arizona LD28 state senate. [https://www.christineportermarsh.com]

2) The BoS appointed the LD13 state senate seat upon resignation by the GOP representative.

Vote Mariana Sandoval for Arizona LD13 House. [can’t find website]

In 2019: 

1) The BoS appointed Michele Reagan to Justice of the Peace at the District 2 Supervisor’s urging. 

Note: Reagan has no legal background and the JP doesn’t require any, at a salary of over $100k per year.

Vote @Deedra4BoS in District 2 Nov. 2020. [www.Deedra4BoS.com/donate]

2) The BoS appointed a new District 1 Supervisor to replace Denny Barney who stepped down to become full-time CEO and president of the East Valley Partnership. 

Note: Barney faced allegations of abusing his position while in office for real estate gains, unethical communications with agencies related to his real estate properties, and refusing to recuse himself from BoS decisions that affected his business interests. – see AZCentral: Maricopa Chairman in Ethics Flap. 1/17/2014. [http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20140113county-chairman-ethics-flap.html#protected]

Vote Jevin Hodge District 2 BoS in 2020. [https://jevinhodge.com]

3) The BoS created a new Director of Election Day and Emergency Voting Procedures official, who reports directly to the county’s five elected supervisors at an additional salary of $150k – that’s almost TWICE the salary of the elected County Recorder.

The vote throws the Board of Supervisors, with its four Republicans and one Democrat, back into the mix when it comes to election operations, a role that for decades the board had delegated to the Republican county recorder but has now removed from the Democratic county recorder.

Note: District 2 BoS nixed a proposal being considered by County Recorder Adrian Fontes to extend voting until 9 p.m. to ensure that those who did not get to vote early due to voting machine technical difficulties were given another chance.

He also said “there is an answer to keep voters from being disenfranchised: Show up at the designated polling place by 7 p.m.” 

Vote Adrian Fontes, Maricopa County Recorder 2020. [https://electfontes.com]

3) The BoS appointed the County Attorney upon resignation of the previous County Attorney. 

Note: The BoS is over the County Attorney’s office, County Attorney Andrew Thomas was disbarred for activities related to his service as County Attorney; the former Deputy County Prosecutor was accused of “pervasive prosecutorial misconduct” and using county resources for personal gain; former County Attorney Bill Montgomery was under ethics complaints for shielding prosecutors from MCOA’s internal investigations for ethics violations and sexual misconduct as well as failing to fulfill official public records requests for documents relating to the investigations.

Check out all the Maricopa County Attorney candidates at https://maricopadems.org/meet-our-candidates/

4) In late Jan 2019, the BoS announced it was seeking candidates to run the county agency responsible for determining the value of metro Phoenix properties for tax purposes.

No timetable was set on when a new Assessor would be selected and the board didn’t have any meetings scheduled. 

The County Assessor’s office currently has an Acting Administrator, with no experience, at a rate of $72 per hour.

Note: The former County Assessor was suspended for 120 days without pay in Oct 2019 after 62 indictments for human trafficking and $800,000 in Medicaid fraud in three states, including AZ.

A preliminary audit found the duties of the Assessors office were not negatively affected because the employees did their jobs.

The BoS was poised to reinstate him until a more extensive audit found the elected Assessor was not showing up for work and used county resources in furtherance of his adoption-fraud schemes when he did show up to the office… making his reinstatement politically impossible.

The Assessor refused to resign and the BoS lamented over whether they could terminate an indicted county agency officer.

He finally resigned in early Jan 2020.

Vote for Aaron Connor for Maricopa County Assessor [https://aaronconnor.nationbuilder.com]

We’ve got a lot of work to do to help Democrats win seats all over the state. #UpBallotYear

And we know we can do it with a little help from our friends! #SharingIsCaring

See related articles:

Maricopa County accepting applications for vacant assessor job, KTAR.

Maricopa Chairman in Ethics Flap.

Elected Arizona official accused of selling babies in the illegal adoption scheme suspended

Ethics complaint filed against Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery

County supervisors examining options for ousting indicted assessor

Maricopa County Supervisors hire additional elections director