In the continuing saga of the fraudit in Maricopa County Arizona, the county Board of Supervisors has put its foot down and has refused to provide additional election material in response to new subpoenas filed by the Arizona Senate.
The subpoenas, issued July 26 by Republican Senate leaders, demanded that representatives for the county Board of Supervisors and Dominion appear and produce a laundry list of materials by 1 p.m. Monday at the state Capitol. This is after the recount by the Cyber Ninjas was officially concluded and the ballots returned to the county election board.
The supervisors letter shown below clearly states that they will not comply with the request as they have provided ample material and time to conduct the audit and the latest demands are simply a fishing expedition to produce a fraudulent result.
Here is the actual strongly-worded, somewhat sarcastic, letter by Chairman Jack Sellers —
The full letter has a point by point response to the crazy demands by the Senate.
On the issue of delivering routers, the board made it very clear that that is a request simply out of bounds and provided the reasons why.
Keep in mind that most of the supervisors on this board are Republicans.
This report yesterday describes the ugly spectacle in Maricopa County and the finger-pointing and infighting among republicans.
From apnews.com/... -
- In the last week alone, the only audit leader with substantial election experience was locked out of the building, went on the radio to say he was quitting, then reversed course hours later.
- The review's Twitter accounts were suspended for breaking the rules.
- Another Republican, Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, one of the Legislature's strongest advocates for stricter voting laws, agreed that “the Trump audit” was “botched.”
- Along with all 14 Democrats, a majority of the Senate, which commissioned the audit, is now against it. (The GOP holds only a one-vote majority in the state Senate)
- On Wednesday night, Doug Logan, owner of Cyber Ninjas, ended months of silence about who was paying him when he said a whopping $5.7 million had been contributed by political groups run by prominent Trump supporters including Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, Patrick Byrne and correspondents from One America News Network. The figure dwarfs the $150,000 to be paid by the Senate.
Is this a laughable moment? Maybe, but it is more scary than amusing. This reveals a lot more about the insidious games being played by conservative billionaires and right-wing think-tanks in subverting our democracy. The following article by Jane Mayer is a harrowing read -
Although the Arizona audit may appear to be the product of local extremists, it has been fed by sophisticated, well-funded national organizations whose boards of directors include some of the country’s wealthiest and highest-profile conservatives. Dark-money organizations, sustained by undisclosed donors, have relentlessly promoted the myth that American elections are rife with fraud, and, according to leaked records of their internal deliberations, they have drafted, supported, and in some cases taken credit for state laws that make it harder to vote.
What should Biden and the DOJ do to stop this hemorrhaging of our Democracy by this crass and unprincipled GOP? Aren’t there federal laws against this sort of mischief at the state and local level?
Apparently, the DOJ is taking some steps —
From cronkitenews.azpbs.org/… —
While the department’s guidance cited states’ rights to conduct elections, it also laid out controlling federal law, and Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a prepared statement that “where violations of such laws occur, the Justice Department will not hesitate to act.”
A department official said the guidance – which put “audits” in quotes, as many critics of the state’s review have done – released Wednesday was aimed at keeping other states from repeating the concerns that have been raised to Arizona.
Will this be the end of this never-ending expedition by Republicans to overturn the will of the people? Somehow we doubt it. The purpose of this spectacle may be simply to keep the issue alive, make noise, raise money, ram through more devilish election laws and to wrest power away from Democratic leaning counties. It’s more about 2022 and 2024 than 2020.
