'Audit' won't end it: Arizona Republicans plan more hearings, AG will investigate and Cyber Ninjas faces more questions
Senate Republicans’ plans for the election review included spinning the results forward to change election laws in time for the 2022 mid-term elections.
The Senate is likely to hold committee hearings and possibly recommend legislation before the Legislature gets back to work in January.
Two committees could take up the work. One is more favorable to Republican hardliners.
Back in June, while the hand recount was still going on at the State Fairgrounds, the Legislature passed a bill creating a “special committee on the election audit” - the
Senate Government Committee, chaired by state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita of Scottsdale.
Ugenti-Rita, a candidate for secretary of state, has said the
election review was “botched.”
The law creating the special committee takes effect Wednesday. But the law is being challenged in court. A ruling is expected any day.
Fann has said the Senate Judiciary Committee will also play a role.
That committee is chaired by Sen. Warren Petersen of Gilbert, who issued the subpoenas for Maricopa County’s election materials and worked alongside Fann on the election review.
All five Republicans on the eight-member committee have questioned Biden’s victory.
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted Friday that any recommended legislation would have to wait until the Legislature’s regular session in January.
Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced his investigation of the election review’s findings based on draft reports leaked to the media Thursday.
“I will take all necessary actions that are supported by the evidence and where I have legal authority,” Brnovich, who’s running in a crowded Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, said in a statement Friday.
Fann forwarded the election review findings to Brnovich with
a cover letter that declared: “In the history of democracies - from ancient Athens until today - ours was the most detailed, demanding and uncompromising election audit that has ever been conducted.”
Fann’s letter doesn’t allege any specific crimes, so it’s unclear what Brnovich might investigate.
On another election front, Brnovich has been mum about
his investigation of a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies, including Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, to influence the Maricopa County ballot count and results.
The campaign is detailed in text messages and voice mails that were first reported by the Arizona Republic.
Two weeks ago, Maricopa County
cut a deal with Senate Republicans that ended a standoff over the GOP demand for access to the county’s computer network routers.
The routers were the subject of intense speculation by election conspiracy theorists. They believed an examination of the routers would confirm that outside entities somehow gained access to the county’s computer system.
Under the deal, former Republican Congressman John Shadegg was named a “special master” to oversee independent computer experts, who will answer Senate Republicans' questions about the routers.
The county has agreed to pay for the router exam. As of late last week, according to a county spokesman, a contract with Shadegg detailing the cost of the work had not been signed.
Ed Novak, of the law firm Polsinelli, helped negotiate the deal with the Senate GOP, 12 News has learned. Shadegg formerly worked at Polsinelli.
Logan’s unfinished legal business
Cyber Ninjas' Doug Logan has put off complying with a court order to turn over review-related documents, citing its pressing work on the election review.
A watchdog group wants a judge to
hold Fann in contempt for failing to turn over the Cyber Ninjas documents the Senate has in its posses.
House committee waiting on Logan
Logan has also refused to
comply with document requests from the Democratic-controlled U.S. House Oversight Committee.
The
committee has given him until Thursday to say whether he will voluntarily appear at a hearing on Oct. 7 to speak on Cyber Ninjas’ role in the election review.
Will DOJ come knocking?
The U.S. Department of Justice had warned Fann back in May not to engage in door-to-canvassing to question voters.
Cyber Ninjas had listed canvassing in specific precincts as one of its methods for investigating the election results.
The election review's draft report leaked to the media on Thursday shows Logan relied on the work of a canvasser. But all mentions of the canvasser were deleted in final reports released Friday.
Republican vs Republican
The election review gave us a preview of the intraparty battle among Republicans that could play out heading into the 2022 elections.
Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, a lifelong Republican, has emerged as the leading voice among a very small number of GOP elected officials who have publicly taken on the promoters of election lies.
Before the findings were released Friday, Gates tweeted his support for board colleague Clint Hickman’s call for GOP Chair Ward to step down.
In an interview Monday on CNN, Gates conceded Ward was unlikely to listen:
“How likely do I think that is? Well, probably not too likely. But it's time for the Republican elected officials like myself to stand up and say enough is enough.”
Arizona taxpayers will be picking up more bills for the GOP campaign to discredit the 2020 election results in Maricopa County
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