PHOENIX — Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner was appointed to the position four weeks ago.
Now that the 34-year MCSO veteran has been elevated to the top job, he wants to stay there.
In his first news conference last week, Skinner told reporters he's campaigning for a full four-year term.
"I got a lot of support from internal staff members," said Skinner, who followed in the footsteps of his father, an MCSO sheriff's deputy. He said it meant a lot to him to be the rare homegrown sheriff who rose through the ranks.
"I reflected back on it and thought, 'If I don't do it, I'm going to regret it,'" Skinner said.
But the sheriff's race might be an election like no other: Three candidates who until very recently were lifelong Republicans are competing for votes in the Democratic primary.
That's one of the top takeaways from Skinner's first news conference Tuesday and an interview afterward with 12News.
Former Republicans running as Democrats
In the Democratic primary for county sheriff, all three current candidates were registered Republicans as of Oct. 2, 2023 — the day Sheriff Paul Penzone announced he wouldn't serve the final year of his second four-year term.
State law required the Maricopa County Board to appoint a sheriff who was from the same party as Penzone: Democratic.
According to records provided by the Maricopa County Recorder's Office:
- Skinner re-registered as a Democrat the day after Penzone said he would quit. Skinner won the appointment, which ends the day after a winner is declared in the November election.
- Jeffrey Kirkham, a former police chief in Apache Junction and Nogales, was a finalist for the sheriff appointment. He changed his registration to Democrat in January.
- Tyler Kamp, a former Phoenix police lieutenant, changed his registration to Democrat in December 2023. Kamp is the only candidate being promoted by the Maricopa County Democratic Party.
The lack of longtime Democrats running for the office highlights the paucity of registered Democrats in law enforcement leadership and the overall thin Democratic bench of candidates.
Each of the newly minted Democrats will have to turn in petitions with the signatures of at least 3,905 registered Democrats by April 1.
Party switching isn't unheard of. The last Democratic sheriff did it, too.
In 2011, before his first race in 2012 against Republican Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Penzone changed his party registration to Democratic from independent.
"I'm not tied to my political affiliation," Skinner said. "I'm a law enforcement professional. That's not going to change how I do my job... I'm not a political person. If somebody has the foundation or validity of criticizing me for that, then you know, I'll be happy to answer those questions."
Skinner said he didn't remember whether or not he voted for then-President Donald Trump in 2020.
"I don't recall. It's possible," he said. "I'm not going to go out there and say which candidate is better, but I'm not going to say which one's worse, either."
"The polarization is really getting to the point where it's affecting the public, the community," Skinner said. "We need to make sure that we have people willing to stand up and do the right thing... I hope to be one of them."
Differences with Penzone over court order
Skinner was former Sheriff Paul Penzone's second-in-command, but he doesn't share Penzone's frustration over dealing with a federal court order that's been in place since 2013.
A court monitor was imposed on MCSO after a federal judge's finding that under Arpaio, the Sheriff's Office violated the civil rights of Latino citizens.
Penzone delivered a blistering broadside when he left office.
"I'll be damned if I'll do three terms under federal court oversight for a debt I never incurred and not be given the chance to serve this community in the manner that I could," he told reporters last October.
The order requires MCSO to make hundreds of reforms at a cost of $250 million and climbing.
"Sheriff Penzone may have had a lot of frustration," Skinner said. "And may have expressed his opinion, and that he has a right to do, obviously."
Skinner was MCSO's first compliance officer after the court order was handed down in 2013.
"In leadership, I don't think you have the opportunity to chafe at this... You need to do this," Skinner said. "This is required of your agency, there was a lawsuit involving this agency, the federal judge placed a couple of court orders now on this agency. Whether I chafe or not, if there's an order, I have to comply with it, just as we expect the public to comply if they're issued a court order from a judge... You need to make sure that this is being followed."
Skinner also differs with Penzone over whether the soaring cost of court monitoring gets in the way of funding MCSO operations.
"I don't know that I can say that it gets in the way," Skinner said. "It's just something that you have to be cognizant of. And you have to strike the balance with that."
Skinner's time under Arpaio
Skinner worked under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio for all of Arpaio's 24 years in office. What was his opinion of Arpaio's actions in office, such as the immigration sweeps and traffic stops that led to the court order?
"Are there things that he did that I did or didn't agree with? Or the things that he did with this agency? Potentially, yes," Skinner said. "But at the end of the day, I'm an employee with this office, he's a leader with this office. I did my job despite that. Was there criticism that I was aware of? Obviously, we saw that in the media. I wasn't necessarily at the root as a lieutenant with the agency, working at the time in remote areas of Maricopa County."
"Did I know specifically that there was validity to this or not? I can't say that I was aware in that respect. But I do know there was criticism of the office and some of his leadership... So I had to make sure that I'm doing my job correctly, ethically and morally, and uphold this agency in my area of responsibility."
What are his top priorities?
The primary function of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is to serve as jailer for the fourth-largest county in the country. MCSO houses an average of 7,000 inmates a day. MCSO deputies also patrol unincorporated areas of the county, as well as the county's lakes and parks.
Skinner checked off several priorities at his news conference before our interview.
What's the one thing he can get done in the next year that will make a difference to county residents or his 3,000 employees?
"We can't just focus on one because these are all exigent situations," he said. "The biggest thing I need to focus on this year is the staff recruitment, retention, looking at those areas. But we have a potentially contentious election cycle coming forward. I want to make sure we provide the necessary safety and security, so we can get through 2024 and not wind up on the map as another controversial type situation."
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