Political Notebook: Destination unknown as Pima supes probe sheriff Nanos

Supervisor Matt Heinz wants Nanos gone from office. 

But it's unclear whether the process he launched Tuesday will lead to that, or whether a majority of his colleagues want it. In part, that's because it would mean a Democrat-dominated board of supervisors removing a Democratic sheriff with all the risk that entails. 

Under Nanos, for example, the jail does not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement any more than it does with other outside agencies. 

Nanos explained in an interview on the Bill Buckmaster radio show Friday, March 20: "We are not involved in the immigration process. Look, we arrest people, they go into a national database. When you're arrested, ICE has access to that database. If ICE wants somebody that's in our custody, we gladly give them over to them, just like we would TPD, Texas Rangers, anybody across this country, if they have a judge-signed warrant."

Board chair Jen Allen said Wednesday she wants to be sure that the sheriff remains someone like Nanos who isn't "blurring the lines between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement."

"I’m less interested in the who and the letter ("R" or "D" for their political party) and more interested in what they stand for, and what they would do to benefit and stand for our community."

Technically, what the supervisors voted for unanimously on Tuesday was to ask for legal advice about using a territorial-era statute to compel Nanos to provide the board with information. That law says:

"The board may require any county officer to make reports under oath on any matter connected with the duties of his office, and may require the officer to give such bonds or further bonds as may be necessary for the faithful performance of his respective duties.

"An officer who neglects or refuses to make the report, or to give the bond within ten days after being so required, may be removed from office by the board and the office declared vacant. The board may then fill the vacancy."

Supervisor Rex Scott, a Democrat, said he expects he and the other supervisors to use the statute to put questions to Nanos to get responses from him, either verbally or written. 

"The statute sys if the county officer doesn’t report to the board, they may be removed," Scott said. It "doesn’t mean that if they do respond, and we’re not OK with their responses, that we can move toward removal." 

"It’s going to have to be an extraordinary situation for three people (a majority of the five member board) to act to remove a duly elected public official. Ideally, those decisions are left to the voters."

For Supervisor Steve Christy, the only Republican on the five-member board, the implication of the vote was clear. It's to explore using the law to potentially remove Nanos. 

Christy has not previously declared his desires, because he doesn't want to be accused of acting out of partisanship. But on Wednesday he said he's determined to have Nanos out of office. 

"I am definitely in favor of him being removed or leaving office in some way, shape or form," Christy said. "Out of all the options, I’d like to see him do the most honorable thing, which is to resign."

Nanos won his 2024 election by 495 votes, after suspending his Republican opponent, then-Lt. Heather Lappin, from her job for the last three weeks of the campaign. 

This year, some have objected to his public performance during the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, and the Arizona Republic revealed that his publicized work history obscured the fact that he had resigned in lieu of being fired from the El Paso Police Department, before moving to Tucson and becoming a corrections officer here.

He also testified in a December deposition that he has not been suspended from work, when in fact he was suspended eight times in El Paso.   

If he were to resign or be removed by the board, the supervisors would appoint a temporary replacement until the 2028 election. 

Recall campaign gets website

While the supervisors explore their options, a recall campaign is ratcheting up.  The Recall Nanos campaign needs to get a massive 120,000 valid signatures from Pima County voters by mid-June in order to force a recall election.

One of the big challenges: Connecting interested voters to the location of petitions. 

Now the recall campaign, led by GOP congressional candidate Daniel Butierez, has a website, recallnanos.org, where interested voters can find the location of petitions to sign. 

If the recall effort collects enough valid signatures, Nanos would get five days to decide whether to resign. If he were to resign, he'd be replaced by appointment. If he were not to resign, a recall election would occur in March 2027 under state law. 

Oro Valley elections set

The candidate lineup is set for Oro Valley's primary election on July 21.

The town will have three seats on the town council as well as the mayor's position up for grabs in the nonpartisan election.

If enough candidates get over 50 percent of the vote to fill those seats, then there won't be a general election, something that has always happened in the suburban town.

Two candidates filed signatures to replace outgoing Mayor Joe Winfield: Former Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier and current Oro Valley Vice Mayor Melanie Barrett.

Five candidates have filed for election to three seats available on the town council. They are:

• Rosa Daily

• Christopher DeSimone

• Jacob Herrington

• Rhonda Piña

• Matt Wood

If not enough candidates win more than 50 percent of the vote in either of the primary races, that race will then go to the general election ballot.

Harasser of Vail teachers finds ethics

You may recall the episode last year when a Turning Point USA spokesman accused a group of Vail School District teachers of celebrating Charlie Kirk's death by wearing T-shirts that said "Problem solved" with fake blood smears on them.

It was an absurd and damaging accusation, in part because the teachers, at Cienega High School, had worn the (admittedly inappropriate) T-shirts the year before, long before Kirk's assassination. But Andrew Kolvet, who was a close friend of Kirk, did not back down when that evidence was brought to his attention last year, saying "I do not believe for a second that all of them are innocent."

This month, though, Kolvet has discovered the presumption of innocence — on behalf of the recently resigned director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent. In a controversy related to leaked texts, Kolvet acknowledged that Kent had the opportunity to leak conversations about the murder of Kirk, but stopped short of accusing Kent.

"I'm not going to recklessly tarnish somebody's reputation if I don't have irrefutable proof," Kolvet wrote on X.

But that's exactly what he did to the less powerful and politically connected teachers at Cienega last year. He recklessly tarnished their reputations and subjected them to threats and abuse without any evidence at all, let alone proof.