Maricopa County plans to delete all senior staff emails from the 2020 and 2022 elections.
County Recorder Justin Heap opposed the records deletion, as reflected in a public records retrieval published by civic activist Merissa Hamilton. Heap disagreed with the county’s Enterprise Technology and Innovation (ETI) determination that the records “have no historical value [and] all retention periods have expired[.]” ETI provides information technology (IT) solutions and support to the recorder’s office.
https://x.com/merissahamilton/status/1961215042788958511
Last month, Heap sent a letter to County Manager Jen Pokorski formally requesting the continued retention of the records. Heap made the case that the records maintained historical value, citing outstanding public records and the gravity of the recent elections. The recorder also claimed the records deletion violates state law and county policy concerning records management.
The state law in question:
“The director is responsible for preserving and managing records. In addition to other powers and duties, the director shall: […] Establish standards and procedures for preparing schedules that provide for retaining records of continuing value and for prompt and orderly disposal of records no longer possessing sufficient administrative, legal or fiscal value to warrant their further keeping.”
Heap disclosed that the recorder’s office doesn’t have any access to these records.
“Currently, our staff does not have access to these records, nor are they in our custody,” said Heap.
In the event of the records deletion in spite of his request, Heap requested Pokorski to provide a detailed description of the records destroyed, the name and title of the person authorizing the destruction, the date and time of the destruction, and the method and process of the records destruction.
According to emails obtained through public records, the internal response to Heap’s letter was one of resistance.
An ETI manager, Nate Young, called the letter “ridiculous,” as recounted by the recorder’s chief information officer, Bryan Colby, in an email to ETI Chief Information Officer (CIO) Richard McHattie. Colby also cited the inability of the recorder’s office to fulfill certain public records requests due to the ETI staff’s limited access to the archives.
In another email, Colby advised ETI that the correct policy chain for records retention was the recorders office policy, then Maricopa County policy, and finally Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.
In recent years, access to archives of recorder’s office emails revealed advance knowledge of poor election infrastructure that led to the 2022 election fiasco, coordinated attacks of censorship over election-related speech online, and usage of recorder’s office resources for personal matters.
The planned deletion of the records could limit public knowledge of other issues within the recorder’s office that have yet to be discovered. It could also hinder future investigative efforts pending action.
In June, Congressman Abe Hamadeh requested an investigation of Maricopa County elections in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Specifically, Hamadeh relayed reports of boxes of printed blank ballots mixed in a warehouse with returned voted mail ballots awaiting tabulation during last year’s elections.
Hamadeh — whose loss in the 2022 attorney general’s race remains a point of contention due to thousands of voters claiming disenfranchisement — said the reports were further evidence of Arizona’s election processes being “flawed” and susceptible to manipulation.
“There appears to be a clear pattern and practice of security breakdowns, system failures, and outright manipulation that must be investigated and remedied,” stated Hamadeh. “Now is the time for our Department of Justice to investigate credible allegations and offer sound recommendations to ensure that the integrity of our elections is restored in full.”
What if we would have never been able to see Anthony Fauci’s emails? We would never know the truth about COVID. All govt emails should be saved. Especially the emails from the top govt employees.
This article is missing an important detail: while County IT did propose purging archived emails in August, the Recorder’s Office objected and instructed them not to proceed — and the emails were ultimately retained.
As written, the piece leaves the impression deletion was moving forward, which isn’t accurate. Readers deserve the full picture: the archives remain preserved.
This request should have been made long time ago.
with as much controversary swirling around elections during that time, its in our interest and the interest of the public to maintain those records. Moves like this can sometimes indicate the presences of a smaking gun. Obviously someone is not interested in the integrity of the process. Heap is the only County Recorder that I have had any trust in, and my distrust started with the last 2 elections that Helen Purcell over saw. Voters need to look hard at purging some lected leadership in County government.
Gee, who would have guessed…democrats trying to erase all record of cheating and collusion between them. How quaint. All thanks to little Johnnie and his RINO friends that hate this country and anything conservative. AZ will be blue in 28.
Another day, another piece of evidence pointing the the corruption manifested in the Maricopa Board of Supervisors. Stewart and Lesko, where are you?!!
It’s always the left and Dems trying to hide their emails. Hillary, Fontes, etc.