With the polls having closed nearly 300 hours ago, and the ballot count continuing, pressures on staff in Maricopa County appear to be taking their toll.
Much of the tension stems from failures on the part of the County’s Election Department, which has led to national ridicule. An estimated 48 percent of the County’s 95 voting centers, which were only open on Election Day, had printer issues that left an untold number of voters disenfranchised.
From tweets mocking the public to abusive behavior towards campaign staff, the crew at Maricopa County seems to be in meltdown.
We've asked Maricopa County for answers.
This is what we get in return.pic.twitter.com/ENKq4hTnMc
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) November 18, 2022
This week, a Twitter account associated with the Kari Lake campaign, posted a video of a purported conversation between Maricopa County Assistant Attorney Tom Liddy and RNC attorney Benjamin Mehr. In the video, Liddy, who has a reputation for being a hothead, is heard accusing Mehr of threatening him and then proceed to abuse him.
Liddy is the son of disgraced convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy, who was the Nixon administration’s liaison and leader of a group of men who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex. For his role in the burglary, Liddy was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was ordered to pay $40,000 in fines. He was finally released from prison in 1977.
However, G. Gordon might be best known for his bizarre claim that in order to rid himself of the fear of rats he ate one as a child:
One of the more unusual aspects of Liddy’s character was his claim to have cooked a rat and eaten part of it in order to overcome his fear of the rodents.
He recounted the event to NPR’s Fresh Air in 1980, telling host Terry Gross how he beat his childhood fear.
“First thing I did—this, again, when I was a child—I would go down underneath the piers on the waterfront and try to confront the rats. And this didn’t work very well because first of all, rats swim very well,” Liddy said.
“And they would just jump off and swim away. And I remained fearful of them—less and less, to be sure, but still, I had residual dread.
“And finally, when my sister’s cat killed one freshly, I recalled the fact that certain American Indian tribes used to consume the heart of an enemy, that they consider to be courageous, to overcome the fear of that tribe.”
The younger Liddy made an unsuccessful bid for Congress and was later Chairman of the Maricopa County GOP for one contentious term. He was also responsible for the contentious tactics the County chose to use against the Arizona State Senate during its audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 General Election. Each step of the way, the County rejected any form of cooperation with the Senate and took a very belligerent tone.
At the time, the late Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel was struggling with eating and substance disorders, leaving the unelected Liddy to call the shots, and ultimately causing a great rift between members of the Republican Party.
Republicans have been surprised that the new County Attorney, Rachel Mitchell, has allowed Liddy to play any role in elections given his well-earned and poor reputation.
Then on Friday, a message was sent through the County’s Twitter account, which was so juvenile and snarky it even caught the attention of Jen Fifield, a cheerleader for the County and reporter with Votebeat.org.
Maricopa County tweeted: “BOMBSHELL 🧵: We’ve noticed that election misinformation seems to spread more widely when there’s incendiary language & out-of-context graphics, pictures, or videos. So we are going to EXPOSE the UNBELIEVABLE facts as election workers are CAUGHT IN THE ACT following the law. ⬇️”
“I’m all for snark,” tweeted Fifield. “But I worry this divides and alienates further. Aren’t going to convince anyone of anything this way.”
In August 2021, some County employees questioned Maricopa County’s compliance with its own policies about the use of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, particularly when it came to the State Senate’s audit of the 2020 General Election.
“When addressing the public in any way we’ve been instructed to communicate our opinions in a manner that guarantees everyone know we are speaking on a personal level,” Sue, a longtime county employee, told the Arizona Daily Independent. “Yet for the last several months we have seen highly politicalized and even offensive comments being tweeted and posted on behalf of ‘Maricopa County’ which violate those principles.”
As the Arizona Daily Independent reported:
Maricopa County’s Social Media Guide states the county supports the use of social media “to enhance public communication, collaboration, and information exchange.” The 10-page guide outlines how social media should be used “to earn a reputation as the government that prioritizes people and service, while having fun.”
Critics say that the County’s actions during this 2022 General Election cycle is quickly setting in stone its reputation as a frat house filled with members drunk on power.