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WASHINGTON, D.C. – America First Legal (AFL) has filed two bombshell legal motions on behalf of Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap exposing a breathtaking abuse of power by entrenched government officials determined to sabotage election integrity efforts. The motions, in Maricopa County Superior Court, reveal how the County Board of Supervisors and County Attorney Rachel Mitchell have weaponized county government against duly-elected Recorder Justin Heap simply because he dared to fulfill his statutory duties and protect the sanctity of Arizona elections. The legal filings expose shocking details of coordinated retaliation against Recorder Heap that seem to confirm everyone’s worst suspicions about Maricopa County’s elections.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has launched what appears to be a deliberate sabotage campaign against the Recorder’s office. Just before Recorder Heap came into office, the Board seized control from the Recorder’s Office of servers, databases, and websites essential for conducting elections — effectively holding the county’s election infrastructure hostage. The Board also removed nearly all election-related IT staff from the Recorder’s office, leaving him unable to perform basic election duties. On top of this, the County’s IT department has failed to fulfill nearly half of all IT support requests from the Recorder’s Office — crippling election operations.
Despite Recorder Heap’s good-faith attempts to negotiate a resolution, including an offer of mediation, the Board refused to negotiate a reasonable outcome that complies with Arizona law. This creates a serious risk of catastrophic election failure and massive voter disenfranchisement.
Because this controversy involved a dispute between different elected officials within the County who are both her clients, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell had a ethical conflict of interest requiring her to remain neutral and stay entirely out of the dispute. However, County Attorney Mitchell did not stay neutral. When she assigned an outside attorney to represent Recorder Heap in discussions with the Board, she only allowed that attorney to negotiate with the Board but not to file any lawsuits against it. In other words, the County Attorney tried to force Recorder Heap to negotiate from a position of weakness, without an attorney who could sue on his behalf. Unsurprisingly, the Board took advantage, continually refusing to deal fairly with the Recorder and obstinately refusing to restore to Recorder Heap the basic resources he needed to do his job.
AFL stepped up to provide pro bono representation and sued the Board on Recorder Heap’s behalf. Astoundingly, County Attorney Mitchell appears to have taken sides in the dispute, actively working to help the Board fight Recorder Heap’s efforts at election integrity. It even appears that County Attorney Mitchell and the Board have been actively coordinating against Recorder Heap, even though Mitchell has a conflict of interest that requires she remain neutral and entirely uninvolved. Indeed, less than two weeks after AFL filed Recorder Heap’s lawsuit against the Board, County Attorney Mitchell committed what can only be described as the ultimate betrayal of her own client by filing her own lawsuit against Recorder Heap. In her suit, she is asking the Court to issue an order forbidding AFL from representing Recorder Heap and giving her the power to control who represents Heap in his lawsuit against the Board. Even though there is no statute or court decision that says so, she continues to make the unfounded claim that, when there is a conflict of interest preventing her from representing Recorder Heap, she has the absolute power to force Recorder Heap to use whatever lawyers she chooses for him.
More than 60 percent of Arizona’s population lives in Maricopa County, and the stakes could not be higher for the integrity of Arizona’s elections. The Board of Supervisors’ sabotage has dealt a serious blow to Maricopa County’s elections, creating a ticking time bomb that threatens the voting rights of millions of Americans. The Recorder’s Office is at the complete mercy of the Board, unable to properly administer elections or clean up voter rolls. Most alarming of all, essential election websites, systems, and servers remain under the control of officials who appear to be hostile to voters’ desires for more integrity and transparency in the County’s elections.
“What we’re witnessing is nothing short of a coordinated assault on the lawful conduct of elections,” said James Rogers, Senior Counsel at America First Legal. “Government officials should not be able to weaponize their offices against those who dare to stand for election integrity. The Board of Supervisors has deliberately defunded the Recorder’s office, stripped away his essential resources, and actively opposed basic election integrity measures. Their reckless actions have put Maricopa County’s elections at serious risk of catastrophic failure. The Board seems more interested in political retribution than protecting Arizona voters. Even worse, County Attorney Mitchell’s disturbing attempt to prevent Recorder Heap from having competent representation to pursue his lawsuit is shocking. Recorder Heap has every right to independent counsel, especially when his own county attorney has turned herself into his adversary. We will fight this shocking overreach with everything we have. America First Legal Foundation is once again proving why it stands as the nation’s premier defender of election integrity and constitutional rights. We will continue to charge directly into battle against corruption and abuse of power, no matter how powerful the opponents or how steep the odds. The enemies of election integrity will find that AFL never backs down, never compromises on principle, and never stops fighting for what’s right.”
“It’s unfortunate that the Board’s unprofessional and bad faith actions have forced us to litigate this issue; however, it’s significantly more unfortunate that the Board continues to deny the voters of Maricopa County the positive, common sense election integrity reforms that they voted for last November when they elected me,” said Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap. “As I’ve promised from day one, I am working to ensure honest, secure, and transparent elections for every voter in Maricopa County. I am not, and will not, waver in my commitment to executing on this promise. I’m grateful to America First Legal for standing by my side in this battle.”
Read the first filing here.
Read the second filing here.
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