Cochise County Supervisors Should be Prosecuted
From Janet Breen, Sierra Vista, AZ
We need Arizona attorney general Kris Mayes' help in Cochise County.
In the last election, Cochise was the only county in America that faced a serious threat of disenfranchisement. The county's electorate was held hostage by two county supervisors, Tom Crosby (R) and Peggy Judd (R).
Both elected officials violated their oath of office by refusing to certify the county's election results. Were it not for the courts, the votes might not ever have been counted.
Crosby defied the judges order and never voted to certify.
Crosby and Judd also called for a 100% hand count of the election even though they were advised that it was illegal. When they ordered the elections director to conduct the hand count, she said no.
Crosby and Judd's response was to sue her. The elections director recently resigned, citing harassment.
Our supervisors base their decisions on whims and delusions and then carry them out by decree. The rule of law means nothing to them.
Their wrongdoing must be prosecuted to dissuade other rogue supervisors from following suit and restore the rule of law in Cochise County.
Recall Effort is Underway for Tom Crosby; Judd Recall Uncertain at the Present Time
Noting that Cochise County's vote totals in the midterm election went more than 55% Republican, which is pretty typical, the fears that provoked these two supervisors to violate the public trust and their oath of office and risk being prosecuted for violating the law doesn't make a lot of sense. They bought into fearmongering spread by gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Senate candidate Blake Masters and State Representative Mark Finchem who ran for Secretary of State. All three of the candidates easily carried Cochise County but that didn't stop the conspiracy theorists from refusing to certify the totals, based on a false claim that the machine count wasn't valid, and then demanding a hand count, which the state courts had ruled illegal.
Finchem, by the way, is also a member of the Oath Keepers militia group.
The false information floated by these campaigns, especially Lake's unsuccessful bid for governor, was picked up by supervisors in two other Arizona counties, Yavapai and Mohave, also won by Republicans, and carried to other counties in an attempt to mess up the certification of Arizona's votes. This attempt was based on frustration over the fact that Democrats now carry Arizona's largest two counties, specifically Maricopa County, and the vote totals for Democrats from there, combined with Pima County, and a larger than usual Democratic turnout in many of the red counties, led to Democrats sweeping all but one of the statewide offices, including holding Mark Kelly's Senate seat. Apparently, a couple of the supervisors thought that getting rural counties to hold up certification of the vote would stop it altogether, in spite of a legal requirement that mandated the supervisors certify by a certain date. But ultimately, only these two Cochise County supervisors held things up, while the others talked about it and then complied with the law, certified the vote and dropped demands for a hand count.
The supervisors from Yavapai and Mohave counties who tried to stir up this trouble should also face prosecution and removal from office for encouraging counties to miss certification deadlines, count votes by hand, and fail to follow through with their legal obligation to certify the vote. Had Cochise County refused to certify, it would have given Katie Hobbs and the other Democrats a wider margin of victory, it would have led to the election of the Democrat running for state superintendent of public instruction, instead of a narrow loss, and it would have cost Republican Juan Ciscomani his congressional seat, That would have been inexcusable incompetence on the part of the two Republican supervisors.
Resignation of Long Time County Elections Director
One of the casualties of Crosby and Judd's incompetence was the resignation of long time county elections director Lisa Marra. Marra filed grievances against the two supervisors, and the court awarded her over $30,000 in legal expenses, something a small county like Cochise can ill afford. She cited harassment, threats and a hostile work environment as her reasons for leaving the post due to what were labelled intolerable working conditions, requiring Ms. Marra to resign "to protect her own health and safety."
Marra's resignation ignited a groundswell of support for recalling the two supervisors as public awareness of how close the county's voters came to being disenfranchised by them has grown substantially. A petition is gathering signatures to recall Crosby in his district of the county and according to organizers, has "plenty of momentum." There are also signatures being gathered to recall Judd, though the status of that effort has not been reported in the local news media.
Republicans Breaking the Law and Getting Away With It
This is just another egregious example of Republicans disrespecting American democracy, breaking the law when it comes to elections, to thwart the will of the people, and getting away with it. Apparently, there will be some consequences for Crosby and Judd, beyond the anger over the expense of their legal fees and their callous disregard for the ballots of the people. If Mayes decides to prosecute, there are consequences for pressuring a county employee to break the law. The letter writer from Sierra Vista, Arizona is correct for asking the state attorney general to prosecute the supervisors who broke the law. The consequence for that should be removal from office and jail time.
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