Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer (left) Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates (right)
By Matthew Casey/KJZZ
An unpublished op-ed by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer discovered through a public records request reveals that he believes the First Amendment is “the biggest threat to elections and Democracy,” Americans ‘ opinions are “disturbing,” and that “it may be time to revisit our First Amendment jurisprudence.”
The election official in Arizona’s largest county also refers to his constituents and Trump supporters who know that Joe Biden didn’t legitimately win 81 million votes as “gullible,” “crazies,” and “idiots.” He even suggests that suing citizens for defamation would be a remedy to his problems if it weren’t for the First Amendment.
Jack Butler, editor of The National Review, rejected the drafted op-ed, citing Richer’s attack on freedom of speech.
However, days earlier, Richer apparently gave a similarly written speech, ironically in commemoration of Constitution Day, to students of the Maricopa County Community College District, which was approved by the district beforehand.
In his drafted speech, Richer warns, “Despite what I’m going to say, I’m a huge fan of the Constitution” before remarking that “the Constitution today is in some ways a thorn in the side of my office. Specifically the First Amendment.” He also states, “It’s possible that our First Amendment jurisprudence needs to change,” even calling it a “religious problem.” In closing, Richer tells the college students, “If you have some time to spare to think about the problem of disinformation, I’d greatly appreciate it, and so too would all elections workers in the country.”
The Gateway Pundit previously reported on a similar op-ed published on CNN before The National Review rejected his more edgy and anti-American opinion piece. In his prior article, titled “What Happened to Trusting Experts?” Richer complained about the so-called conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election and the ongoing Arizona 2020 election audit while criticizing COVID-19 and vaccine skeptics as “Average Joes” who “somehow know better.”
This is the same Maricopa County official who sued Kari Lake with the backing of a Soros-funded nonprofit for speaking out and criticizing the stolen 2022 election, where she led by double digits in the polls until the intentional voter suppression that targeted Republicans on election day. But Richer, who helped oversee a sham election and is now trying to silence critics, claims that “the gravest threat to voting rights and our elected form of government is no longer the systemic disenfranchisement of a particular class of people, but instead the undermining of the entire election system through lies and disinformation.”
It should be remembered that Richer oversaw early voting in Lake’s stolen 2022 election for governor and founded and operated the Pro-Democracy Republicans dark money PAC aimed at eliminating candidates with a MAGA agenda. He is anything but an objective election official, and when catastrophes such as 60% of machines failing on election day and an estimated hundreds of thousands of early ballots being counted with no signature verification occurred in a race that Lake reportedly lost by less than 1%, it would seem reasonable for Lake to criticize and question the integrity of the officials who oversaw the election.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Kari Lake recently pled no contest in the lawfare defamation case, which is backed by a Soros-linked Protect Democracy, so that she could focus on her campaign against Soros-funded Democrat Ruben Gallego. This is the same leftist organization that is currently engaged in lawfare to silence The Gateway Pundit for questioning elections. Though they haven’t admitted it publicly, they seemingly share the same views that the First Amendment is “a thorn in the side” and needs to be diluted.
It was further revealed after the 2022 election that Stephen Richer’s office colluded with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to censor information they disagree with surrounding elections in Maricopa County, explicitly mentioning The Gateway Pundit’s reporting. Clearly, he hates the First Amendment.
As our readers recall, The Gateway Pundit successfully sued Maricopa County for unconstitutionally barring our correspondent, Jordan Conradson, from their press room, citing “a real or perceived conflict of interest” and claiming he is “not a bona fide correspondent of repute.”
Still, they allowed the far-left fake news media into their press room. They didn’t want us in their press room before, during, and after the rigged 2022 election because we would have asked about the actual conflicts of interest:
Soros-funded former Secretary of State Katie Hobbs oversaw and certified her own election for governor.
RINO Recorder Stephen Richer ran an anti-MAGA PAC during the election.
RINO Chairman Bill Gates called for the “humiliation” of Trump-Endorsed candidates at the ballot box leading up to the general election.
Far-left Supervisor Steve Gallardo served as a co-chair of the Latinos for Katie Hobbs coalition and a member of Hobbs’ transition team.
Katie Hobbs threatened to sue or prosecute any county official who did not vote to certify her rigged election where 60% of machines failed Republican election day voters.
