Recall Committee Moves For Damages and To Dismiss Constitutionality Lawsuit Filed By Friends Of Sheriff Joe Arpaio

After more than one month, the committee attempting to recall Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is moving today to seek damages and to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the recall petition effort.

The lawsuit was filed by friends of the sheriff, who formed a committee called Citizens to Protect Fair Election Results ("CPFER").  They hired nationally-known conservative attorney Larry Klayman, filed the action contending that the recall effort violated the Arizona Constitution by beginning too soon after the most recent election (among other arguments), and has since allowed the suit to sit quietly in court.  (They did not pursue the injunction that they sought in the complaint, for example.)

The threat - and then, the presence - of the lawsuit likely has contributed to the difficulty that Respect Arizona - the committee organizing the recall effort - has had in raising money necessary to retain paid petition circulators.  The paid circulators gathered most of the some 200,000 valid signatures the committee claims to have, before RA was forced to cancel their services just as the suit was being filed.

RA announced this morning that they have filed motions seeking damages against those who filed the lawsuit, and to dismiss the lawsuit.  The Superior Court docket does not yet show that the motion(s) has(have) been filed.

Arizona's Politics and other media outlets posted legal analysis as soon as the complaint was filed;  RA has given Arizona's Politics no indication why it waited until this point to file its motion.

Arizona's Politics has also asked CPFER co-counsel Klayman and David Burnell Smith why they have not pursued the injunction they requested.



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