TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously requested the Arizona Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney for Arizona conduct an investigation into Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

The board believes Nanos may have violated his oath of office by placing his political rival, Republican Geather Lappin, a 17-year veteran of the department, on administrative leave during the campaign.

Nanos said that he carried out electioneering by supporting a police officer who was campaigning against him by wearing a sheriff’s uniform, which violated department policy and the Hatch Act.

Thereupon, the board met on Tuesday with a motion of no confidence as part of the agenda.

Dr. put the article of condemnation on the agenda. “I was hoping he would publicly apologize for betraying his oath of office for what he did to his political rival,” Matt Heinz said.

Lappin challenges Nanos for the top position in the Sheriff’s Department. More than a week after Election Day, the race is too close to call. As of Tuesday night, Nanos was ahead by about 1,600 votes with nearly 40,000 ballots left to be counted in the county.

Nanos placed Lappin on paid administrative leave while the internal investigation continued, but Heinz claimed this was nothing more than dirty politics.

“I believe there were bogus and unproven accusations against his political opponent, and all of this while he was sheriff and he was able to fire this person because he was working for him,” he said.

Nanos also placed another officer, Sergeant Aaron Cross, on administrative leave for campaigning for Lappin while in uniform; This was upheld by the court as a violation of the Hatch Act.

However, this situation was not mentioned in the board meeting. Lappin was what the board chose to focus on today.

“Even after the sheriff was quoted in the media as saying, ‘Yeah, I know it looks bad, he knows it looks bad,’” Precinct 4 Supervisor Steve Christy said. “But he still went ahead and enforced.”

But legal counsel told the board he could not reprimand or punish Nanos.

The district attorney’s office said any condemnation now amounts to putting the cart before the horse.

“I believe the legally prudent approach would be to request an investigation, and based on the results of the investigation, perhaps the board can decide what action it wants to take,” said Sam Brown, the board’s attorney.

The action will not include a reprimand because Brown told the board he had no such authority.

But there may be other options that members can agree on, saying some form of punishment should be imposed depending on the outcome of the investigation.

“So whether this board is berating him, reprimanding him, spanking his ass, it doesn’t matter,” Christy said. “But it is important for the board to express our dissatisfaction and displeasure with this entire matter.”

It is unknown whether placing Lappin on administrative leave had any impact on the election results as of this writing.

Nanos released a statement following the board’s decision, saying in part:

“The board can request any investigation it wants. But that doesn’t change the fact that a federal judge already found Sgt. (Aaron) Cross in violation of the Hatch Act.”

“Lieutenant. “Lappin is under investigation for violating the department’s internal policies.”

“Being placed on paid executive leave caused them no harm or restriction.”

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