Grassroots activist and EZAZ.org founder Merissa Hamilton published a bombshell thread exposing Stephen Richer’s anti-First Amendment emails on X:
MARICOPA COUNTY FEATURING ELECTION OFFICIAL STEPHEN RICHER:
“THE FIRST AMENDMENT is the Biggest Threat to Democracy and Elections”
Many have seen the article by @azfreenews on Stephen using government resources to have staff compile news on his “personal”… pic.twitter.com/vnXvDHGREJ
— Merissa Hamilton (@merissahamilton) March 30, 2024
Via Thread Reader:
MARICOPA COUNTY FEATURING ELECTION OFFICIAL STEPHEN RICHER:
“THE FIRST AMENDMENT is the Biggest Threat to Democracy and Elections”
Many have seen the article by @azfreenews on Stephen using government resources to have staff compile news on his “personal” defamation lawsuit, but not everyone saw in the article that he tried to get published by @nro, but it was TOO EXTREME for even them
WHY WAS IT TOO EXTREME?
Let’s break it down, shall we!
Article: azfreenews.com/2024/03/marico…
In August of 2021, Jack Butler, the Submissions Editor at National Review, reached out to Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, asking if he would like to place another op-ed in @NRO
Stephen offered to write a piece making the case that the “Stop the Steal” movement is “anti-conservative”
But on Sept. 23rd, 2021, Recorder Stephen Richer presented a very different op-ed & copied one of his staff on the email
Stephen said, “Not the article I promised, but what do you think about this one”
Jack Butler from @NRO gave a reply that it was essentially too extreme for them
What made it so controversial?
Jack said Recorder Stephen Richer needed to “shed the bits about reconsidering First Amendment jurisprudence”
But he could keep the parts about the D *mini*n lawsuits “having their desired effect”
Recorder Stephen Richer opens up lamenting that his job has caused him to be disturbed by humanity
And that’s led to him having a new perspective on the First Amendment…. He references European laws as an alternative
You know, the ones where the Police arrest you for posting almost any opinion on social media that the government doesn’t approve of at any given moment
It should be noted that as I write this, there have been several posts of the FBI visiting people to “check in on their social media posts”
He goes on to lament that the First Amendment is particularly “protective of political speech” and that seems to be a BIG problem for him when it comes to people talking about elections
In Recorder Stephen’s world of receiving a paycheck from your hard-earned tax dollars, YOUR OPINIONS AREN’T WELCOME!
Recorder Stephen continues by saying that “local crazies” — YES YOU — believe the “lies” about election operations
We should apparently just TRUST OUR GOVERNMENT as the MINISTRY OF TRUTH — how very Orwellian
He claims prominent politicians tell him in private that they believe elections are fine
He says the First Amendment means he “can’t touch these idiots” — especially for him as a public official
He suggests suing for DEFAMATION as a remedy — sound familiar
Recorder Stephen Richer goes on to complain about America First news @OANN and Telegram, calling his voters “IDIOTS”
What an election tagline — “YOU ARE AN IDIOT IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING I SAY AND VOTE FOR ME BECAUSE I AM THE GOVERNMENT”
Recorder Stephen Richer says that the First Amendment is “the biggest threat to elections and democracy”
He claims the First Amendment is the cause of people “dropping out of elections” — Of course, people losing trust in elections has absolutely nothing to do with citizens just wanting the most secure and competent elections possible that FOLLOW THE LAW {note my sarcasm}
This is a theme we’ve seen recently at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, where Supervisor Clint Hickman blamed peaceful citizens participating in public comment as the reason they face violent threats
I am a survivor of violence, and I find Hickman’s statements extremely offensive and, quite frankly anti-American
While violence should always be condemned, it’s massively irresponsible for a public official to falsely blame peaceful people for the actions of others that have absolutely nothing to do with them
We’ve heard such rhetoric from despots in the last century in Europe, and it didn’t end well
While I condemn such rhetoric too, Clint Hickman has a right to say such haphazard speech, seemingly looking to whip people up into a frenzy since it was getting close to the 11:30 MAG Region closing time
REMINDER: Elections are the First Amendment antidote to politicians we don’t like!!!!
PS. As a former government employee, I also experienced threats. There are a lot of unstable people out there, and everyone is their verbal punching bag, unfortunately. If only there was a large county that had a tremendous budget for mental health to help people resolve their demons
NOPE! Too busy distributing health services by race instead of need.
