Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors, the county treasurer and the county recorder have called on Paul Petersen to resign from his elected position.
Petersen leads the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office, which calculates property tax bills based on the values of homes and land.
Petersen faces criminal charges in three states in connection with an alleged adoption fraud scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands. The criminal cases against Petersen stem from his work as a private adoption lawyer in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas.
In a prepared statement, each member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors called on Petersen to step down from the job of Assessor. The statement said Petersen’s prompt resignation will keep his legal problems from being a distraction from county business.
Maricopa County Treasurer Royce Flora and Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes also released a prepared statement calling on Petersen to resign.
Petersen is a Republican. The Maricopa County GOP and the Arizona Republican Party did not respond to questions about whether Petersen should resign.
