Maricopa County often makes claims with no evidence to prove them.
The Gateway Pundit reported earlier that Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been colluding with Maricopa County officials to censor information they disagree with surrounding elections in Maricopa County.
In the meeting report, it is noted:
Mr. Richer thanked the subcommittee for their partnership to ensure safe, secure, and reliable elections across the country by fighting current and emerging misinformation and disinformation threats, and provided an overview of his background. Mr. Richer was elected in November 2020 and is responsible for the recording of election documents, a voter registration database of 2.6 million registered voters-the second largest county voter database in the nation-, and the administration of elections. He identified a shift in public interest in how elections are administered in 2016 and outlined how his office has refined their messaging to stay on pace with the public’s increased interest. One way his office has met the demand of increased public interest is through media engagement. He stated that the 2020 elections provided media the opportunity to learn about elections and the mechanics behind administering elections. He discussed new and difficult challenges with how the nature of the media landscape has changed considerably. Such changes include that all outlets are not held to the same journalistic standards, many are not open to government feedback, and they are not concerned with releasing correct information.
Mr. Richer walked the subcommittee through three examples to illustrate situations his office is currently facing to include:
Misinformation: A news release by Gateway Pundit provided factually inaccurate reporting announcing that Maricopa County elections officials held an unannounced meeting at the election and tabulation center. This meeting was, in fact, a publicly announced tour with members of the public and legislators from both parties.
Read the full report here.
The claim that we provided factually inaccurate information references a report from November 2021, where we raised a few questions over a meeting at the Maricopa County Tabulation Center.
As we reported, The Gateway Pundit even called MCTEC for information about this meeting, but the receptionist had no clue that a meeting had taken place or what had transpired. After conducting a search, they found no record of the meeting.
This meeting was also shortly after We The People AZ Alliance sent hundreds of FOIA requests to Maricopa County in relation to election fraud and attempts to derail the Arizona audit.
You may notice that we made no claims in the article without clarifying that it was based on speculation.
Some information from the report:
Crooked Secretary of State Katie Hobbs also appears to be pictured in a red sweater.
The next photo below appears to show Maricopa County Board Chairman Jack Sellers wearing a grey coat, to the left of a possible Secretary of State Katie Hobbs wearing a maroon sweater. Reynaldo Valenzuela and Scott Jarrett also appear in this photo on the right
It is unclear what they are examining.
One woman in the photo appears to be recording with her cellphone.
Katie Hobbs, Stephen Richer, Jack Sellers, Reynaldo Valenzuela, and Scott Jarrett appear to be photographed at MCTEC on November 16th at about 2:30 p.m.
No public notices appear to have been made about this meeting.
No social media posts appear to have been made.
We did not make any “factually inaccurate” claims.
For all we knew and for all the Maricopa County employees knew, this meeting was completely unannounced.
Stephen Richer shared this article shortly after we published it, calling it “moronic,” claiming they were giving a tour to legislators, and contemptuously stating, “it’s our freaking office, we can go in it.”
He must have forgotten who pays his salary.
Oh. And lol at the “journalist” who didn’t do 5 minutes of research to learn that open meeting laws aren’t even in the ballpark of being applicable here.
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) November 19, 2021
Kari Lake asked for the meeting minutes the next day, and she was met with another attack on The Gateway Pundit.
Richer: Hi Kari! Minutes are not required for educational tours among the Recorder, two Republican legislators, and election officials. I’m afraid the author of the article isn’t even in the ballpark of understanding open meeting laws. Have a great weekend!
Hi Kari! Minutes are not required for educational tours among the Recorder, two Republican legislators, and election officials. I'm afraid the author of the article isn't even in the ballpark of understanding open meeting laws. Have a great weekend!
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) November 20, 2021
TGP correspondent Jordan Conradson then took to Twitter, stating that the County employees had no idea about the meeting. Still, he received no response from Stephen Richer regarding the matter.
Stephen Richer blocked Conradson’s phone number for no apparent reason shortly after he was elected and decided to stab Arizona in the back.
And why did you block my number? Why are you afraid to answer some questions?
— Jordan Conradson🇺🇸 (@ConradsonJordan) November 20, 2021
Also, according to the CISA report, “Mr. Richer suggested that CISA hold bootcamps for media representatives such as FOX News or CNN to enhance media’s understanding of how elections are administered, as well as work with members of Congress to
reach the information leaders.”
This may explain why Maricopa County refused to allow The Gateway Pundit to attend 2022 election press conferences and report on election information. We were not invited to a narrative bootcamp.
However, The Gateway Pundit recently reported that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted an Emergency Injunction and ordered Maricopa County, Arizona, to issue a press pass to TGP’s Arizona Correspondent, Jordan Conradson.
Jordan Conradson contacted Maricopa County’s Communications Director, Fields Moseley, who testified against The Gateway Pundit in this lawsuit.
Moseley asked us to send an email. However, they have not responded to our email requesting more information and evidence of Richer’s claims.
Did Stephen Richer make a false accusation against The Gateway Pundit to the Federal Government in an attempt to silence us?