Recorder Stephen Richer closes his op-ed with the hope that the D* mini *n defamation lawsuit “resets” some of this First Amendment jurisprudence “landscape”
He goes on to suggest that whether or not the election tabulation systems provider wins their defamation lawsuits, it’s within the government’s best interest to limit First Amendment rights in America
This is TERRIFYING STUFF!!!!
The man (Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer) who oversees one of the most essential functions of the First Amendment, OUR RIGHT TO VOTE, believes it’s the government’s role — in a way his job — to limit that fundamental human right of speech
The Founders must be rolling over in their graves!!!
Without free speech, the consent to govern does not exist! We quickly slip into tyranny!!
But IT GETS WORSE!!!!
A few days earlier in 2021, Recorder Stephen Richer sent his staff a version of the op-ed to use as a speech on CONSTITUTION DAY — a sacred day in the history of human rights
NOTE: He says he oversees the administration of elections, which is precisely the type of description he’s suing @karilake for defamation over
Maricopa County Recorder Steven Richer’s speech seems designed to trample on the Constitution, but he tries to give it a smiley diet-coke cover
He reminds us he’s broken the main promise he made to us — “Make the Recorder’s Office Boring Again”
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer goes into the Constitutional history of voting rights before laying down the hammer and fully trampling on one of the most sacred documents in human rights history
THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS A THORN IN HIS SIDE
He says: “I posit that the gravest threat to voting rights and our elected form of government is no longer the systematic disenfranchisement of a particular class of people, but instead the undermining of the entire
election system through lies and disinformation.
And it is in this respect, that the Constitution today is in some ways a thorn in the side of my office. Specifically the First Amendment.”
Well, yeah, dude…. LITERALLY, THE POINT OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT WAS SO IT WOULD BE A THORN IN THE SIDE OF TYRANTS AND DESPOTS
He also complains of “C*VID” misinformation on the vaccine — This is where I get especially perturbed
My side note: I am still heartbroken that I lost the co-founder of and one of my closest friends earlier this year in part to a common lethal symptom of taking vaccines, who was forced to take the vaccine by Trudeau to see her newborn grandbaby
My dear friend was disabled, so in 2020, she took a scooter she adjusted for her needs and went door to door in triple-digit weather to get that “Make the Recorder’s Office Boring Again” man elected in support of the FIRST AMENDMENT and free, fair, and competent elections!
The 501c3 arm of our organization is currently suing Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and the County. My co-founder planned on being the main plaintiff because she saw it as the best recourse to get that man and his office to follow the law, giving us our best chance to fairly re-elect President Trump and save freedom! She wanted Stephen to know how she felt about his job performance.
Unfortunately, she died suddenly right before the lawsuit was supposed to be filed.
On the morning of her death, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting to review the Presidential Preference Election Plan. We couldn’t make it because I was attending to her family in ensuring her body was well looked after according to her wishes.
Reportedly, Clint Hickman complained we weren’t at the meeting. I would have spoken about this at the PPE certification meeting last week, but Chairman @jacksellers banned public commentEZAZ.org
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer closes his speech by saying, “he doesn’t have a solution” to the problem of the pesky First Amendment —
He calls it a RELIGIOUS PROBLEM too — HAPPY EASTER FELLOW CHRISTIANS!
He says he’s “hesitant to disrupt something that has served this country well for so long”
Wow! A lot can change in two (& three) years!!!! Doesn’t seem so hesitant now.
BUT IT STILL GETS WORSE!!!
The response from his staff (presumably) wasn’t anything like Jack Butler’s — kindly saying it’s too extreme
NOPE!!!
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer’s staff is ALL-IN saying, “I love it”
This man, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, NOW has the hubris to ask the voters to re-hire him to finish what he’s started
This begs the question
If he’s using his government staff to assist in this effort of First Amendment jurisprudence, what exactly is happening in his office with your hard-earned money?
That’s a great question and I hope we get some answers on this!!!!
In the meantime, you can download the full speech and op-ed public record requests from Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer at
BY THE WAY
It’s definitely just a coincidence that my entire account was suspended yesterday while I have been working on government accountability in Maricopa County with a whole department run by a man who seeks First Amendment Jurisprudence while the Supreme Court is reviewing a case as to whether or not the government can coordinate with social media companies to suppress our speech and even access to the platforms
TOTAL COINCIDENCE!!!!!
The post RINO AZ Election Official Who Sued Kari Lake Shows His Disgust for US Constitution – Says The First Amendment is “The Biggest Threat to Elections and Democracy”, Suggests Restrictions on Free Speech in FOIA’d Emails appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
