by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 8, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Barring a turn of events with additional ballots being tabulated from the November General Election, Maricopa County Republicans appear to be holding onto their positions for the upcoming term of office.
After Tuesday’s November General Election, a number of Maricopa County Republicans are likely returning and / or ascending to positions of leadership.
As of this report on Thursday night, Eddie Cook received 54.36% of the vote for re-election to County Assessor.
Rachel Mitchell acquired 55.01% of the vote to return as County Attorney.
Justin Heap won 52.56% of the vote to assume the position of County Recorder. Heap is currently a state representative.
In a statement, Heap said, “I look forward to immediately beginning the work of transitioning into the office, and working with the legislature to develop a common sense legislative agenda that will make our elections more effective, efficient, and most importantly, honest, while allowing us to deliver faster election results in the 2026 and 2028 elections.”
Shelli Boggs obtained 51.85% of the vote for County School Superintendent.
Jerry Sheridan received 53.78% of the vote for County Sheriff.
Sheridan posted a statement to his X account, writing, “The real work now lies ahead as we work with the community, the Board of Supervisors, and the amazing employees at MCSO to rebuild the Sheriff’s Office to better protect the people we are entrusted to serve. To those voters out there that didn’t support my campaign, I want you to know that I will work hard to earn your trust and support. I will keep the promises I made during this campaign, especially treating every person with dignity and respect, and protecting the civil rights of all Maricopa County residents.”
John Allen was unopposed for his reelection bid for County Treasurer.
As of Thursday’s report of ballot tabulation, Republicans would control the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors with a 4-1 split. Two races – both with a Republican leading – are within three percent or less.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Oct 18, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
The Democrat candidate for a key Maricopa County contest is highlighting his out-of-state fundraising prowess.
Last week, Tim Stringham, the Democrat candidate for Maricopa County Recorder, posted a fundraising boast to his X account. Stringham said, “I am proud to share that, in the third quarter, we received contributions from over 3,900 individual contributors from 49 states, including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Thousands of people nationwide are standing with us to protect the elections right here in Maricopa County.”
Stringham added, “But with only 30 days until Election Day and three days until ballots drop, we’re in the final sprint. Join this national effort to protect elections here in Maricopa County by donating today.”
The post was met with criticism from many who pointed out that Stringham was not showcasing support from local voters and donors.
Republican State Representative Alexander Kolodin replied, “Tim Stringham wants to be MARICOPA County recorder yet is ‘proud’ that his campaign is fueled by out of state money?”
In a September poll from Noble Predictive Insights, Stringham led his Republican opponent, Justin Heap, by four percent (38-34%), with twenty-two percent undecided. Stringham enjoyed a fifteen percent lead over Heap with independents, with thirty-five percent of that voting share undecided.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 16, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Maricopa County political races are essentially in a dead heat with less than two months until Election Day.
Earlier this month, Noble Predictive Insights (NPI) released its survey on Maricopa County races, showing Republicans and Democrats locked in a tight battle for all races.
According to NPI, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s race was tied with Republican Jerry Sheridan and Democrat Tyler Kamp tied at thirty-five percent each, with twenty-four percent undecided. Kamp has a twelve percent lead with independents, with thirty-six percent of that voting share undecided.
Incumbent Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell leads Democrat Tamika Wooten by two percent (37-35%), with twenty-one percent undecided. Wooten has a ten percent lead with independents, with twenty-nine percent of that voting share undecided.
Democrat Gregory Freeman might be the frontrunner in the Maricopa County Assessor’s race, with a three-point advantage over incumbent Republican Eddie Cook (36-33%). There is twenty-six percent undecided in this race. Freeman holds a fifteen-point lead over Cook with independents, with forty percent undecided.
And in the Maricopa County Recorder’s contest, Democrat Tim Stringham leads Republican Justin Heap by four percent (38-34%), with twenty-two percent undecided. Stringham enjoys a fifteen percent lead over Heap with independents, with thirty-five percent of that voting share undecided.
“These races are incredibly close. In each one, the leading candidate is ahead by a low single-digit margin. With a high number of undecideds and more than two months between fielding this poll and Election Day – this poll just doesn’t point to a clear winner,” said Mike Noble, NPI President & CEO. “But historical data might tell us more.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Aug 13, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Merissa Hamilton, the Executive Director of Kari Lake’s organization Save Arizona Fund and Co-founder and CEO of Strong Communities Action, notched a victory against Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer in his ongoing defamation lawsuit against Lake.
The lawsuit overall is continuing to move forward with Richer stating through his complaint that he has faced “violent vitriol and other dire consequences,” due to what he calls lies spread by Lake, according to the Associated Press. In an op-ed he wrote for the Arizona Republic, Richer said, “Rather than accept political defeat, rather than get a new job, she has sought to undermine confidence in our elections and has mobilized millions of her followers against me.”
In the course of this case, Richer’s attorneys subpoenaed Hamilton, who is not a party to the lawsuit, and compelled her compliance to provide documents for the case. According to court documentation, “Hamilton informed Plaintiff’s counsel she had copied over 100,000 documents. As was her right under A.R.S. § 12-351, Hamilton insisted on payment of reasonable costs at the time of production.” Hamilton assessed her costs to be $32,345.50.
