Maricopa County Board of Supervisors seeks candidates to replace Steve Chucri
Oct 12, 2021, 10:45 AM | Updated: 1:36 pm
(chucriaz.com Photo)
PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is seeking applicants to fill its District 2 seat after Steve Chucri’s resignation goes into effect next month.
Chucri announced his intention to step down on Sept. 21, and the Board of Supervisors accepted his resignation Tuesday.
One of four Republicans on the five-member panel that governs Arizona’s largest county, Chucri will vacate his seat Nov. 5. Outside of his elected office, Chucri is president and CEO of the Arizona Restaurant Association.
His board replacement has to be a Republican who is registered to vote in District 2, which covers the eastern segment of the county and includes part or all of the following jurisdictions: Apache Junction, Carefree, Cave Creek, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Fountain Hills, Gilbert, Mesa, Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Scottsdale and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
NEW: The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is seeking applicants for appointment to the District 2 Supervisor seat. Read more about the application and appointment process here: https://t.co/XxbquXO64I pic.twitter.com/4dsL8RSf5W
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) October 12, 2021
The county will accept applications to fill the seat from Oct. 18 to Nov. 8.
Candidates can send their letters of interest and resumes to Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, 301 W. Jefferson St., 7th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85003, or email them to clerkboard@maricopa.gov.
The appointment will last until the winner of the November 2022 election is sworn in.
In his resignation letter, which was submitted Monday, Chucri cited a political landscape “wrought with toxicity.”
“In this current environment, good people are not permitted to focus on the jobs they are elected to do,” wrote Chucri, who was first elected to the board in 2012.
His decision last month came after secretly recorded audio was released in which he expressed differences with other supervisors regarding the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate’s audit of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County.
The recordings were published on the conservative website Gateway Pundit, which said they were made during a meeting on March 22 with leaders from a group called We the People AZ Alliance as well as a Jan. 22 phone call.
“The comments I made were during a very turbulent time,” Chucri said in a statement when he announced his resignation. “My colleagues have every right to be both angry and disappointed with me. I should not have made such statements and offer my colleagues heartfelt apologies.”
All five board members have been highly critical of the Senate’s election review.
But at the March meeting, Chucri said Supervisors Jack Sellers and Bill Gates were scared by the idea of an election review because their own races were close.
“What would happen in those two races?” Chucri said. “And that is way too self-serving.”
He also said Supervisor Clint Hickman “just didn’t have the guts” for an election audit. Hickman, Sellers and Gates are all Republicans.
When he announce he’d be stepping down, Chucri made it clear that he agreed with his colleagues that the election was legitimate.
“The picture some individuals are trying to paint about a cover-up, scam and other nonsense about my colleagues and myself is simply false,” Chucri said in his statement.
“There was no cover-up, the election was not stolen. Biden won.”