State Rep. Quang Nguyen filed a bar complaint against ex-lawmaker and lawyer David Stringer, claiming racist cartoons published on a news website he owns violate ethics rules for attorneys.
Last week, the Arizona Mirror reported that Prescott eNews published several AI-generated cartoons targeting Nguyen — a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Vietnam — using racist, anti-immigrant tropes. That included a cartoon that appeared to show a character based on Nguyen being accused by police of eating dogs, and another claiming Nguyen doesn’t understand English.
The cartoons are still published on the Prescott eNews website.
In a complaint filed with the State Bar of Arizona, Nguyen alleged the cartoons violate rules of professional conduct for attorneys.
Specifically, he points to a rule that states it is considered misconduct for a lawyer to “engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
“By knowingly publishing offensive drawings that intentionally distort and mislead the public of an election official’s constitutional qualifications, Mr. Stringer engaged in conduct that is inherently dishonest, deceitful, and misrepresentative of my qualifications to hold office,” wrote Nguyen, a Prescott Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
Stringer did not respond to a request for comment.
Stringer resigned from the Arizona Legislature in 2019 following reporting by the Phoenix New Times that he faced sex crimes allegations in 1983 and took a plea deal related to charges he committed sexual offenses with children.
He also has a history of making racially-charged comments, including a claim that immigration is an “existential threat” to the U.S., which led to calls for his resignation.
The State Bar of Arizona disciplined Stringer in 2022 for campaign mailers he sent out while seeking to unseat former Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk in the 2020 GOP primary.
According to the State Bar, Stringer’s mailers misrepresented court rulings involving Polk “to make it appear [the judge] had opined Ms. Polk conducted herself dishonestly as County Attorney. Additionally, Mr. Stringer’s materials mischaracterized an Arizona Supreme Court ruling to suggest that the Court determined Ms. Polk was dishonest, when the Court’s ruling did not do so.”
Stringer was officially reprimanded and ordered to pay $1,200 to cover the Bar’s expenses.
Because of that history, Nguyen in his letter asked the State Bar to impose an “aggravated sanction,” which could include probation, suspension or disbarment.
“Mr. Stringer’s repeated misconduct, most recently his publication of racist and offensive drawings that misrepresent the truth, demonstrates his intentional disregard for the ethical duties of the profession and the public,” Nguyen wrote.
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