Cochise County MAGA/QAnon Supervisors Have A Thursday Court Date (Update Thread)

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Update to Cochise County Board Of Supervisors To Be Sued For Failure To Certify The Vote (Updated).

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The Arizona Republic reports on the clown show that is Cochise County, Cochise supervisors, facing 2 lawsuits, plan to hire attorney even though no one got his OK:

Facing two lawsuits with urgent deadlines, the Cochise County supervisors voted Tuesday to hire an outside attorney, even though no one had received confirmation that the lawyer agreed to take the case.

The vote to hire Bryan Blehm of Valley Law Group came as the board faces a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline to respond to two lawsuits triggered by the board’s decision not to certify results of the Nov. 8 election. State law required the certification be done by Monday.

Blehm represented the board in litigation earlier this month when the board was sued for attempting to do a hand count of all ballots cast in the general election, even though the law does not allow that.

Blehm made a name for himself in election circles when Cyber Ninjas and CEO Doug Logan hired him as Logan led the review of Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 presidential race.

The unanimous decision to hire Blehm came even as efforts to contact him and ensure his interest did not bring any response. Supervisor Peggy Judd said she was confident he would agree, noting he has a copy of the lawsuits.

Cochise County Attorney Bryan McIntyre stepped away from the matter after two of the three board members rejected his legal advice. That left the board without legal representation.

It was unclear, if Blehm agreed to represent the supervisors, how he would be paid. Supervisors Judd and Tom Crosby have said they are looking at private funding, or perhaps free legal services. Judd in particular has said she doesn’t want to burden taxpayers with legal fees.

County administrator Richard Karwaczka said he’s received legal advice that the board can’t take donations for a specific purpose, such as paying attorneys, and referenced a law, passed last year, that bars the use of private funds for election purposes. [How ironic.]

The bottom line is if the county is billed for legal services, the board must approve payment, Karwaczka said. And if there isn’t private funding to cover the bill, the taxpayer-supported general fund must pay.

“There is no going around that,” Karwaczka said.

[B]oth cases have been assigned to Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey McGinley, who has handled litigation over the board’s attempts to require a hand count of ballots. Late Tuesday, McGinley consolidated the two cases, as they both address the same issue.

The cases are scheduled for a 1 p.m. hearing Thursday.

The Board of Superiors is not up for election until 2024, but I would argue that these two MAGA/QAnon Republicans have earned themselves a recall election next year with their audacious lawless behavior.

Two former prosecutors,Rick Romley and Terry Goddard, believe that they have earned themselves a criminal indictment. ‘This craziness has to stop’: Ex-prosecutors recommend charging Cochise County supervisors:

Former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley on Tuesday urged prosecutors to consider criminal charges against the Cochise County supervisors who refused to certify the county’s election Monday.

Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd have repeatedly questioned election procedures and also been warned that if they did not canvass their election Monday, the state deadline, they not only could disenfranchise voters in southeastern Arizona but also face criminal penalties.

The supervisors already are facing two civil cases, both seeking to force them to certify the election this week so the statewide canvass can include Cochise County votes Monday.

“Their votes against certification resulted in the three-member Board failing to perform its legal duty to certify the election,” said the letter from Goddard, a Democrat, and Romley, a Republican.

They added that they “take no pleasure in making this prosecution recommendation,” which was sent to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre.

“But we believe deeply that the rule of law dictates that public officials be held accountable when they refuse to comply with their legal obligations — all the more so where those officials’ actions threaten to undo the proper administration and integrity of elections, disenfranchise thousands of voters, and potentially even alter the results of some races,” they wrote.

Romley said the letter was emailed Tuesday.

Arizona law says that people charged with failing to perform their duty in elections in their official capacity, who “knowingly” act in violation of any such law, are guilty of a Class 6 felony. That is the lowest-level felony. While it can result in probation or even prison for up to nearly six years, it also can be reduced to a misdemeanor.

There are also misdemeanor penalties for public officials who simply don’t perform their duties and for people who violate the Election Procedures Manual, which the former prosecutors laid out in their letter.

“This craziness has to stop,” Romley said Tuesday. “They have to understand that, if they are serving the people, whether they like the results of the election or not, they have an obligation. And, quite frankly, I’m getting tired of it.”

As the Cochise County attorney and others have explained to the supervisors, the letter says the duty to canvass elections is not discretionary, and that state law doesn’t offer the officials any reason not to certify other than if they have not received all the returns, and that is not the case.

“It is time individuals understand there are potential consequences for this,” Romley said.

When Crosby and Judd voted Monday to postpone beyond the deadline, they said they wanted yet another meeting at which they could hear evidence about the county voting machines and whether they were properly certified.

But the New York Times reported that after the meeting, Judd told a reporter from that publication the concerns about the voting machines were just pretext for additional delays that would send a statement that they were unhappy with the way the election was administered in Maricopa County.

