An attorney for Maricopa County accused a Maricopa County Republican Party official of lying under oath in court.
We the People Alliance Arizona, an organization known for spreading conspiracies about the state’s elections, filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County in 2022 seeking the names of election workers who handled ballots in 2020 general election
According to the lawsuit, the group sought documents related to temporary workers who conducted signature verification and disciplinary records for temporary or permanent employees who were disciplined for failing to perform election-related duties.
The county provided some of those records “but withheld others based upon the ‘best interests of the state,’” according to court documents. That includes the names of election workers, which the county said it withholds due to increased threats of violence against those workers.
We the People Alliance Arizona Chair Shelby Busch, who is also the county GOP vice chair, testified in court on June 12 that she had “seen no real evidence” of those threats.
In a motion filed on Wednesday, Deputy County Attorney Joseph LaRue said that testimony wasn’t truthful.
He cited a recently uncovered video of Busch at a campaign event on March 20 saying she supported candidates running Christian campaigns before stating she would lynch Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who is Jewish.
“She herself had threatened to lynch Steven Richer because, as an observant Jew, he is not a ‘good Christian’ running a ‘good, Christian-foundation campaign’ with whom she can have unity,” LaRue wrote.
In an email on Thursday, Busch told KJZZ News the comment was a joke.
“Everyone knows I don’t like Richer,” she said. “The statement was a joke and was said in jest. I do not condone and would never condone violence against anyone. It was political hyperbole and no way meant as a threat of violence.
LaRue argued “this despicable language is not a joke.”
“Even if this Court were to conclude that Ms. Busch’s threat to murder Recorder Richer was a joke, that would not ultimately change the analysis for this Court,” he wrote. “Ms. Busch made the statement that she would lynch Recorder Richer if he walked into the room in which she was speaking; that statement could reasonably be perceived as a threat.”
LaRue asked Judge Scott Blaney to consider the video as evidence to “properly evaluate” Busch’s credibility as a witness.
