Maricopa County board to interview Petersen replacement candidates

PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has narrowed the field of applicants seeking to replace former assessor Paul Petersen.

The board planned to interview five of the 11 who put in for the job during executive session Monday and Tuesday, board spokesman Fields Moseley said in an email Tuesday.

The five supervisors will speak with Gilbert Vice Mayor Eddie Cook; attorney Thomas Galvin Jr.; attorney Rodney Glassman; former state Rep. Laurin Hendrix; and Arizona Department of Revenue manager Darren Rasmussen.

The board could choose one of them or add interviews with other candidates.

The board hasn’t set a date to vote on Petersen’s successor.

Whoever is selected will finish Petersen’s term, which ends Dec. 31.

Petersen resigned in January, three months after he was charged with human trafficking in an alleged multistate adoption scheme.

The board suspended Petersen at the end of October, three weeks after his arrest. The suspension followed months of meetings determining if the supervisors were able to legally discipline him.

Petersen filed an appeal but supervisors upheld the suspension.

Bill Wiley was named interim assessor Oct. 30.

Wiley was not among the group that filed for the job.

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