Multiple state and county officials received various forms of threats in the aftermath of the 2020 General election and the subsequent audit of that election in Maricopa County by the Arizona Senate. So far, only one man has been charged.
A Missouri man was indicted on Tuesday for allegedly leaving a voicemail containing a threat on the personal cell phone of Maricopa County Recorder Stephan Richer, an outspoken critic of the Arizona Senate’s audit of Maricopa County’s controversial and chaotic 2020 General Election.
Walter Lee Hoornstra, age 50, of Tecumseh, is charged with one count of communicating an interstate threat and one count of making a threatening telephone call.
According to the Department of Justice, “on or about May 19, 2021, Hoornstra allegedly left the following voicemail message on the personal cell phone of the election official: “So I see you’re for fair and competent elections, that’s what it says here on your homepage for your recorder position you’re trying to fly here. But you call things unhinged and insane lies when there’s a forensic audit going on. You need to check yourself. You need to do your [expletive] job right because other people from other states are watching your ass. You [expletive] renege on this deal or give them any more troubles, your ass will never make it to your next little board meeting.”
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Republican State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who once supported the audit before flip-flopping and opposing it, received a message from someone identifying themselves as “Matt Boster:”
“Listen up you s— bitch, you have one chance to give the American people the Audit report or were (sic) coming from you, we know where you live, we know where you get groceries, and we know where your family lives. You better do the right thing or your (sic) going to feel the consequences. Do you understand?
We the people are no longer willing to play…..
Senate President Fann, who had also received threats for her support of the audit immediately issued a statement on behalf of the Senate condemning the attack on Ugenti-Rita and others like it:
“No matter where a person stands on the audit of the 2020 vote in Maricopa County, any other matter of public policy, making a threat to a legislator, or their family is completely unacceptable. I understand passions run by on the issue of voter integrity, but the personal attacks and threats of violence cross the line. It is not a partisan issue; party affiliation doesn’t matter when it comes to personal safety. Members of the Legislature receiving threats will report any acts of intimidations or aggression to the authorities. Differences of opinion should not lead to a breakdown in civility. I will always follow through on my commitment to ensure the safety of our Members and their families.”
“You are a completely worthless human being and an evil slut. And you will die very soon. It will look like an accident. I’ve done this before. I have killed people. I will kill again. I will kill you. Sleep well,” one anonymous person wrote Sen. President Karen Fann.
Senate Liaison and former Secretary of State Ken Bennett reported a threat to the audit’s security team which then turned it over to law enforcement. The current Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs, has received several threats as well.
It is not only politicians who have been threatened. A lawyer associated with voter integrity issues, Christopher Alfredo Viskovic, of the Kolodin Law Group, received a death threat:
“I’m not sure if you were unscrupulous enough to actively participate in the process that resulted in Judge Coury recusing himself, or if that you were a pathetic dupe that was used by the people cleverer than you. Either way, your colleagues will remain in the shadows, while you are in the spotlight.
A dangerous place to find yourself. Sooner or later, and it will end very badly for you and quite probably violently and permanently so.
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If convicted, Hoornstra faces up to five years in prison for making a threatening interstate communication and up to two years in prison for making a threatening telephone call.