Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney held two hearings on Monday to address the feud between the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) and Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap. The first hearing considered a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Preliminary Injunction from Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to stop America First Legal (AFL) from representing Heap. The second hearing addressed Heap’s Application for Order to Show Cause, asking the court to hold the MCBOS in contempt for not returning parts of his office to him as Blaney had ordered on April 16.
Blaney hinted that Mitchell may have a conflict of interest and need to recuse herself. James Rogers, Heap’s attorney from AFL, said she did because she was not acting impartial, but taking sides with the MCBOS. Rogers cited a meeting she had with the MCBOS where Heap and his legal counsel were excluded.
Rogers said Mitchell was “facilitating” the MCBOS in defying Blaney’s order to return parts of Heap’s office. He said the MCBOS “tried multiple times to countermand the Recorder’s directions over how functions are supposed to be managed.”
Mitchell’s position is that she gets to decide what outside counsel Heap uses. However, Blaney ruled on January 30 that Mitchell does not have this authority. Rogers also said Mitchell doesn’t have standing to request the restraining order. He said since the case is on appeal to the Arizona Court of Appeals, Mitchell cannot request that Blaney reconsider his order.
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