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.

Competence: Thy name is not Justin Heap

Heap (R-MAGA ideology matters more than reality) is the Maricopa County Recorder.  

In 2024, he defeated incumbent Stephen Richer (R-knew what he was doing) in the Republican primary by nearly 9%. (A third candidate received nearly 22% of the vote).

He went on to win the general election by a little less than 4.5% of the vote.

Heap seems to be finding that actually doing the job well is more difficult than criticizing someone who did the job well.

From Arizona PBS' Horizon -

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office mailed about 83,000 voters an incorrect letter warning them that they would be moved to the inactive voter list if they didn’t respond, a mistake the Recorder’s Office blamed on a printing error. The voters, roughly 3% of the total registered voters in Maricopa County, were supposed to receive a different letter entirely, according to Sam Stone, chief of staff in the Recorder’s Office. The letter’s recipients were incorrectly told that the Recorder’s Office had received notification from the Arizona Department of Transportation that they had obtained a driver’s license in a different state. The voters were also told they would be moved to the inactive voter list if they didn’t respond within 90 days. These voters will not be moved to the inactive voter list, Stone confirmed. It also drew sharp intraparty rebukes from two fellow Republicans on the county Board of Supervisors, who said their phones were swamped with angry calls.

Hmmm...

Gotta love it when extremist Rs eat other Rs

Maybe the new GOP symbol should be from Medium (note: I don't agree with the author's "both sides" premise. but I like the pic)- 

From Arizona Capitol Times, written by Reagan Priest, dated 6/10 -

Freedom Caucus announces primary challengers for 

Arizona Corporation Commission

Two Republican state representatives announced their plans to challenge two incumbent Corporation Commissioners in 2026, saying the two commissioners have not done enough to support President Donald Trump’s energy agenda and protect ratepayers. 

Reps. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, and Ralph Heap, R-Mesa, were recruited by Arizona Freedom Caucus Chair and state Senator Jake Hoffman to run against Republican commissioners Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers. The two commissioners were first elected in 2022 and are eligible to run for a second term next year.

Note: Ralph Heap is the father of Justin Heap (R-MAGA), the current Maricopa County Recorder.

Hoffman recruited Marshall and Heap to run in the R primary because he feels that Thompson and Myers, as bad as they are, aren't Trumpy enough.

He's also recruited Kimberly Yee, the current (and termed out) AZ state treasurer, to mount a primary challenge to Tom Horne, the incumbent AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction.

He has recruited Rep. Alexander Kolodin to challenge incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes for AZ Secretary of State.  Kolodin may face a primary is his quest to the R nominee for SOS.

Hoffman has endorsed Andy Biggs in the R primary for governor (Dear Leader hedged his bets and endorsed the two major candidates in that race which kind of obviates that move by Hoffman),  Given Biggs' noted inability to fundraise means that he'll need Hoffman more than the basically self-funding Karrin Taylor Robson will.

In fact, the only race where Hoffman hasn't issued an endorsement (at least, not that I can find) is the race for AZ Attorney General.  Fellow state senator Warren Petersen is running in that one.  Or maybe I should say "Senate President Warren Petersen."

Hoffman isn't likely to do something to tick him off while both are members of the state legislature.

Note: as of this writing, neither Marshall nor Heap have formed committees for their runs at ACC slots; however, both have filed Statements of Interest with the SOS.

Sneaky bad bill alert: HB2546

It's scheduled to go before the AZ Senate's Judiciary and Elections committee this week.

It passed in the House unanimously but certain folks may not have read it.

Proposed by Lupe Diaz (R-LD19), the bill would add a section to Arizona state law to mandate that county recorders oversee school board elections.

Problem?  It completely bypasses county boards of supervisors.

And the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and the current Maricopa County Recorder, Justin Heap, aren't best of friends.

To put it mildly.

From Votebeat, written by Jen Fifield, dated 2/27 -

In Arizona’s Maricopa County, a public ‘battle’ for control of elections

Maricopa County’s new recorder is rejecting an agreement that splits control of the county’s elections between his office and supervisors, and is threatening to sue the supervisors if they don’t give him more power.

Recorder Justin Heap’s protest puts control over elections in the state’s most populous and high-profile swing county up in the air and sets up a messy fight between prominent Republican officials that could affect voters, with local elections approaching in May and the 2026 gubernatorial election looming.

