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Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley has filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for Congress in Arizona’s newly created 9th District.
The County Supervisor has served as one of five members of the Board of Supervisors since 1996, and is currently suing the county for $15 million due to his past legal battles with Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas.
In late 2008, Stapley was rocked by 118 felony and misdemeanor counts related to alleged omissions on his financial disclosure forms. The attempted prosecution caused a major rift between the lawmen and county leaders, resulting in numerous lawsuits and accusations by Arpaio that the entire Board, plus judges, lawyers and county employees, were corrupt.
The legal attack on Stapley and the others fell to pieces because of
lack of evidence and apparent ethical breaches by Arpaio, Thomas and
those working for him.
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Stapley had also been accused of defrauding donors to his campaign for a leadership role in the National Association of Counties, in which he ultimately served as president. Charges against Stapley were tossed aside by Gila County Attorney Daisy Flores, who said Stapley’s 2009 arrest in the NACo investigation showed that Arpaio’s office was carrying out a political vendetta.
With his filing, Stapley — a Republican — joins a long list of hopeful
contenders for the new congressional seat, including Democrats Andrei
Cherny and Kyrsten Sinema.
