It's hard not to like Paul Penzone. The sensible Democrat would likely have coasted to a third term as Maricopa County sheriff in November had he opted to run. Instead, worn down by court oversight and six years of cleaning up the mess left for him by former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Penzone resigned in January just a year shy of finishing his second term. It's refreshing to see an elected official give up power without the threat of indictment. Penzone's tenure wasn't perfect, but he dismantled Arpaio's Tent City, worked to repair the agency's reputation among the communities it persecuted and racially profiled for decades, and tried to combat a staffing shortage while also facing the increasing use of fentanyl and other drugs in the jails he oversaw. Along the way, he sometimes got sideways with the federal judge overseeing the racial profiling court case left behind by Arpaio. That's what ultimately led the mild-mannered sheriff to call a press conference and quit with this zinger: "I'll be damned if I'll do three terms under federal court oversight for a debt I never incurred and not be given the chance to serve this community in the manner that I could if you take the other hand from being tied around my back."