Per A.R.S. § 12-351, ‘All reasonable costs incurred in a civil action by a witness who is not a party to the action with respect to the production of documents pursuant to a subpoena for the production of documentary evidence shall be charged against the party requesting the subpoena if the witness submits an itemized statement to the requesting party stating the reproduction and clerical costs incurred by the witness.” It also allows a witness to “demand payment of the reasonable costs simultaneously with actual delivery of the subpoenaed documents.”
Rachel Alexander of the Arizona Sun Times reported via X, “MaRICOpa(sic) County Recorder Stephen Richer just got smacked down by a left wing judge; ordered to pay Merissa Hamilton $25,345.50! And it appears she was representing herself without an attorney and still won. This was regarding him trying to drag her into his defamation lawsuit against Kari Lake.”
Hamilton corrected her noting that the judge had been changed over the summer and that the presiding judge is now “the Honorable Randall Warner[.] He’s known as being a traditional Constitutionalist judge.”
Judge Warner ruled in Hamilton’s favor that Richer must pay Hamilton $25,345.50 upon picking up the documents even if he elects not to take them, ruling that “Hamilton is not entitled to $7,000 for clerical costs both because those costs are not itemized as required by A.R.S. § 12-351(A), and because 280 hours—the equivalent of seven people working full-time for a week—is an unreasonable amount of time to spend on producing documents.”
Richer’s legal team argued that “Hamilton’s costs are unreasonable because they result from her unilateral decision to produce paper documents. Plaintiff points out that the subpoena and Rule 45 direct documents to be produced in native form and as they are kept in the usual course of business.” However, Hamilton noted that the cover letter she received with the subpoena stated, “Plaintiff was seeking ‘copies of all documents requested,’ that she could comply with it by ‘mailing or delivering the requested documents,’ and that she would be reimbursed for ‘reasonable copying expenses.’” She also pointed out that the letter failed to mention electronic production as an option and that her decision to produce the documents on paper was reasonable.
Judge Warner did concede that “Hamilton misread Plaintiff’s instructions, which any lawyer familiar with the discovery rules would understand as a request for documents in native form. This means digital documents must be produced in their original digital form. Documents stored as PDF’s must be produced as PDF’s. Word documents must be produced as Word documents. Excel files must be produced as Excel files.” However, he added “But it is easy to see how a non-lawyer endeavoring to comply with Plaintiff’s subpoena could be confused.”
In law, many attorneys believe you should never ask a question you don’t know the answer to. It seems clear that Richer didn’t know Hamilton would answer on paper.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Staff Reporter | Jul 12, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A leftist billionaire has a vested interest in the reelection of Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
Campaign mailers paid for by Women for Justice disclosed that venture capitalist and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman was one of the three top donors in their effort to support Richer, in addition to Sac Holdings and Robert Granieri.
Women for Justice is a leftist nonprofit advocacy group formerly known as Women for Bernie Sanders 2016.
Hoffman rose up over the last decade as one of the most influential Democratic donors against former President Donald Trump. Since 2015, Hoffman has contributed nearly $64.7 million to left-wing causes per FEC records. This election cycle alone he has contributed over $28 million, though FEC records don’t reflect any direct Arizona contributions.
This wouldn’t be the first time Hoffman has backed a candidate with an “R” by their name. In 2022, Hoffman contributed $2,000 to former House Speaker Rusty Bowers’ reelection bid.
Prior to that, in 2021 Hoffman contributed $5,300 to then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign.
In an effort to beat Trump in a reelection, Hoffman founded FWD.us, and has served as a financial backer for the Hopewell Fund, an arm of the Arabella Advisors dark money network.
Hoffman spent $100 million of his own funds to defeat Trump and the GOP in 2020, and created the Investing in Us tech finance company to defeat Republicans.
In pursuit of his goal to eliminate Trump and allied GOP members, Hoffman’s Investing in Us organization, in an “experimental” initiative led by former Obama administration federal agents, orchestrated a fake news social media campaign in the 2018 Alabama special election to undermine GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore. Although Hoffman apologized when caught, he never published the disinformation policies to prevent similar incidents from occurring as promised.
In 2021, Hoffman teamed up with dark money megadonor George Soros to back a disinformation-tackling media firm led by Democrat strategist Tara McGowan, Good Information Inc., and the nonprofit she previously ran, ACRONYM.
ACRONYM spent $100 million to defeat Trump; financed Shadow, a company responsible for the delayed reporting of the Iowa caucus results; and launched Courier Newsroom, a network of seven news sites at the time positioned in swing states that prompted a Federal Elections Commission (FEC) complaint for allegedly disguising the true nature as a political committee. One of those news sites, The Copper Courier, exists in Arizona.
More recently, Hoffman funded the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit against Trump for publicly denying her 2019 book claim that he sexually assaulted her in either 1995 or 1996.
This month, Hoffman announced his intent to invest millions into Smartmatic, the voting technology company embattled by claims of rigged vote counting after the 2020 election, in their lawsuit against Fox News.
Richer admitted in a recent interview that, although he has been a Republican, he plans to vote for Joe Biden in November.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
