kolodin, alex ESQ
he just got elected? unopposed?!
an 7 26 mirror
Republican voters in Arizona sent a litany of election deniers to the November ballot, chief among them the nominees for the top three statewide offices. But they’re far from the only ones who advanced to the general election.
The Grand Canyon State has long been at the center of the election conspiracy theories that have become a tenet of the modern Republican Party under President Donald Trump, who has been doggedly focused on false claims of election fraud over the past decade.
As the belief that elections are rife with fraud — at least when Democrats win — has transformed from fringe online discourse into a GOP article of faith, adherents and promoters of election conspiracy theories have been gaining more elected power.
But those views are growing more unpopular among voters, as issues such as affordability and the war in Iran take center stage.
“It is not sustainable, and people do not have an appetite for it. People want to have our elections be a process that helps us pick our leaders and then they want our leaders to lead for us,” Alex Gulotta, All Voting is Local Action’s Arizona state director, told the Arizona Mirror. “It is not winning people’s hearts and minds.”
Despite that, a growing number of election deniers are running for office in Arizona and across the country, according to Kelly Rader, research director at States United Action, a nonpartisan nonprofit that supports state officials protecting elections and has been tracking election deniers since 2022.
Arizona is one of four states — along with Colorado, Wisconsin and Tennessee — that have three or more election deniers running for statewide office, according to their analysis.
Nationally, nearly 75% of the states have an election denier running for a statewide or congressional office, Rader’s research found. That is 139 candidates across the country, among them 21 candidates for governor, nine running for secretary of state and eight running for attorney general, according to the data.
“Election denial is a comprehensive strategy to undermine trust in our elections so that Trump and his allies can challenge election results they don’t like,” Rader said. “As we move through the primaries and sprint toward the fall, we expect that Trump will continue pushing the same old election conspiracy theories. And we are closely watching which election denier candidates echo those claims in the months to come.”
Gulotta echoed those sentiments, adding that Trump’s continued denialism of the results of the 2020 election has helped fuel the fire for candidates to use the same rhetoric.
“I think as long as the president of the United States and his cronies are acting in a way that seeks to prevent voting and is really focused on denying the results of elections, we will continue to see this,” he said. “I am hoping we will grow out of it soon, hopefully another cycle or two.”
Rader said the corrosive effect of lies about election results has far-reaching effects, but was optimistic about the work being done by the nation’s election administrators to educate people and counter the conspiracies.
“Efforts to undermine confidence in legitimate election outcomes don’t just threaten individual races; they erode voter confidence and threaten one of the most important limits on presidential power,” she said. “The good news is that election officials across the country are educating voters, rebuilding trust, and working to ensure another free and fair election this year.”
It isn’t just election denialism that is on the ballot, either.
This year’s batch of conspiracy-minded candidates ranges from QAnon adherents to former “audit” workers. Some of them may be well known to most Arizonans, while others are newcomers to electoral politics.
The old guard
The top of the ticket in Arizona will be a who’s who of people who have been involved in election related conspiracy activities since 2020.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs won the Republican party primary for Governor where he will square off against Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November.
After Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid to Joe Biden, Biggs was front and center in Arizona and Congress trying to “Stop the Steal.” He joined fellow Arizona GOP Congressman Paul Gosar in spreading doubt about the results of the 2020 election and made claims of voter disenfranchisement that were not backed up by evidence.
Former Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers said Biggs called him the morning of January 6 asking him to sign onto a letter calling for the decertification of Arizona electors. Biggs, who voted to reject electoral votes for Biden from Arizona and other battleground states, would later allegedly seek a pardon from Trump for his involvement.
Two other prominent election deniers will also be at the top of the Arizona ticket.
State Rep. Alexander Kolodin, who won the GOP primary for secretary of state, has long pushed unfounded claims around the state’s elections.
Kolodin was one of the key attorneys for Trump’s campaign who challenged the 2020 election results in the state and has represented a number of prominent election deniers. Kolodin was sanctioned by the Arizona State Bar in 2023 for his part in lawsuits challenging the 2020 election that made implausible and evidence-free claims of massive election fraud. He represented Trump’s campaign in the so-called “kraken” lawsuit in Arizona that was based on claims made by people with no actual knowledge of the elections.
