The Pima County Board of Supervisors has appointed Tucson attorney Nick Fontana to the state legislature. Fontana replaces Daniel Patterson, who resigned earlier this month after an ethics panel recommended he be ousted from the legislature. KJZZ’s Al Macias reports.

AL MACIAS: Before resigning, Patterson had changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Independent, meaning the Pima County Supervisors had to appoint an Independent to fill Patterson’s seat. State law requires the board to appoint someone from the same party as the person being replaced. They chose Tucson lawyer Nick Fontana, who also recently changed his party registration from Democrat to Independent. Patterson was accused of disorderly conduct based on several incidents with legislative staffers and other lawmakers. Patterson is the third legislator to resign from office this year. A fourth, former senate president Russell Pearce, was removed after losing a recall election.