Pima County Elections Department reviewing complaint against Sheriff Chris Nanos

A complaint has been filed with the county elections office alleging that Sheriff Chris Nanos violated a state law by using department photographs in his campaign materials.

The complaint, which was emailed anonymously this week to Pima County Elections Department Director Brad Nelson, says Nanos used photographs that are owned by the Sheriff’s Department in a video posted on his campaign Facebook page Oct. 27.

The author of the email cites a state law, ARS 11-410, that prohibits the use of county resources to influence elections. The statute provides a long list of what is considered a resource, including materials, personnel and “any other thing of value.”

The complaint also included screenshots of Pima County’s website and the Sheriff Department’s site, with corresponding still photos from Nanos’ campaign video.

Nelson said he received the complaint Wednesday morning and is reviewing it. If he finds reasonable cause of a violation, he’ll turn it over to the Pima County Attorney’s Office, which would likely recuse itself due to the conflict of interest in investigating another county agency.

In a subsequent search of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page, the Star identified multiple photos that appeared on Nanos’ campaign website, and in a second campaign video, posted to Nanos’ Facebook page on Oct. 20.

In addition, all seven of the images used in the cover photo for Nanos’ campaign page were located in posts on the Sheriff’s Department page, dating back more than a year. Photos are typically taken by the department’s forensics technicians.

Nanos, who was appointed sheriff last July by the board of supervisors, is seeking his first full term in the position.

“Any and all photos on my campaign website and Facebook come from either my own personal photos taken at events, from citizens who support me, or department social media which are considered a public domain,” Nanos wrote in an email to the Star.

County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said that he didn’t see a problem with Nanos’ use of the photos.

Mark Napier, a Republican who is challenging Nanos, said, “It’s disturbing that rules seem to be continually not followed by the appointed sheriff.”

Napier said he was aware that some of the images appeared to be stock photos taken by the Sheriff’s Department, and assumed it was just a matter of time before someone would file a complaint.

A subsection of the law states that someone found in violation could face a civil penalty of up to $5,000, plus “any amount of misused funds subtracted from the county budget.”