In his time in the legislature, Kolodin has pushed for sweeping changes to Arizona election laws largely based on election conspiracy theories.
Then there’s GOP attorney general nominee Warren Petersen, who currently serves as president of the Arizona Senate. He, along with former Senate President Karen Fann, oversaw the partisan “audit” that the Senate conducted in 2021 to scour for fraud in Maricopa County’s election the year before. It found no evidence of fraud, and actually concluded that Biden won the election in the state’s largest county.
Earlier this year, he handed over material from that election review to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice.
Other prominent election deniers also won their primaries, including Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff. On top of believing the 2020 election was fraudulent, Rogers has also engaged with white nationalists and other extremists.
She’ll also likely be joined in the Senate again by Sen. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa, who has openly embraced QAnon and spread conspiracy theories about the Department of Child Safety.
In its simplest form, QAnon is a conspiracy theory that alleges that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles are running a global sex-trafficking ring, control world governments and are trying to bring down President Donald Trump — who is himself single-handedly dismantling the cabal.
Farnsworth and Rogers also will be joined by the QAnon-posting and January-6-insurrection-attending Sen. Janae Shamp, who ran uncontested in her primary.
Another prominent election denier who won their primary is former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb.
Lamb worked with other far-right sheriffs and a group that was involved with the widely debunked film “2000 Mules” to police polling locations in 2022. Lamb won his primary despite lurid allegations about his sex life and the release of a racist chat he had with a border vigilante.
If he wins his election — which is likely, as his district is deep red — he’ll join fellow election denier U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, who unsuccessfully tried to claim election fraud led to his 280-vote loss to Kris Mayes in the 2022 contest for attorney general.
The new class
Among the well-known pushers of conspiracy theories in the state are some new faces that are seeking political power.
For instance, Michelle Altherr is seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Brian Fernandez in the Democrat-leaning Legislative District 23.
Altherr worked at the partisan election “audit,” citing it as one of the main reasons she has gotten into politics. She has long been a presence at Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meetings, where she has spread unfounded claims of election fraud.
Another new face is James Rogers, who won his primary for the state House of Representatives in Legislative District 10. Rogers has represented Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, a known election denier, as part of the America First Legal law firm, which was started by top Trump advisor Stephen Miller.
The law firm was also behind a failed lawsuit that attempted to change how Arizona counties use drop boxes and maintain voter rolls.
Then there’s Mylie Biggs, Andy Biggs’ daughter, who won an uncontested race to represent Legislative District 14 in the state Senate.
Last year, during an appearance on The Matt MacCurdy program, she said that she doesn’t believe women should hold public office. On that same podcast, the younger Biggs said she has a fondness for conspiracy theories, telling the host to not get her “started on 9/11.”
Early voting for the general election starts on Sept. 19 for military and overseas voters and early voting for everyone else begins on Oct. 7. The last day voters can register to vote and apply for an early ballot is Oct. 5. Voters can find more information and register to vote at this link.
7 26
rww -->
- Khaya Himmelman @ Talking Points Memo: All The Places Election Deniers Could Be in Charge of Elections After the Midterms
In an increasingly ominous trend, there are currently hundreds of election deniers on the ballot for the 2026 midterm elections. And although history has shown election denialism is not a winning campaign strategy, it continues to be a powerful force in the right-wing movement, from President Donald Trump on down.
According to the nonpartisan non-profit States United Action, there are at least 140 election deniers currently running for statewide and congressional office. In statewide races, there are at least 42 election deniers running in 23 states. And in congressional races, there are at least 98 election deniers running in 25 states.
“We’ve been tracking this movement since right after the 2020 election. And one thing we can say about the election denial movement now is that it seems to be more powerful than ever,” Kelly Rader, research director at States United Action, told TPM.
“In some ways it reflects how election denial has matured into an organized movement,” Brendan Fischer, director of strategic investigations for Campaign Legal Center, similarly told TPM.
“Election denial is no longer just a collection of fringe activists and isolated candidates making unsupported claims of election fraud,” Fischer added. “It’s really evolved into a well-funded, coordinated infrastructure of activists and advocacy organizations that has transformed the fringe conspiracy theories into a cornerstone of the conservative movement.”
