Political Notebook: Nanos, Hathaway reject sheriffs’ group

That’s because two of them, Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway and Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, have declined to join.

Both are Democrats, and both say the Arizona Sheriffs Association is too much of a partisan Republican entity. There is one independent sheriff as well as two Democratic sheriffs in the association.

Nanos said he joined when he first became sheriff, but “When I got in there it was pretty apparent that they were pretty into the politics.”

Hathaway said in a statement he let his membership lapse for the same reason.

In an Oct. 9 letter, Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse, representing the association, criticized Hathaway’s handling of protests of border-wall construction in Lochiel. Hathaway has ordered deputies to stay away from the site, where he said contractors made many “disingenuous” 911 calls, except in cases of violence.

The member sheriffs offered their own officers to bolster security at Lochiel, if called upon by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. That didn’t sit right with Nanos.

“That is a real big overreach," he said. “If you (deputies from other counties) came into my county, you might find yourself being arrested by my deputies for obstruction or whatever.”

Constable, candidate face write-in opposition

The Pima County constable and constable candidate who were cited by the sheriff’s department during a late-night outing in August are facing write-in challengers.

Arturo Peralta filed to run as a write-in candidate in Justice Precinct 2, and Matt Leve filed to run as a write-in candidate in Justice Precinct 9.

Constable Francisco Lopez currently represents Precinct 2 but is facing ethics complaints to the Constable Ethics and Standards Board, as well as a citation. Gerard Acuña won the Democratic nomination for constable and was cited along with Lopez on Aug. 4, but now he is facing Leve in precinct 9.

Leve is currently serving as constable in precinct 9 but did not make the ballot. Peralta is a former deputy in the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and an officer in the Pima Community College Police Department who signed up as a write-in at the last minute, he said.

Lopez and Acuña were in a car with a third companion in the early morning hours when a noise complaint brought out Pima County sheriff’s deputies, who cited the constable and candidate.

Lopez also faced a professional, not criminal, complaint for knocking a woman down repeatedly in downtown Tucson on a January night when the woman repeatedly berated him.

Lopez, who founded and ran the TMZ Tucson social-media pages, was first elected to the constable’s seat in 2022.

Anti-Prop. 425 group forms

As this year’s ballots landed in voters’ mailboxes, a group formed to campaign against Prop. 425, an increase in Pima County’s base spending limit.

Republican Jay Tolkoff, a former candidate for Tucson City Council, joined Democratic state Senator Sally Ann Gonzales along with former Democratic legislator Luis Gonzales to form No on Prop. 425.

In an email announcing the group, they cited concerns that there is no documented need for increasing the spending limit, which would risk runaway spending.

Supporters of the spending-limit increase say that without passage of the proposal, Pima County will hit its spending limit, based on a formula approved in 1980, within two years and be forced to take on debt to cover routine needs.