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Former county supervisor candidate found dead
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Joel Sinclaire
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Joel Sinclaire, a former candidate for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, was found dead Sunday afternoon at his Scottsdale home.
It's unknown how the 46-year-old small-business attorney died, but authorities found no evidence of foul play, said officer David Pubins, a spokesman for the Scottsdale Police Department.
Hours before he died, he told Alicia Baker, the former treasurer of his political campaign, that he "wasn't feeling good."
Baker, who spoke with Sinclaire by phone about 10 a.m., said he didn't go into details about his condition during the conversation.
Sinclaire's mother discovered her son's body about 1:15 p.m., police said. The case will be turned over to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office for further investigation.
Friends and colleagues of Sinclaire on Monday described him as a man passionate about serving the public and frustrated with the leadership of the county board.
"Joel wanted to run because he didn't like seeing the secrecy of the board," said Charles Sanders, the chairman of Sinclaire's political campaign. "He wanted to open it up to the public."
Sinclaire frequently criticized the board and his opponent, Don Stapley, R-Dist. 2, for conducting too much business behind closed doors and out of sight from the public.
In an opinion piece published in the Tribune, Sinclaire called for the board to rein in the actions of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and demand that he shorten response times in some of the more remote regions of the county.
But in the end, Sinclaire was soundly defeated by Stapley.
Most recently, Sinclaire was planning to open a legal firm. He had sold a firm in 2001 before moving to the Valley from Maryland, according to his campaign Web site. In May, he was admitted into the State Bar of Arizona.
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