Of particular concern are the election denial candidates running for secretary of state positions, potentially putting an elected official who has denied the integrity of a free and fair election at the helm of election administration in a particular state.
“Secretaries in most states are the people who are in charge of elections there and they are going to serve as really important backstops to the president’s overreach into elections, overreach on other issues, and his tendency to sow doubt on legitimate election outcomes,” Rader explained.
Rader said this phenomenon of election deniers running for secretary of state is really part of a “broader power grab.”
“We started originally tracking these statewide offices because they’re important for election administration,” she added, “but now that the president is an election denier, he’s appointing people throughout federal agencies who really have undermined public trust in our elections almost like it’s their job.”
States United Action has been keeping track of all the election deniers running for office, and according to their data, there are election deniers running for secretary of state positions in seven states: Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Vermont.
Nevada
In Nevada, Jim Marchant, a longtime election denier, won the Republican primary for Secretary of State in Nevada this month. Marchant, as TPM has previously reported, has been claiming the 2020 election was stolen after he lost his race for a U.S. House seat in 2020, and since Trump lost that year’s presidential election.
Marchant, who has ties to QAnon, was also the founding member of the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a post-2020 group of MAGA election deniers all running for secretary of state positions on a platform of election denialism.
Arizona
Arizona GOP state rep. Alexander Kolodin, who is a member of the right-wing Arizona Freedom Caucus, is an election denier and is now a Republican candidate for secretary of state in Arizona.
Kolodin was sanctioned in 2023 by the State Bar of Arizona for participating in lawsuits, including the so-called “Kraken” lawsuits, a sprawling conspiratorial web of documents challenging the outcome of the 2020 election, per Arizona Mirror.
Wyoming
GOP State Rep. Rachel Rodriquez-Williams is running for secretary of state of Wyoming, and is currently the chairwoman of the far-right Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which has tried to push through a series of “election integrity” bills.
These proposals, which were never approved, included proposals to ban ballot boxes and ballot collecting and require hand-count audits, among other things. All of these measures are rooted in conspiracy theories about the safety and integrity of the country’s election system.
Colorado
James Wiley, who ran unopposed, won the GOP nomination for Colorado secretary of state last month. Wiley is running on a campaign focused on restoring “free and fair elections” and, according to his website, has sued “Dominion Voting Machines, Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg, the Secretary of States and Governors of Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, Secretary Griswold” for what he describes as “election misconduct.”
Wiley also advocated for the release of Tina Peters, the former elections administrator of Mesa County, Colorado who breached her office’s own voting equipment and was convicted of several felonies related to her efforts to find non-existent 2020 voter fraud. Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted Peters’ nine-year prison sentence in May of this year and she was released on parole shortly after.
Nebraska
Election denier Scott Petersen won the Republican primary for secretary of state in May. Petersen has been repeating lies about the 2020 election for years. In March of this year, per the Nebraska Examiner, he elevated disinfo related to the FBI’s recent Fulton County 2020 election raid.
“By the way, if another state steals elections … our vote doesn’t count as much, right?” he said, referring to the Fulton County FBI raid.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s primary will take place on August 11, and election denier Jay Schroeder is currently on the ballot for the GOP nomination for secretary of state.
Schroeder once said in an interview that “there is lots of reasonable doubt” about Joe Biden winning the 2020 election. In Wisconsin, the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission runs elections, and not the secretary of state. Schroeder, as he outlined on his campaign website, wants to strip the commission of that authority and make the secretary of state the state’s chief election official.
Vermont
H. Brooke Paige is on the ballot in Vermont’s primary for Secretary of State on August 11. In the past, Paige has avoided answering questions about whether or not Biden won the 2020 election. “I have a hard time not believing my lyin’ eyes,” he told VTDigger in 2022.
Khaya Himmelman** is a reporter at TPM, based in New York. She previously covered politics and misinformation for The Messenger, Grid, and The Dispatch.
