BREAKING: NY Times Publishes Arizona Attorney's Emails Re: "Fake Electors" Plans

The New York Times this morning published 2020 emails from Phoenix attorney Jack Wilenchik about the plans to assemble "fake" electors to help stop the certification of the Electoral College count.

Wilenchik was representing AZGOP Chair - and Trump elector - Kelli Ward in her contest of the election, which was before the Arizona Supreme Court on December 8. He was also communicating with Trump attorney/advisor Boris Epshteyn (and Christina Bobb) about the cases and the plans to "sending in 'fake' electoral votes to Pence".

The emails show that Wilenchik seemed to have a clear-eyed view of both the plans and the court cases - he used emojis to clarify that it would be better to call them "alternative" votes, and that the Arizona Supreme Court was likely to deny his appeal of Superior Court Judge Randall Warner's decision.

In fact, the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously denied his appeal later that day. (As our Arizona's Law article had suggested the day before.)

Wilenchik also discussed the plan to convene the unelected Trump/Pence electors in Phoenix. He viewed it as "fake" votes to give Congress/Pence a chance to dispute election. "Kind of wild/creative", but no "legal harm" in it. (He stated that Ward raised the idea of keeping the convening of the fake slate secret and springing it on Congress and the media on January 6.)

Interestingly, one of the emails also indicates that Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs was trying to get Wilenchik to testify before the Senate on the evidence uncovered in the litigation. (This was the case where a sampling of ballots in the East Valley were inspected and found a high enough level of accuracy that, if extended, would have only changed 103 votes to Trump; not nearly enough to impact the Arizona results in Biden's favor.)

This article was reported by AZ Law founder Paul Weich. Paul is currently running for a seat in Arizona's House of Representatives.

"AZ Law" includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate courts, etc. AZ Law is founded by Phoenix attorney Paul Weich, and joins Arizona's Politics on the internet. 

AZ Law airs on non-profit Sun Sounds of Arizona, a statewide reading service that provides audio access to printed material for people who cannot hold or read print material due to a disability. If you know someone who could benefit from this 24/7 service, please let them know about member-supported Sun Sounds. And, YOU can donate or listen here. 

Previous episodes of AZ Law can be streamed or downloaded here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

BREAKING: "Unqualified"! Hobbs Moves To Exclude Doug Logan & Ben Cotton Testimony From Tomorrow's Hearing On Electronic Voting Machines (READ Motion)

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs filed a Motion to exclude testimony from former Cyber Ninja Doug Logan and other election conspiracy theorists from tomorrow's hearing. U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi set aside several hours for evidence and arguments on whether to grant an injunction to prevent the use of electronic voting machines in this year's (underway) elections.

The lawsuit was brought by Trump-endorsed candidates for Governor (Kari Lake) and Secretary of State (Mark Finchem). 

The Hobbs' Motion in Limine argues that

"Plaintiffs rely on declarations and anticipated testimony from five individuals: John Mills, Ben Cotton, Walter Daugherity, Douglas Logan, and Shawn Smith.  Their declarations and anticipated testimony, however, advance generalized conclusions that voting machines are unreliable. These opinions largely rest on conjecture, conspiracy theories, and self-serving statements and reports that were produced to (unsuccessfully) overturn the 2020 election results. Plaintiffs’ proffered declarations and anticipated testimony, which purport to be expert opinion, are unreliable, unhelpful to the trier of fact, and irrelevant to proving Plaintiffs’ claims. The declarations’ conclusions are hardly worthy of the kind of analysis required for “scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge,” but even if they were, Plaintiffs’ “experts” are unqualified to offer opinions in the areas of electronic voting systems or electronic voting system security."

The five hour hearing is also set to include arguments on Maricopa County's Motion to Dismiss the entire case. 

Here is today's Motion to Strike/Exclude:

This article was reported by AZ Law founder Paul Weich. Paul is currently running for a seat in Arizona's House of Representatives.