“It’s the only thing we have to stand on,” Judd was quoted, referring to the voting machine claim.

Judd, who was [an insurrectionist] in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, during the violent protest over President Biden’s election, has repeatedly tried to force the county to conduct a hand recount of the 2022 election.

Romley said Brnovich and McIntyre should investigate and charge the supervisors to prevent other counties from pulling similar moves. [Lookin’ at you Mohave and Yavapai counties.]

“To allow individuals to not follow the law in these types of things is literally opening a door for other individuals to think they can do it with impunity,” Romley said. “It undermines our elections. It undermines our process.”

Romley served as Maricopa County attorney from 1989 to 2004 and again as an interim county attorney in 2010. Goddard, a former Phoenix mayor, served as Arizona attorney general from 2003 through 2010.

UPDATE:

The Sierra Vista Herald reports, County attorney considering criminal charges against supervisors over failure to certify election:

The top Cochise County prosecutor said he may bring charges against members of the board of supervisors who have refused to certify the results of the general election.

Brian McIntyre told Capitol Media Services he already was looking at what crimes may have been committed before former state Attorney General Terry Goddard and former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley wrote to him urging him to act. McIntyre gave no indication how quickly he will make a decision.

Goddard and Romley sent an identical message to Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who also would have the power to bring charges against the supervisors.

“We received the letter and decline to comment at this time,” said spokeswoman Brittni Thomason.

This comes as a judge will hear arguments Thursday on whether he should order the board — or at least the two members who voted against meeting last Monday’s deadline to formally canvass the results — to comply. Failure of Republicans Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby to obey the court order could result in a contempt citation.

[T]here was no immediate response from Crosby or Judd to messages left with their offices and on their cell phones.

English, however, commented on the chaos that the actions of her colleagues has created.

“I feel like I am in the middle of a tornado that keeps staying in place and I cannot get out safely,” she told Capitol Media Services. “I have no control of the tornado, only my actions.”

English said it is “scary to think” what will be the result when all this is over. But she said that has to be the focus of the board.

“We will still have a county to govern and constituents needing our services,” English said. “I pray we will be up to the task.”

These two MAGA/QAnon Republican supervisors want to give a trio of conspiracy theorist election deniers an opportunity to put on a clown show on Friday, giving equal weight to their debunked conspiracy theories (already rejected by the courts), to the experts who actually run elections in Arizona. Judd, Crosby again delay election canvass:

Once again, the two Republican members of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors have refused to approve the canvass of the Nov. 8 general election.

[In] news reports last week Supervisor Peggy Judd said she was willing to accept the proof of certification from the Secretary of State’s office. However, she followed Supervisor Tom Crosby’s move to leave the canvass approval dangling during Monday’s special meeting.

Judd and Crosby said they want to further discuss the allegations of improper machine tabulation certification and decided to hold another meeting at 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 2, when the public will get another chance to convey support or opposition to approving the canvass.

Lorick stated in a letter last week to the supervisors, “These claims are derived from baseless conspiracies about Arizona’s equipment certification process. Cochise County’s election equipment was properly certified and remains in compliance with state and federal requirements.

“You voted to delay certification of the county’s 2022 General Election canvass and requested more information about false claims concerning the county’s election equipment. These claims are derived from baseless conspiracies about Arizona’s equipment certification process. These strict statutory deadlines make clear that the duty to canvass is not discretionary.”

She provided paperwork proving the labs and machines were properly certified by the state and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the agency that handles certification of election equipment and is the sole provider of U.S. certifications. EAC also is the sole agency that revokes certifications.

The Secretary of State’s office followed through on its threat of legal action Monday, filing a lawsuit against county supervisors Judd and Crosby.

However, Crosby blamed the postponement of the canvass vote on the secretary of state, who he said did not provide proof of certification.

Crosby also berated Supervisor Ann English and accused her of being a liberal protecting a county that was not.

“In my opinion this meeting is misagendized and the chair is sometimes unfair and desires to squash opposition,” he stated. “In the politically liberal viewpoint that may prevail at Melody Lane (where county offices are located in Bisbee) does not prevail in this county. Although Madam English is well aware of that, I suspect she took bad advice to do wrong again from the county attorney.”

The agenda action item read: “Accept the elections results certified and submitted by the Cochise County Elections Department as the official canvass for the General Election held on November 8, 2022.”

In order to discuss the item, it was necessary for the supervisors to agree to remove it from the table for discussion. However, Crosby’s motion and Judd’s agreement ended any further comments.

Crosby went on to say the agenda should have included time for discussion from those who first brought the objections to the board, who he said have experience on the subject of voting machines, as well as representatives from the Secretary of State’s Office.