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an 5 24
former Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate and 2024 Senate hopeful Kari Lake's lawyers were sanctioned last May to pay $2,000 by the Arizona Supreme Court for making "'unequivocally false' claims that 35,000 falsified ballots were accepted by Maricopa County during the 2022 midterm election.
Arizona Mirror reports that Brian Blehm — one of the two sanctioned lawyers — failed to attend a Tuesday, May 21 disciplinary hearing that could've left him without a law license.
Blehm, according to AZ Mirror, instead gave the Arizona State Bar "a middle finger."
READ MORE:**Watch: Arizona senator fears Kari Lake’s 'dangerous' rhetoric 'could get people hurt or killed'**
Per the report, the state "Supreme Court found that Olsen and Blehm provided no evidence of the claim and sanctioned Lake and her team for making 'false factual statements to the Court.'"
State Bar of Arizona attorneys told the judge Tuesday "that Blehm’s license should be suspended for six months and one day for lying to the Supreme Court, as well as for his refusal to take responsibility for his actions and to even show up for the hearing."
AZ Mirror reports:
*[Presiding Disciplinary Judge Margaret] Downie asked the State Bar attorneys to justify such a lengthy proposed suspension, and she contrasted it with the punishment given earlier this year to election attorney and Republican State Rep. Alexander Kolodin, who was only put on probation for his role in lawsuits challenging the 2020 election. Among other things, Kolodin was an attorney on the infamous 'kraken' lawsuit that made implausible and evidence-free claims of massive election fraud.
[Senior Counsel for the Bar Hunter] Perlmeter answered that, unlike Blehm, Kolodin was never accused of lying to the courts and that he was credited for having a cooperative attitude throughout the disciplinary proceedings.*
*Kolodin also voluntarily entered into an agreement with the Bar, under which he accepted being put on probation, paid a fine and agreed to participate in continuing legal education ethics courses.
Ahead of the May 21 hearing, the report notes instead of notifying the court that he planned to be absent, "on Sunday evening, Blehm sent an email to the State Bar of Arizona, informing them that he needed to 'depart for Colorado' on Monday and wouldn’t be able to attend in person. Blehm did not inform the court directly through the email address that he was told to use for correspondence regarding the case, but instead copied a court employee who is currently on leave."
READ MORE:**Crucial Senate race will determine if AZ moves in 'direction of California or Texas'**
Blehm posted a video via X (formerly Twitter) just a couple of hours after the hearing "saying he couldn’t make the hearing and was on his way to take care of some personal business."
The attorney claimed the State Bar was trying to 'isolate the most active MAGA attorney in the State of Arizona during the entirety of the 2024 election."
Claiming the State Bar "was attempting to disbar him," the report notes that "Perlmeter insisted in the hearing that the claim was a lie, and while it isn’t technically true, the way the suspension is structured could allow it to be much longer than just six months — and possibly permanent."
According to Robert McWhirter, a Phoenix criminal and constitutional attorney, "a suspension of six months and one day carried with it much more severe consequences than a suspension of only six months. After a suspension of six months or less, an attorney’s license is reinstated automatically."
READ MORE:[McConnell says GOP shouldn’t 'get too excited' about chances of winning Senate
*Arizona Mirror's full report is available here.
===
cochise refuses to certify b/c they don't trust maricopa #/machines?
https://www.azfamily.com/2022/11/29/cochise-county-board-votes-hire-lawyer-who-represented-cyber-ninjas/
no lnx
Cochise County board votes to hire lawyer who represented Cyber Ninjas HE PASSED
Terry Goddard, former Arizona attorney general, and Rick Romley, former Maricopa County attorney, called for a criminal investigation into the Cochise board.
By Alexis Cortez
Published: Nov. 29, 2022
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- After Secretary of State Katie Hobbs filed a lawsuit against Cochise County’s board of supervisors, the board responded by holding an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon to decide who would represent them in the legal matter. The board voted unanimously to hire Bryan Blehm, the same attorney who represented Cyber Ninjas, the group that ran the controversial Maricopa County audit of the 2020 election. Blehm will represent the board in the lawsuit filed by Hobbs after they refused to certify the 2022 general election results.
