Arizona Politician Who Resigned After Sex Crime Allegations Hopes Everyone Forgot Because He's Running Again

I don’t know what’s shorter, the memory term of a male politician who’s done something terrible, or what they hope ours is in recollecting the fact that they’ve done something terrible.

In the case of former Rep. David Stringer I’m just going to go ahead and say both, because as of last week Stringer has announced he’s once again running for public office, this time for Yavapai County attorney, a position currently held by fellow Republican Shelia Polk.

Stringer, initially elected in 2016, was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives before resigning in 2018 amid an ethics investigation over charges of sex crimes, including child pornography, from 1983. He was never convicted. Additionally, Stringer was discovered to have made racist remarks, specifically saying that “African-Americans and other racial groups don’t … blend in” to a group of university students that same year.

Before his resignation, Stringer faced expulsion because he refused to respond to a subpoena from the House Ethics Committee regarding the investigation. I don’t know about you, but there’s something that makes me less than enthusiastic about the prospect of electing a county attorney who refuses to comply with investigations (not to mention the racism and charges of sex-crimes).

In his candidacy announcement Stringer said that Yavapai County needs “a fresh approach to criminal justice” which is probably true. However, it’s also probably more than true that Stringer doesn’t represent what most would consider to be a fresh approach.