He continued, “In that group’s opinion, the secretary has not been responsive in providing proof of lawful accreditation of voting machine laboratories. In my opinion, that lack of response seems to suggest the inability to provide the requested proof and has caused this delay.”

In his motion to table the canvass, he requested the agenda item include presentations from Daniel Wood, Brian Stein and Paul Rice of Maricopa County and others who have had election cases thrown out of court on baseless claims, as well as time for the Secretary of State’s office representatives.

Crosby is a conspiracy theorist moron.

The presenters would have equal time for discussion. [You don’t give equal time to conspiracy theorists to rebut actual experts.] After their presentations, Crosby said he wants to have a recess and then come back for the two sides to interact followed by summaries of conclusions by both sides.

Crosby said the supervisors would vote on the matter after the conclusion of the two sides.

Judd gave his motion a second and stated, “I like that idea.” It was the only comment she made during the meeting.

Another conspiracy theorist moron, who was in Washington D.C. for the MAGA/QAnon insurrection on January 6, 2021, by the way.

English, who has been in favor of approving the canvass, said, “There is no reason to delay. We have heard from everybody more than once how they feel about the certification of the machines. We’ve heard from the Secretary of State who is in charge of elections. Materials were presented as was asked for at the last meeting.

“I feel you both have the information necessary in order to make this decision that is non-discretionary on our part to certify the election for Cochise County no matter how you feel about what happened in Maricopa or Pima or Mohave or Apache counties. We’re here to talk about Cochise County and our election. We could act today in a responsible manner.”

Crosby interrupted her and said he was ready to vote. “I want it to remain on the table until Friday.”

By Friday, the Secretary of State’s Office could well have a far different agenda, Sophia Solis, the office deputy communications director, told the Herald/Review. The secretary would stand by the law and proceed as necessary to prevent county voters from being disenfranchised.

The outcome of two races are in the middle. If it is decided the Cochise County votes will not be included in the state tally, it would eliminate the 27,767 votes Republican Tom Horne got from Cochise County in the race for state schools chief.

Democrat incumbent Kathy Hoffman also would see her total reduced by 18,457. But, without the Cochise vote, that would put her ahead of Horne by 280 votes.

It’s not just Horne who would see his victory turned into defeat. Republican Juan Ciscomani won the race for CD 6 over Democrat Kristen Engle by 5,232 votes. But backing out the more than 2-1 margin for Ciscomani in Cochise County would give the race to Engel by more than 8,000 votes.

Not Counting Cochise County votes also affects state legislative districts 19 and 21, and the ballot measures.

Just to be clear, these two Republican yahoos are the only ones disenfranchising voters. Everything else is just a sideshow.

These two Republican yahoos suffer from delusions of grandeur in their alternate reality:

In an interview with the Herald/Review after the meeting, Judd compared herself and Crosby to Atlas, who holds the world on his shoulders. She said the state Legislature does not heed the needs of rural counties.

“They don’t pay any attention to us,” she said. “Us podunk counties don’t matter. We want to do what the people want.”

She noted if the hand count she and Crosby asked for had been done, there would not be a problem and the canvass would have been approved. [The hand count is a violation of state law. So she is really saying, “If you let us violate the law like we wanted, there would not be a problem.”]

Judd also said she thought there would be a discussion on the documents from Lorick, but there was none.

The lingering question about the certification process to her was whether or not the right person signed the certificates, she said. Last week, [the conspiracy theorists] Wood, Stein and Rice suggested the wrong person signed the certificates. She wants an explanation and will not approve the canvass until she has an answer.

To some Cochise County voters, who did not want their names made public fearing unwanted harassment, the question of another violation by Judd and Crosby of the Open Meeting Law was again voiced.

They are suspected of violating the law after approving and then dropping a lawsuit by attorney Bryan Blehm against Cochise County Elections Director Lisa Marra that was made without any public notice or approval by the board.

Last week, former Bisbee Mayor David Smith filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Open Meeting Law Enforcement Team, asking it to investigate the actions of Judd and Crosby.

Cochise County Democratic Party Chairwoman Elisabeth Tyndall stated online, “To be clear, no vote in Cochise County should be dismissed or disenfranchised. Cochise County citizens should not have their tax dollars spent on lawsuits resulting from misdeeds of the few. The reality of these things happening sits squarely on Judd, Crosby and the Republicans that have encouraged and abetted them. There have been many chances to stand up for democracy in the past few years. The failure of many elected officials and others to do so is what lands us here today.”





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1 thought on “Cochise County MAGA/QAnon Supervisors Have A Thursday Court Date (Update Thread)”

  1. Since these two rogue Republican county supervisors did not retain a lawyer and presumably did not file an answer to the complaint, they will have to personally appear in court on Thursday to defend the two lawsuits filed against them. The judge is not going to let them turn his courtroom into a circus. Wish I could be there for this.

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