Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican official, has faced criticism for allegedly using public resources to collect media content and evidence related to his defamation lawsuit against Kari Lake.
Some have accused him of trying to influence Lake’s election and hinder her political aspirations.
Richer, who oversaw early voting in Lake’s contested 2022 gubernatorial race, is also linked to the Pro-Democracy Republicans PAC, a dark money group targeting candidates with MAGA ideologies.
Additionally, there are allegations of collusion with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to censor certain election-related information in Maricopa County.
Kari Lake has recently entered a no contest plea in a defamation case brought through lawfare tactics by a nonprofit with ties to Soros. This decision allows her to concentrate on her campaign against Ruben Gallego, a Democrat supported by Soros funding.
Stephen Richer has once again stirred controversy with his latest actions, which are consistent with his past behavior.
Previously, Richer faced criticism for potentially breaking the law and misusing his position for personal political gain by obstructing a ballot measure aimed at safeguarding election integrity.
A complaint was lodged against Richer by former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, alleging that he unlawfully utilized public resources to campaign against Proposition 309, a 2022 initiative known as the Arizonans for Voter ID Act.
This proposition sought to establish universal voter ID requirements to ensure the legitimacy of all ballots, including those submitted via mail.
Despite the proposal’s aim to enhance election security, Richer actively opposed it and distributed a document opposing the measure on the County website, seemingly violating laws that prohibit the use of public funds for partisan campaigning.
During the last election cycle, the ballot initiative fell short of passing by less than one percent, with 60% of voting machines failing on election day, disproportionately affecting Republican in-person voters.
In early 2019, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs faced criticism for potentially breaking the law by utilizing government resources to boost her political standing and sway elections shortly after assuming office as Secretary of State.
Public records revealed that an employee at the Secretary of State’s office had used government resources to obtain a blue ‘verified’ checkmark for Katie Hobbs’ personal and campaign Twitter accounts.
An Arizona legal expert stated, “At the time, this privilege was only available under very specific circumstances and, based on Twitter’s response, was not readily available to her, which could be a violation of ARS 38-504(C),” said the attorney.
This was the same Twitter account that Hobbs used in 2017 to label Trump supporters “neo-Nazis” and for her political campaign in the last election.
AZ Free News reports,
Public records revealed that Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer tasked staff with compiling articles and online content pertaining to his personal defamation lawsuit against Kari Lake — Senate candidate and 2022 gubernatorial candidate — as well as topics of personal political interest.
Richer also tasked staff with printing his favorite articles and pieces of online content from these lengthy daily news compilations and organizing them in a binder. Richer admitted in one email obtained by public records that this daily content gathering assignment took a “significant amount of time” for staff to put together.
Richer filed his defamation lawsuit last June against Lake over her claims of him improperly administering the 2022 election. Lake has unsuccessfully petitioned to dismiss his lawsuit; her petition was denied earlier this month.
Records reveal that Richer has regularly tasked staff with tracking a wide variety of media reports and other online content on topics of personal political interest to Richer, unrelated to the statutory duties of the recorder’s office. This included coverage of other elected officials in Arizona and across the nation; the political landscape for the 2024 election; the indictments against former President Donald Trump; developments in social media; and updates on various public policies.
Some news and online content gathered by staff touched on legal challenges to free speech.
According to AZ Free News, Richer’s office responded to a request for comment with a statement that said, “Providing leadership with news clips relating to the office and regarding current events is a standard practice. It has been a practice of this office for the past three years and it was originally implemented by staff from former Senator McSally’s office, where it was a standard practice, who joined the Recorder’s Office in January 2021… Recorder Richer values news and being aware of developments within our state and relating to our statutory responsibilities.”
Yet, they remained silent when asked for further details about the content collected and utilized in Richer’s defamation lawsuit, as well as the rationale behind assigning staff to gather information on Richer’s personal legal case and political subjects unrelated to the Recorder’s office.
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4 Comments
Maricopa County, like Fulton County, Georgia, appears to be a complete cesspool of corruption.
You are correct, but I wasn’t going to be so polite in my wording, lol.
Article doesn’t touch on the fact that they willingly and knowingly destroyed voting records before the FEDERAL LAW allows in federal elections, or that the lawyer for the election board admitted, in one of Lakes lawsuits, to doing exactly what she accused them of, and the judge still found in THEIR favor.
Soros is out to destroy America.
Very easy to see who the real criminals are.
Arizona is a hotbed of political collusion.