Former state Rep. David Stringer, who resigned amid probe, to run for county office

Former state Rep. David Stringer, R-Prescott, is running for Yavapai County attorney, just nine months after he resigned from the Arizona Legislature amid ethics investigations into charges he paid children for sex in the 1980s and racist remarks he has made in recent years.

Stringer announced his candidacy in a Facebook post on Friday night, railing against County Attorney Sheila Polk, a fellow Republican he accused of filling the local jail with too many low level, non-violent offenders and driving up costs to taxpayers.

The former lawmaker touted his work on criminal justice reform and under ordinary circumstances, that might make him an appealing candidate to Republicans interested in a "right on crime" approach to the issue.

"For years prosecutors ran for office promising to lock everyone up — they bragged about how many people they were putting in jail," Stringer wrote. "Today, we understand that spending tens of millions of dollars to pursue, prosecute, and jail low-level, non-violent offenders exhausts the resources we need to properly go after the real bad guys."

But Stringer has earned the ire of many within his own party. He resigned last year facing expulsion for his refusal to turn over records to ethics investigators regarding sex crimes charges filed against him in Maryland during the 1980s.

A police report released by the Arizona House of Representatives said police in Baltimore arrested Stringer in 1983 on suspicion of paying two children under the age 15 for sex, including oral and penetrative sex. One of the boys had a developmental disability, according to the report.

Phoenix New Times initially unearthed the charges, which were reportedly expunged.

Although Stringer said he was never convicted of a crime, court records obtained by the newspaper show a Maryland court entered a judgment of guilt on some combination of charges.

Even before those charges emerged, Stringer faced scrutiny for comments he made to university students in 2018 suggesting "African Americans and other racial groups don’t … blend in." The recording surfaced just months after Stringer was widely criticized for describing immigration as an "existential threat" to the county and contending there are not "enough white kids to go around" in the state's public schools.

Polk, the Yavapai County attorney first elected in 2000, told The Associated Press that Stringer was a "terribly flawed candidate" and that she was running for reelection on a "strong record of accomplishments and meaningful criminal justice reform."

Elsewhere, Stringer's announcement was greeted by some former colleagues with exasperation and the sort of sighs that seemed to say "you can't make it up."

"I would hope and I think and I believe the voters of Yavapai County are going to make the right decision and not select David," said Rep. T.J. Shope, a Republican from Coolidge who chairs the House Ethics Committee.

Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, wrote on Twitter after Stringer's announcement that she has never represented Yavapai County and hopes he never does.

The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 4.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Andrew Oxford at andrew.oxford@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter at @andrewboxford.