However, there’s the question of how the board will pay for legal representation. The board can’t legally accept outside donations to pay for the lawsuit or for any other purpose. Officials didn’t say how they’d pay for Blehm. However, it’s unclear if he’d take the case because he hadn’t picked up the phone by the time the meeting started.
Also on Tuesday, Terry Goddard, former Arizona attorney general, and Rick Romley, former Maricopa County attorney, called for a criminal investigation into the Cochise County Board of Supervisors. In the letter to current Attorney General Mark Brnovich andCochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre, the pair says the supervisors broke at least three laws for not certifying the election. Goddard and Romley asked Brnovich and McIntyre to hold the officials accountable, saying their 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 added there’s no legal basis for the board’s refusal to certify.
Arizona state law required counties to certify the results within 20 days of the election. Cochise County voters were angry with their elected officials for breaking that law and failing to meet Monday’s deadline. Voters yelled at elected officials during the board’s regularly scheduled Tuesday morning meeting, with some calling it a “clown show.” “This assault on democracy will not stand,” one person said. “Help, I’m in Cochise County, where the board of supervisors is lost in conspiracy theory land and has taken their votes with them,” another person said. “And I’ve never seen our county on the national news. I just heard the international news as a clown show. I’m ashamed.” Some voters said they wanted the two officials who refused to certify the election to resign.
The board voted unanimously to hire Bryan Blehm, the same attorney who represented Cyber Ninjas who ran the controversial Maricopa County audit in 2020.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Cochise County holds emergency meeting after lawsuit filed for refusal to certify election results
The comments captured the anger directed toward GOP board members amid pressure from prominent Republican politicians. The board voted 2-1 on Monday to delay the canvass until at least Friday. Hobbs previously said the Secretary of State’s Office won’t have a choice but to complete the canvass by Dec. 8 at the latest, which would flip the Superintendent of Public Instruction and U.S. House Congressional District 6 seat from Republican to Democrat.
Meanwhile, Republican Kari Lake refuses to concede in the governor’s race. Lake has claimed tens of thousands of voters were disenfranchised but didn’t provide any evidence. However, should the Republican-led Cochise County board refuse to certify the election by next week, the 47,000 votes won’t count toward the state canvass.
Bryan Blehm
3rd degree connection3rd
The Valley Law Group
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The Valley Law Group
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University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law
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Greater Phoenix Area Contact info
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https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-elections-arizona-election-2020-a32da5fdf5bc8109d5fd39f1541fb296
ref AP no lnx
pHOENIX (AP) — Groups connected to prominent supporters of former President Donald Trump’s movement to cast doubt on the 2020 election results have raised $5.7 million for Arizona Republicans’ election audit.
Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the little-known firm hired to lead the audit, ended months of silence about who was paying for it and how much it cost Wednesday night. The money from pro-Trump groups dwarfs the $150,000 contributed by the Arizona Senate, which commissioned the audit and hired Cyber Ninjas.
Among those leading the fundraising groups are Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor; Sydney Powell, his attorney who filed a number of baseless lawsuits challenging election results; Patrick Byrne, a former chief executive of Overstock.com; and correspondents from the pro-Trump One America News Network.
The confirmation that the audit is being overwhelmingly funded by groups promoting false narratives about the election will raise further questions about the validity of the final report. The audit has already been widely discredited by election experts who say Cyber Ninjas and other contractors are biased and using unusual procedures that won’t produce reliable results.
“When the sources of the money, and the activity that’s being paid for, and the people being paid are all putting forth falsehoods ... it’s incredibly troubling and problematic,” said Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser at the Democracy Fund and a former Maricopa County elections official.
Republican Senate President Karen Fann says the audit is only meant to see whether improvements are needed to state election laws. But the audit has long been associated with the “stop the steal” movement, and Trump has predicted it will uncover evidence to support his discredited theories of fraud.
Before he was hired to lead the audit, Logan promoted Trump’s false narrative that the election was stolen from him, and pro-Trump media has aggressively promoted the effort.
By far the largest funder is The America Project, led by Byrne, which Logan said has so far contributed $3.25 million. America’s Future, which lists Flynn as its chairman, contributed just over $976,000. Voices and Votes, led by OANN correspondents Christina Bobb and Chanel Rion, contributed $605,000; and Powell’s Defending the Republic gave $550,000. Election Integrity Funds for the American Republic, which Logan said is led by attorney Matthew DePerno, contributed $280,000. DePerno unsuccessfully sued Antrim County, Michigan, over the election.