As of now, the AZ associations for school superintendents and counties oppose the bill.

Early ballots are beginning to arrive

And mine has already arrived.

The ballot is long this year -

I was going to skip one race (CD1) if the Democratic nominee ran as R-lite in the general election campaign.

Amish Shah, the Democratic nominee, has done so; however, a Republican, House Speaker Mike Johnson said something on NBC's Meet The Press today that made change my mind on the topic.

Johnson stated the the U.S. had a peaceful transfer of power after the election in 2020.

From the NBCNews transcript of today's MTP episode (emphasis added by me) -

[snip]

SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON:

That’s – no, the point is the process works. We have the peaceful transfer of power. We did in 2020. We will in 2024. Everybody can sigh and take a deep breath. Our system is going to work. We have the greatest system in the history of the world because we live in the greatest country in the world. But that last part is in jeopardy right now. This is a decisive election, and everybody knows it, and that's why we're going to be -- have given the chance to run this country again and we're going to turn it around, and I can't wait.

The people who feared for their lives and the families of those killed during the insurrection of January 6, 2021 may disagree on that subject.

Bottom line:  There's no way that a shameless liar like him should be allowed to continue to be speaker and this race may end his speakership, if Shah wins the race.

Another race that was, interestingly, also decided for me by a Republican (many Republicans, in this case) was the race for Maricopa County Recorder.

If Republican incumbent Stephen Richer made it through their primary to face Democratic challenger Tim Stringham in the general election, I would have had a decision to make.  I value competence.

However, R voters my decision an easy one - they nominated Justin Heap, an unqualified ideologue, for the job.

My take on statewide ballot questions is here;

As for the retention of the judges who are on this year's ballot, Civic Engagement Beyond Voting has a scorecard here.

The complete report from the Arizona Judicial Performance Review Commission (JPR) is here.  One caveat:  a commission that is part of the state's judicial branch believes that all of the judges on the ballot meet their standards. [start sarcasm] Quelle surprise! [/end sarcasm]

What JPR doesn't evaluate or even care about are judges who are lousy human beings and worse public servants.

I'll be voting to not retain Clint Bolick and Kathryn King of the AZ Supreme Court and Angela Paton of the AZ Court of Appeals.  Bolick and King voted to uphold Arizona's pre-statehood abortion ban and Paton is unqualified for two reasons: 1. she's a Federalist society stooge and 2. she's married to former legislator and current industry lobbyist Jonathan Paton, who was one of the authors of Proposition 137, the scheme from legislative Republicans to do away with judicial retention elections.

Note: Bolick, King, and Paton were appointed by former governor Doug Ducey.

The one Maricopa County judge I'll be voting to not retain is civil court judge Christopher Coury, who's got temperament issues.

The best thing for Tim Stringham in his quest to be county recorder might be for Stephen Richer to lose in the Republican primary

Richer is the current Maricopa County Recorder.

I spent some time watching the R debate for Maricopa County Recorder, sponsored by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission and the Arizona Media Association.

Richer seems, well, "competent."

Justin Heap, a current state legislator, was simply a conspiracy theory-spouting hot mess.

However, the other R primary candidate, Donald Hiatt, made Heap seem polished and well-rounded.

During his opening statement, at the 6:04 mark, he conflated the Ten Commandments with the U.S. Constitution.

And things went downhill from there.

In his defense, he did frequently point out that he is not a politician.

It showed.

If R voters like vagueness, they'll vote for Heap or Hiatt.

Stringham is probably hoping they do.

Committee update

This is about committees formed not placement on a ballot.  I'll do another of these posts when ballots come out.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list; the people listed are people I have something to say about.  This is not intended as a slight toward the others, some of whom will win their races.  I just have nothing to say about them at this point.

Lesko is a former member (actually, she's a current member but isn't running for reelection this year) of Congress and the AZ state lege.

Heap is a current member of the state lege, and shockingly (OK, not really shocking news here) he has ethical issues.

Skinner was appointed as Maricopa County Sheriff and is now running for a full term.

Kamp is a former police officer and is running for a term as county sheriff.

Grove is a failed 2022 candidate for AZ AG, losing in the primary to eventual gen election loser Abe Hamadeh.