Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap has accused the board of supervisors of failing to abide by a court order stemming from their longstanding fight over control of the county’s elections — and he wants a judge to fine the board $100,000 per day until they come into compliance.
In a court filing on Thursday, Heap’s attorney James Rogers asked Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney to hold the board in contempt.
That came over a month after Blaney issued an order finding the board illegally withheld access to information technology staff and systems from the Recorder’s Office.
Rogers claims the board hasn’t done enough to restore Heap’s IT infrastructure since Blaney handed down that ruling on April 17.
“The Board has not returned a single server, database, or website,” he wrote.
He is asking Blaney to fine the board at least $100,000 per day if the supervisors don’t come into compliance with the order within five days.
However, in the April order, Blaney directed the supervisors to either give Heap his IT staff and systems back or provide him with the funds needed to replace them.
And Rogers acknowledged that the Board of Supervisors voted to let Heap “hire 8 new IT positions” and gave his Chief Information Officer “administrative privileges nominally equivalent to those of the Board’s Deputy CIO.”
But he said the Board of Supervisors still retains control over key election-related databases and some Recorder’s Office staff “must still submit requests through the Board’s ticketing system to make needed changes to those systems.”
Throughout the dispute, the Board’s Elections Department has argued that the IT systems in question are used by both the Recorder’s Office and Board, which jointly administer elections under Arizona law, and separating them will take months.
But Rogers alleged it is politics, not logistics, that has led to delays.
“The Board does not get to impose bureaucratic obstacles or extract concessions as the price of obeying a court order,” he wrote.
And the IT issue is only one of several violations of Blaney’s court order, Rogers claims.
Rogers also accused the board of violating the order by refusing to let Heap spend $4 million appropriated to his office by the Legislature last year along with other grant funds. However, back in April, Blaney actually ruled the board has general authority over the county budget and how it spends public dollars.
In fact, the judge specifically found the board’s decision not approve that funding “was not arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion.”
He also accused the board’s elections director of overstepping his authority at ballot replacement sites, which are operated by the recorder, in recent local elections — claims the board’s attorney denies.
And Rogers took issue with the board’s decision to approve drop box locations for upcoming elections, arguing the state law gives that authority to the Recorder’s Office.
Again, the supervisors disagreed.
They cited a stipulation in Arizona’s Elections Procedures Manual that gives the board the power to approve those locations — an argument backed by Attorney General Kris Mayes.
The latest court filing shows the supervisors and Heap are no closer to resolving their year-long conflict with just weeks to go before early voting begins in Arizona’s primary elections.
In a statement, Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee blamed Heap for the impasse, saying he has not responded to invitations to meet to resolve remaining issues.
“Instead, Recorder Heap has filed a series of court actions that should concern every Maricopa County voter,” Brophy McGee said. “In recent days, he has threatened felony prosecution of county elections staff just carrying out their assigned duties, and now he seeks civil contempt charges against the Board of Supervisors and assessment of a $100,000/day fine against county taxpayers. At every turn, Recorder Heap and his attorneys have sought confrontation rather than collaboration.”
But, again, there are two sides to every story.
And Rogers, Heap’s attorney, says it is the board who will not meet.
He pointed to a May 6 letter Heap sent to Maricopa County Manager Jennifer Pokorski, proposing a schedule for returning existing IT staff and systems to the recorder’s control.
Under Heap’s plan, that IT infrastructure would have been returned to the recorder by May 22, but the board’s elections staff would have maintained access until the systems could be split.