Logan said several of the groups “have also provided operational support and advice pivotal in executing the audit.”
Still unclear is where those groups got their money. They are organized as nonprofits and do not have to disclose their donors.
Logan has fought to keep the funders secret, though he acknowledged at the beginning of the audit that his $150,000 contract with the Senate wouldn’t cover the cost of the work the Senate hired him to do. He released the figures on the deadline for him to voluntarily comply with a request for information, including donor information, from the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee. Several public records lawsuits also seek information from the Senate and Cyber Ninjas.
A news release from Cyber Ninjas said the audit received $5,711,514.43 in outside donations, but the itemized list of amounts contributed by each of the five groups adds up to $50,000 less. A spokesman for Cyber Ninjas, Rod Thomson, did not respond to an email seeking clarification on the discrepancy.
Thomson declined to say how much of the $5.7 million has been profit for Cyber Ninjas and other contractors, whether they expect to get more money and whether there are plans for what to do if the contributions far exceed the costs of the audit.
The auditors on Thursday began returning the 2.1 million ballots and election equipment to Maricopa County, three months after they were delivered to the state fairgrounds for a review that was originally expected to take 60 days.
The Senate got access to the materials after top senators issued a subpoena late last year, as Trump and his allies tried to convince members of Congress not to certify Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6. Maricopa County turned them over after a judge ruled the subpoena was valid.
Fann and Judiciary Committee Chairman Warren Petersen this week issued new subpoenas demanding more information as well as materials they say the Senate withheld from the original demand. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers, a Republican, said the board members are discussing their options with their lawyers and expect to say more within the next week.
Voter suppression lawsuits Bryan Blehm worked on
| Name | Filed On | Court | Finalized | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aguilera v. Fontes II (Vote Recasting) | 11/12/20 | State | Yes | Trump Lost |
https://www.azmirror.com/2021/08/31/dem-lawmaker-asks-court-to-reject-jan-6-defamation-case-from-gosar-finchem-kern/
Democratic Rep. Charlene Fernandez is asking a court to dismiss a defamation :{case brought against her:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: by two Republican state legislators and a GOP congressman because statements Fernandez made to the FBI about the two GOP legislators are privileged.
:{
}:
The case stems from a letter sent by Fernandez and other Democratic lawmakers asking the FBI to investigate Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, former state Rep. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, and GOP Congressman Paul Gosar’s connections to the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C.
In February, the trio :{filed a lawsuit:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: against Fernandez, D-Yuma, accusing her of defaming them by making disparaging remarks, connecting them to the violence of Jan. 6 and conspiring against them. The trio have not brought a suit against any of the 43 other Democratic legislators who also signed the letter.
the lawsuit was stalled for months because Fernandez was immune from being served while the legislature’s annual session was taking place. But when the session ended, Fernandez waived service and both sides agreed to a 60-day response period which started at the end of the session on June 30.
“Contrary to all of the rhetoric… this is not a lawsuit about alleged fraud in the 2020 election, the purported suppression of conservative viewpoints by social media companies or issues of border security,” Fernandez’s attorney, David Bodney, wrote in the motion to dismiss the lawsuit. “Rather, this lawsuit is about whether state legislators – or, indeed, any Arizonan – may petition federal authorities to investigate potential crimes of the utmost seriousness without being dragged into court to face frivolous and retaliatory defamation litigation.”
(Bodney represents the Arizona Mirror on matters relating to public records and other First Amendment issues.)
Bodney argued that the court should grant the motion to dismiss in part because the Democratic lawmakers were communicating with law enforcement entities. :{Arizona case law states:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: that such communication is privileged and a person cannot be sued for making a report to law enforcement.
“Thus, the relevant question is whether the Criminal Referral constitutes a formal or informal complaint to a prosecutor or law enforcement,” Bodney says. “Unquestionably, it is, as its name makes clear.”
Bodney also argues that the three GOP officials have failed to show that Fernandez has demonstrated “actual malice” — that she knew or had the “high probability” that she knew the statements she was making were false or defamatory.
In their lawsuit against Fernandez, Finchem, Kern and Gosar pointed to public statements they made denouncing the violence of Jan. 6 as evidence that Fernandez acted with “actual malice.”
“The fact that a public official has made self-serving denials of the conduct for which he is being criticized is insufficient to show actual malice as a matter of law,” Bodney argued.
Bodney also suggested that the initial lawsuit by Finchem and Kern — Gosar was added as a plaintiff several months later — did little to distance themselves from the violence of Jan. 6 as well.
“It is not reckless disregard for the truth, by any definition, to assert that a man who returned to the scene of an ongoing riot should be investigated for his potential involvement in encouraging and supporting the rioters,” Bodney said.
Footage reviewed by the Arizona Mirror has shown that Kern was closer to the Capitol than he said he was, and he was recorded on the Capitol grounds while violent clashes with police were still ongoing.
Finchem, too, has been found to have been closer to the Capitol on that day than he claimed.
Finchem has insisted that he :{never got within 500 yards of the Capitol building:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, but :{Getty footage:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: of the failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election that was :{discovered by activists on Twitter:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: shows Finchem walking directly in front of the east steps at the Capitol after pro-Trump rioters had already broken through a series of barricades and police lines, and then smashed their way into the Capitol building.
Fernandez is seeking attorney fees from Finchem, Kern and Gosar.
This isn’t the first time Finchem has gone after his political rivals.
Earlier this year Finchem sent a cease and desist letter to the group :{who was seeking to recall him from office:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:. Finchem said if they did not destroy all their campaign related material, which focused on Finchem’s connections to Jan. 6, he would sue them for defamation.
One point of contention for Finchem in :{the cease and desist letter:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: is his connection to the extremist Oath Keepers organization that the recall organizers pointed out.
Finchem has :{long been tied to the organization:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, but in his cease and desist his attorney claimed that the Oath Keepers is a “non-partisan” group and called allegations that it is anti-government to be “spurious claims.” The letter also calls the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website “hate-filled”
The :{FBI describes the Oath Keepers:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: as a “loosely organized collection of militia who believe that the federal government have been coopted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights.”
:{Sixteen Oath Keepers have been indicted:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: thus far in a case that claims they coordinated to conspire to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, with prosecutors saying that more could be prosecuted in the future.
Finchem’s attorney, Alexander Kolodin, previously represented Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based company conducting the Arizona Senate’s “audit.”
smartmatic sidney kraken
https://www.kleinhendler.com/
stock photos
off bs
Kleinhendler represents Fortune 500 companies and high net individuals in matters involving construction, antitrust, trademark infringement, tax, partnership disputes, FCPA violations, real estate,election law and white-collar criminal defense.He has dedicated his career to advancing his clients’ strategies and goals with efficiency, passion, and determination.
Howard has appeared on CBS, Bloomberg and Fox Business News to discuss his high-profile cases. He is also active in civic affairs, having run for Congress in New Jersey’s Fourth Congressional District.
:{:{Education}:
Temple University School of Law, J.D.
Touro College, B.S.}:
:{:{Admissions}:
New York
New Jersey}:
https://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/2081/637447459386900000
Howard Kleinhendler*
369 Lexington Ave. 12th Floor
New York, New York 10017
Telephone: (917) 793-1188
howard@kleinhendler.com
*Pro Hac Vice Application Forthcoming
Alexander Kolodin (030826)
Christopher Viskovic (035860)
KOLODIN LAW GROUP PLLC
3443 N. Central Ave. Ste 1009
Phoenix, AZ 85012
Telephone: (602) 730-2985
Facsimile: (602) 801-2539
Email:
alexander.kolodin@kolodinlaw.com
cviskovic@kolodinlaw.com
satkinson@kolodinlaw.com (file copies)
Attorneys for Amicus Curiae Tyler Bowyer, et al.
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA
IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF MARICOPA
KAREN FANN, et al.;
Plaintiffs,
v.
MARICOPA COUNTY, et al.; Defendants.