"AZ Law" includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate courts, etc. AZ Law is founded by Phoenix attorney Paul Weich, and joins Arizona's Politics on the internet. 

AZ Law airs on non-profit Sun Sounds of Arizona, a statewide reading service that provides audio access to printed material for people who cannot hold or read print material due to a disability. If you know someone who could benefit from this 24/7 service, please let them know about member-supported Sun Sounds. And, YOU can donate or listen here. 

Previous episodes of AZ Law can be streamed or downloaded here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

BREAKING: Rep. Biggs' Campaign Spends $92,000 On Legal Fees (READ Campaign Finance Report)

UPDATE, 10:25pm: Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar's campaign paid $55,000 in legal fees during the 2nd quarter. $45,000 was paid to Alex Kolodin's New Orleans-based firm, and another $10,000 to Tim LaSota. Gosar filed his report moments ago, after the midnight EDT deadline.

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs has spent $92,000 in legal fees since March 2022. Most of those fees were paid in May and were likely related to the unsuccessful challenge to his nomination by Democratic-related groups. However, that was also the month the January 6 Select Committee issued a subpoena to Biggs and he objected to it.

The noteworthy expenses were disclosed today in the Biggs' campaign finance report filed with the FEC today. Arizona's Law has reached out to the Biggs campaign for comment, and will update this report as necessary.

Biggs retained Arizona political law attorneys Kory Langhofer and Tom Basile (Statecraft), and began paying them in March. Langhofer has represented former President Donald Trump committees and many other Republican candidates and groups.

For example, Rep. Debbie Lesko's campaign also retained Statecraft and paid them $7,000 on June 1. (Rep. Paul Gosar's campaign has not yet filed.)

In March, Biggs - more accurately, Biggs' contributors - paid $4,215 (noted in the previous report). The following month, $7,000 was paid. The Biggs campaign sent Statecraft $66,996 on May 17 and another $13,987 on June 14.

The Democratic challenge to Biggs, Gosar and Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem was based on their participation in planning the January 6 insurrection. The cases were filed on April 7 and were finally decided by the Arizona Supreme Court on May 9.

Biggs' campaign finance filing shows that legal fees were incurred and/or paid both before and after the nomination challenge.

But for the legal fees, Biggs' campaign brought in nearly the exact amount of contributions as they paid in expenses, and their cash on hand dropped to $777,000. Biggs has no primary election competition, but an independent (Clint Smith) and Democrat (Javier Ramos) will be on the general election ballot.

For perspective, the legal fees paid to date by Biggs' campaign is dwarfed by the $1.1M spent by Arizona colleague Rep. David Schweikert  during his long-running ethics probe.

This article was reported by AZ Law founder Paul Weich. Paul is currently running for a seat in Arizona's House of Representatives.

"AZ Law" includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate courts, etc. AZ Law is founded by Phoenix attorney Paul Weich, and joins Arizona's Politics on the internet. 

AZ Law airs on non-profit Sun Sounds of Arizona, a statewide reading service that provides audio access to printed material for people who cannot hold or read print material due to a disability. If you know someone who could benefit from this 24/7 service, please let them know about member-supported Sun Sounds. And, YOU can donate or listen here. 

Previous episodes of AZ Law can be streamed or downloaded here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

BREAKING: AZ Supreme Court To Brnovich and Ducey: Meh, Election Procedures Manual Challenge Is Not "Extraordinary"

The Arizona Supreme Court today effectively thumbed their collective noses at Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's late lawsuit to try to force a new Elections Procedures Manual from Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.

The Justices refused to reach down and take the appeal from the intermediate Court of Appeals, saying none of the criteria - including for "extraordinary circumstances" - have been met. (Governor Doug Ducey also urged the court to take the case.)

The decision guarantees that Brnovich will not succeed in forcing a rewrite. Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper said the statutes setting up the process for approval of a new manual had been followed and that Brnovich was "far too late" in filing the lawsuit.

Here is the Order: