Republicans in the Arizona Legislature continue a parade of ever more questionable election conspiracy theorists spreading unproven claims in legislative hearings. The 2020 election fraud theories it investigated were unfounded.
Since early January, the Republican-controlled election committees in both the House and Senate have met with Rep. Jacqueline Parker of Mesa. Senator Wendy Rogers of Flagstaffrespectively, have introduced numerous election reform bills making it illegal to use any kind of technology to vote. Force a hand count of all votesseverely restrict mail-in ballots and early voting, and exclude everyone from voter rolls once every ten yearsamong many Other proposed changes to the state electoral system.
But in addition to approving sometimes-conflicting election bills, the commission also tried to legitimize many election conspiracy theorists and purveyors of the big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. , tried to justify it by scheduling time to brief lawmakers on their electoral theories.
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In perhaps the strangest presentation given to the Commission so far this year, Gilbert Insurance Agent Jacqueline Breger said that Governor Katie Hobbs, several Maricopa County Supervisors, 12 Maricopa County Superior Court judges and Mesa Mayor He accused him of accepting bribes from Sinaloa state. Drug cartels laundered money through house deed fraud. She also accused the legislators themselves of being hardline.
In a Feb. 23 presentation at a joint meeting of the House and Senate Election Commissions, she said the bribery plan also included an election fraud in Maricopa County.
Breger did not provide any evidence to support her claims, but only pointed to a soon-to-be-published book by Valley attorney John Thaler. her boyfriendDuring the commission’s meetings, Breger repeatedly referred to the woman who informed Thaler of the blackmail plot, but she claimed that the woman was Thaler’s ex-wife and that he had kidnapped his son. did not mention.
At one point during Breger’s speech, Prescott Republican Senator Ken Bennett told her that Breger had gone too far, and Rogers added that Breger needed to stay on the topic of the election.
Breger told the commission that Thaler had submitted the findings of the bribery allegations to the then-government. Doug Ducey in May 2022. If Ducey received that information, he and his administration would not act on it.
Breger also said Thaler had filed multiple lawsuits against his former and multiple Mesa city officials, and in those lawsuits he accused city officials of being involved in extortion, bribery, and election fraud. He didn’t even mention accusations.
According to court documents, a judge has dismissed all claims Thaler made in the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Arizona.
“Mr. Thaler’s complaint weaves a delusional and fantastical narrative that does not meet federal petition standards,” the court said in one of its rulings. His lawsuit in state court has also been dismissed for similar reasons.
Breger was invited to speak before the committee by Rep. Chandler Liz Harris. QAnon Promoter It operates a website devoted to a baseless 2020 election fraud conspiracy.
At the end of Breger’s presentation, rogers and Congressman Rachel JonesR-Tucson called out Breger’s bravery in what she shared.
Breger’s presentation came shortly after Democratic Attorney General Chris Mays released documents showing her Republican predecessor spent 10,000 hours with 60 staff investigating the 2020 election. However, no evidence of fraud was found.
Many of these claims stemmed from an “audit” of the 2020 election by the Arizona Senate, led by Florida-based firm Cyber Ninjas. Led by Donald Trump-loving election conspiracy theorists.
“In each case, the information provided was [Cyber Ninjas] It was inaccurate and false,” investigators concluded.
The Attorney General’s Office disproved claims that hundreds of dead people voted in the 2020 election, thousands of illegal votes added to the total, and that unregistered people voted in the election. bottom.
Of the 638 complaints with 430 investigations, only 22 were submitted for review by prosecutors, and only two have so far been filed for review. beliefBoth were men who did not list felony status on their voter registration and voted in the 2020 election while in prison in Pima County.
Members of the Democratic Party’s election committee, who had previously attended the committee’s regular meetings, refused to attend the full day of election conspiracy theory presentations the committee heard on February 23.
House Democrats said in a February 23 statement, “House Democrats on the Local Government Oversight and Election Commission will not attend the circus where the conspiracy was exposed in today’s seven-hour election.” “We were notified within 24 hours and were not consulted on the list of speakers or topics. I would have suggested investigating the astonishing report she did, which delved into how the lawyers of her Republican predecessor spent more than 10,000 hours investigating allegations of fraud in the 2020 election. , but I couldn’t find anything.”
In addition to Breger’s presentation, the committee also spoke to several so-called election “experts” who did not appear to be familiar with the details of Arizona’s election law.
John Mills, a retired U.S. Army colonel who previously worked in cybersecurity for the secretary of defense, told the commission that Arizona should move to all paper ballots. All Arizona voters already use paper ballots unless they have a disability and need to use a special device.
Mills also argued that allowing voter registration when people got a new driver’s license was problematic because they didn’t have to prove citizenship to get a driver’s license. Arizona requires proof of legal status in the country to obtain a driver’s license, and anyone who does not provide proof of citizenship Only allowed to vote in federal elections.
Also, Seth Kechel, who testified before the committee, said: One of the founders of Big LiKeshel, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, has his theory that something is off about the 2020 presidential election in Arizona as hundreds of thousands more Democrats voted than expected. was shared.
Keshel’s theory is based on Arizona’s voting trends over the past 75 years, during most of which Arizona was in total deficit. But the suspicion that too many Democrats turned out to be plausible in that election ignores the pre-election enthusiasm that drew large numbers of both Republicans and Democrats to the voting booth that year. record turnoutArizona demographic change.
Democrats on the legislative election committee weren’t the only ones criticizing the committee and their continued loyalty to the election machinations.
“That hearing was embarrassing and a waste of time,” Governor’s Office spokesperson Jocelyn Berry told the Arizona Mirror. I want to see you put the same amount of energy into the problem.The governor is focused on getting real results for the people of Arizona.She wastes every minute of her day in that committee hearing. I didn’t, and I’m not going to waste a minute responding to the latest unsubstantiated conspiracy theory.”