Case No. CV2020-016904
NOTICE OF LODGING
Pursuant to the Court’s request, Tyler Bowyer, et al., hereby lodge their Motion to
Intervene, attached hereto along with all exhibits. This Motion to Intervene was first filed
in Maricopa County v Fann on 12/21/2020 and has not yet been decided in that matter. It
was additionally provided to the Court in this matter (Fann v. Maricopa County) via email
on the same date, as Bowyer, et al. viewed this as a related matter. Via minute entry order
dated 12/22/2020 and filed 12/23/2020,this Court denied the motion to intervene as to
Fann v. Maricopa County but permitted Bowyer et al to participate in the matter as amicus...
:{Litigation | Howard Kleinhendler Esquire | United States:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:
Howard has appeared on CBS, Bloomberg and Fox Business News to discuss his high-profile cases. He is also active in civic affairs, having run for Congress in New Jersey's Fourth Congressional District. Education Temple University School of Law, J.D. Touro College, B.S. Admissions New York New Jersey
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Phoenix, AZ 85004 Howard Kleinhendler Esquire* 369 Lexington Ave. 12th Floor New York, New York 10017 Telephone: (917) 793-1188 howard@kleinhendler.com *Pro Hac Vice Application Forthcoming Bryan James Blehm, AZ Bar No. 023891 Bryan@BlehmLegal.com BLEHM LAW PLLC 3443 N. Central Ave. Ste. 1009 Phoenix, AZ 85012
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Nov 12, 2021Howard Kleinhendler Esquire 369 Lexington Ave. Ste 12th Floor New York, NY 10017 ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED PRO HAC VICE Lawrence J. Joseph (202) 355-9452 Fax: (202) 318-2254 Law Office of Lawrence J. Joseph 1250 Connecticut Ave NW Ste 700-1A Washington, DC 20036 ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED LEAD ATTORNEY Plaintiff SGO CORPORATION LIMITED Represented by
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HOWARD KLEINHENDLER ESQUIRE 369 Lexington Ave. 12th Floor New York, New York 10017 Tel: (917) 793-1188 Email: howard@kleinhendler.com Counsel for Sidney Powell, Sidney Powell, P.C. Jesse R. Binnall D.C. Bar No. 79292 BINNALL LAW GROUP 717 King Street, Suite 200 Alexandria, VA 22314
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Howard Kleinhendler Counsel of Record: Howard Kleinhendler Esquire 369 Lexington Avenue 12th Floor New York, NY 10017 howard@kleinhendler.com: 9177931188: Party name: Coreco Ja'Qan Pearson, et al. Attorneys for Respondent: Andrew Alan Pinson Counsel of Record: Office of the Georgia Attorney General 40 Capital Square SW Atlanta, GA 30334-1300 ...
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Kleinhendler Howard is a real estate principal office in New York, New York with license number 109933890. Find license credentials and contact details for Kleinhendler Howard. ... The status of license is Active and address listed on Kleinhendler Howard's license document is 369 Lexington Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, New York, 10017.
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Howard Kleinhendler Howard Kleinhendler Esquire NY Bar No. 2657120 369 Lexington Ave., 12th Floor New York, New York 10017 Tel: (917) 793-1188 Fax: (732) 901-0832 Email: howard@kleinhendler.com Lawrence J. Joseph DC Bar No. 464777 Law Office of Lawrence J. Joseph 1250 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 700-1A Washington, DC 20036 Tel: (202) 355-9452
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Dec 15, 2020Howard Kleinhendler. Howard Kleinhendler Esquire 369 Lexington Avenue 12Th Floor. New York, NY 10017. Respondent Attorneys. David H. Fink. ... Docket Proposal under Rule 32.3 to lodge new evidence with the Clerk filed by counsel for petitioners. Read More Read Less; 12/11/2020.
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Jan 8, 2021369 Lexington Ave. Ste 12th Floor New York, NY 10017 ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED Lawrence J. Joseph (202) 355-9452 Fax: (202) 318-2254. Law Office of Lawrence J. Joseph 1250 Connecticut Ave NW ... Howard Kleinhendler Esquire 369 Lexington Ave. Ste 12th Floor New York, NY 10017