Two Cochise County supervisors who resisted proving their results in the November election are being asked for $37,000 in attorney fees and court costs.
This is the latest court ruling to sanction political parties for rejecting the results of the 2022 general election. In March, a court awarded attorneys’ fees and costs against unsuccessful Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem for filing a “baseless” lawsuit challenging his loss. The amount that must be paid has not yet been determined. Finchem is appealing this order.
Also, unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake could face sanctions for false allegations made in court in her ongoing challenge to that election’s results.
In Cochise County, it’s unclear whether the $37,000 fines announced Wednesday will be levied on the two Republican supervisors individually or by the county. In other lawsuits, supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd acted against the advice of county attorneys, causing the county to distance themselves from paying their legal costs.
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In the ruling, Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey McGinley granted most of the attorney fees and costs sought by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office and the Arizona Retired Americans League. McGinley was appointed to the bench by former Republican Governor Doug Ducey. it was done.
The secretary of state and a group of retirees have sued to force supervisors with the obligation to certify election results. Skipped the meeting.
That leaves the oversight board’s only Democrats, Chairman Anne English and Judd, with a 2-0 certification vote, allowing the statewide investigation to proceed and the November results to be made official. I made it.
In an email to the Republic of Arizona on Thursday, Crosby disputed any suggestion that McGinley’s certification order had been defied, arguing that there was no such explicit order. Parsing the word “certify”, I deduced that McGinley did not ask him to certify.
Crosby is the subject of a recall campaign in Southeast Arizona County. Signatures of his 4,865 registered voters in the Crosby area are required to trigger a recall vote. The deadline for filing his petition is May 3.
Please contact the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com Or follow her on Twitter at 602-228-7566 @maryjpitzl.
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