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An unpublished op-ed by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer discovered through a public records request reveals that he believes the First Amendment is “the biggest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.
Closer Look: Kari Lake Didn’t Admit to Defaming RINO Election Official Stephen Richer in Defamation Case, She Outmaneuvered the Soros Thugs: “My Words Are True, But How Did They Hurt You?” (VIDEO)
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:
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