As Maricopa County Turns

This latest show is a combo soap opera, crime drama, and reality show (unfortunately).  

I, and others, may make light of the situation, but I haven't forgotten, and others shouldn't forget, that this is about our ballots.

The County Recorder, a Republican (Justin Heap) and the County Board of Supervisors, mostly Republicans (Kate Brophy McGee [R], Debbie Lesko [R], Mark Stewart [R], Thomas Galvin [R], and Steve Gallardo [D]) have been going at it for months, with lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, simple threats, and more, being exchanged, mostly over elections and democracy.

Now, it's progressed (regressed?) to a surveillance video.

From KJZZ, written by Wayne Schutsky -

Security video shows Maricopa County Recorder's Office staff accused of removing voting equipment

An internal investigation by Maricopa County officials substantiated allegations that staffers from Recorder Justin Heap’s office acted inappropriately after they were caught on tape removing equipment from the county’s central tabulation center during a local Tempe election in March.

The security footage, obtained by KJZZ through the state’s Public Records Law, appears to show Bryan Colby — the recorder’s chief information officer — and another unknown staff member removing a “pre-tabulation scanner” from a locked area at the Maricopa County Election & Tabulation Center in the afternoon on March 12, as votes were being counted in Tempe’s election.

The footage then shows Colby and the other person moving the scanner on cart out of the tabulation center and loading it into an unmarked gray truck before driving away at around 1:49 p.m.

[snip]

The whole incident only came to light after Heap filed an emergency motion in Maricopa County Superior Court this week, asking the judge in that case to intervene after an investigator showed up at Colby’s home.

That investigator, an off-duty Pinal County Sheriff deputy, is working for former Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer, Votebeat reported. Volkmer was appointed by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to investigate whether the allegations against the recorder’s staff rise to the level of criminality.

Brahm Resnik of Phoenix channel 12 (KPNX) has the video here.

AZFamily has a story, from their staff and Dennis Welch, about Heap ceding control of his office to an election-denying law firm, America First Legal -

[snip]

{County Supervisor Thomas} Galvin said Mitchell is telling the courts that Heap is circumventing her office, using a partisan law firm from out of state to run and control the entire recorder’s office.

“That’s a very damaging and scary allegation,” Galvin said.

Galvin said he has only had interactions with the attorney who works at the recorder’s office. The attorney has written emails to the board saying the board should only go through him. Heap has given up complete control over his office, Galvin said.

My guess (and it's only that) is that Heap doesn't complete the term as County Recorder, which runs through 2028.

It may be through a face-saving resignation or a removal from office that allows him to falsely cloak himself in MAGAmartyrdom; either way, though, he should be gone, if only for the grievous offense of making Helen Purcell look competent.

Time to start a new soap opera: As Maricopa County Turns

I was feeling generous when I named this post - it was almost "Search for Competence."

But I didn't go there. :)

MAGA Republican Justin Heap won the R primary for Maricopa County Recorder in 2024, deposing competent incumbent Stephen Richer.

The MAGA types who make up the majority of the R electorate got what they wished for - a pure ideologue in a job that requires simple competence.

Sometimes he's falsely telling voters that they will be removed from the list of active voters and be unable to vote.

Sometimes he's suing the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) not delegating control of elections to him.

Before he went the litigation route, Heap tried lying to and about members of the MCBOS.

From Votebeat Arizona, written by Jen Fifield -

Text messages show how Maricopa County recorder pressured supervisors for control of elections

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap privately pleaded with two county supervisors to support his bid for more power over the county’s elections, text messages obtained by Votebeat show.

The messages, which county supervisors provided to Votebeat in response to a public-records request, include previously unreported behind-the-scenes conversations and confrontations as Heap negotiated with the supervisors board early this year over how to divide election duties in the closely watched swing county.

“I really thought you guys would come through for me,” Heap wrote to Supervisor Mark Stewart, a fellow Republican, in March after a counterproposal from the supervisors. “This was the last straw for me, Mark.”

[snip]

Texts provided by Stewart and Lesko, both Republicans, show how Heap pressured them to go around Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin, the Republican leading the negotiations with Heap, and instead work with the lone Democrat on the board, Steve Gallardo, to approve the elections agreement he wanted.

According to the texts, Heap said he had gained Gallardo’s support for the deal, known as a shared services agreement, or SSA.

[snip]

Gallardo told Votebeat that he never agreed to support Heap’s proposal, and called the claim “total lies.” He said he has met with or spoken with Heap and his staff only once in an introductory meeting after Heap took office, and they did not discuss the shared services agreement.

Gallardo went a step further. 

Also from Votebeat and written by Fifield -

Democratic Maricopa County supervisor calls for corruption investigation into recorder

Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo is calling for a public-corruption investigation into the Republican county recorder, Justin Heap, citing a claim Heap made about him in text messages while privately lobbying supervisors to give him more control over elections.

In the texts, which the supervisors released to Votebeat after a public-records request, Heap asserted that he had secured Gallardo’s vote on his proposal for a shared services agreement, or SSA, outlining a new division of election duties. Gallardo, the lone Democrat on the supervisors board, says that didn’t happen.

In a statement Wednesday, Gallardo said he wants Attorney General Kris Mayes to “get to the bottom of this outrageously false claim.”

Whoever has the popcorn concession at MCBOS meetings will get rich.