Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll is the talk of the town this week as Green Valley News editor Dan Shearer writes that the five-term Republican may be ready to call it quits. 

Carroll's career on the Board of Supervisors began when he was appointed to the District 4 seat way back in 1997. Carroll, who represents the Tanque Verde Valley, Green Valley and Mount Lemmon areas, has faced various challenges at the ballot box through the years, but has swatted them away with little trouble.

Carroll's politics are not easy to categorize. He's often opposed county tax increases—he's been named a "Hero of the Taxpayers" by the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers on multiple occasions—and he's never voted in favor of a county budget. He's been generally supportive of the business community, but he's also led the county's opposition to the proposed Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains. He campaigned in favor of last year's bond package, which was soundly rejected by voters.

Reached by phone today, Carroll told the Weekly that he has "heard the rumors" that he won't seek reelection but plans to announce his intentions on Friday afternoon.

Over the last four years, Carroll has frequently tangled with fellow Republican Supervisor Ally Miller, an often-unhinged county critic who has accused Carroll of corruption and betrayal of Republican values. Supporters of Miller regularly castigate Carroll, his fellow supervisors and Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry at the board meeting's call to the audience segment and on online blogs.

An ally of Miller, Marla Closen, has been assembling a campaign to challenge Carroll later this year. District 4 is a heavily Republican district where the GOP primary is likely to determine the future supervisor.

Here's a piece on Carroll's first run for office by the late and great Chris Limberis and a look at his last last reelection race by me.