{"id":2354619,"date":"2024-10-14T12:05:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T16:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-intl-censors-trained-az-officials-on-targeting-speech\/"},"modified":"2024-10-14T12:07:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T16:07:43","slug":"exclusive-intl-censors-trained-az-officials-on-targeting-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-intl-censors-trained-az-officials-on-targeting-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Int&#8217;l Censors Trained AZ Officials On Targeting Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-intl-censors-trained-az-officials-on-targeting-speech%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2354619&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In Maricopa County, \u200dRecorder\u2062 Steven Richer \u2064has been scrutinized for\u200d collaborating with the left-leaning States United Democracy Center and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), an international censorship organization. Emails reveal that Richer offered to leverage the \u2064States United&#8217;s anti-disinformation efforts to \u200cidentify and \u200bcounter what he deemed election-related misinformation. This partnership included \u2063discussions about using\u2064 advanced online monitoring tools.\u2064 Richer\u2062 also attempted to influence Arizona State University officials to dismiss a faculty member, Aaron \u2064Ludwig, for retweeting\u200c concerns about\u200b election integrity, \u2063labeling him\u2062 as a \u200dpromoter of\u200c misinformation. The\u2062 initiative\u2062 against\u200c Ludwig sparked debates about free speech and First\u200b Amendment rights, with Ludwig asserting that Richer&#8217;s actions threatened his\u2064 professional reputation and violated \u2063constitutional\u200d protections. Richer&#8217;s \u2062tenure has been \u200bmarked by controversy,\u2062 as he faced backlash for defending \u200dthe \u2062conduct of the 2020 election and pushing for changes\u200b like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/andrew-yang-has-commanding-lead-in-nyc-mayoral-race-poll-shows\/\" title=\"Andrew Yang Has Commanding Lead In NYC Mayoral Race, Poll Shows\">ranked-choice voting<\/a>, which \u200ccritics\u200b claim undermine voter confidence.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Maricopa County Recorder Steven Richer turned to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/states-united-democracy-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">left-leaning<\/a>&nbsp;States United Democracy Center and an overseas&nbsp;group bankrolled by the State Department to help his office target election speech that&rsquo;s disapproved of by the government, according to emails obtained by The Federalist.<\/p>\n<p>Richer thanked States United for offering to let his office &ldquo;piggy back&rdquo; on the group&rsquo;s anti-speech operations, which he described as &ldquo;deep scanning&rdquo; the internet for &ldquo;disinformation,&rdquo; a term often invoked to censor speech the government disagrees with. States United is a left-wing election <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/states-united-democracy-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">law<\/a> group that consistently opposes Republican election integrity legislation like voter ID laws and supports Democrat attempts to diminish election security, according to InfluenceWatch. The group has <a href=\"https:\/\/statesunited.org\/accountability-donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">praised<\/a> the weaponization of the justice system against Trump, and was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/16\/us\/politics\/trump-2025-democratic-resistance.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described<\/a> by The New York Times as part of a &ldquo;coalition&rdquo; preparing to &ldquo;push back&rdquo; against a potential Trump victory with &ldquo;extraordinary pre-emptive actions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>According to email records, States United set up a call with Richer&rsquo;s staff and the global censorship group, Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). ISD is a London group that has been accused of wrongly labeling &ldquo;mainstream views&rdquo; as &ldquo;misinformation&rdquo; and subsequently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/organization\/institute-for-strategic-dialogue\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">censoring<\/a> conservative opinions online, according to InfluenceWatch. The group was the recipient of a 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/upcoming-events-technology-engagement-division\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">grant<\/a> sponsored by the State Department&rsquo;s Global Engagement Center, which &ldquo;fund[s] the development of censorship tools,&rdquo; as The Federalist&rsquo;s Margot Cleveland has <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/04\/19\/meet-the-shadowy-group-that-ran-the-federal-governments-censorship-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>. The ISD works with governments, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.isdglobal.org\/partnerships-and-funders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">leftist 501(c)(3) groups<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/organization\/institute-for-strategic-dialogue\/\">Big Tech<\/a> companies as well as some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">left&rsquo;s<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/new-venture-fund\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">biggest<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/for-profit\/omidyar-network\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">financial<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/open-society-foundations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">backers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Richer later suggested Arizona State University officials should fire Faculty Associate Aaron Ludwig for retweeting election concerns, apparently looping States United in on the process.<\/p>\n<h2>Briefings by Professional Censorship Gurus<\/h2>\n<p>&ldquo;Thanks very much to States United for the kind offer to let us piggy back on some of the deep scanning you&rsquo;re contracting for election threats and disinformation,&rdquo; Richer emailed then-States United Senior Counsel Bo Dul on June 17, 2022. Richer indicated his office and &ldquo;some &hellip; partners at the county&rdquo; do some of this work already, but that he would &ldquo;love to fill any holes&rdquo; with the offer from States United.<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A few minutes later, Dul told Richer that the States United senior adviser &ldquo;leading our disinfo work,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/statesunited.org\/our-team\/caroline-chambers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Caroline Chambers<\/a>, would be &ldquo;circl[ing] up with our partners at ISD and your team to set up a call soon.&rdquo; Before working for States United, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bo-dul\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dul<\/a> was the senior elections policy adviser and general counsel in the Arizona secretary of state&rsquo;s office under Democrat Katie Hobbs. Now she&rsquo;s again working as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bo-dul\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">general counsel<\/a> for Hobbs, who became governor of Arizona last year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Chambers sent an email to Dul on June 21 and copied Richer, indicating she wanted to &ldquo;set up a briefing.&rdquo; On June 23, a States United staffer emailed Chambers, Dul, and other recipients a link to a Zoom meeting with the subject line &ldquo;Maricopa County Recorder&rsquo;s Office x SUDC x ISD Briefing.&rdquo; The meeting was scheduled for June 28.<\/p>\n<p>A &ldquo;management analyst and special assistant to the Maricopa County Recorder&rdquo; emailed staff on June 27, reminding them about the briefing the next morning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The assistant pointed recipients to &ldquo;background information on the Electoral Disinformation work the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) performs,&rdquo; linking to an ISD <a href=\"https:\/\/www.isdglobal.org\/disinformation\/electoral-disinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">webpage<\/a> on &ldquo;electoral disinformation.&rdquo; The page boasts about ISD working with States United ahead of the 2022 midterms to &ldquo;detect, analyse and escalate threats&rdquo; like &ldquo;election denialist activity,&rdquo; and links to news clips of ISD representatives celebrating efforts to pressure Big Tech into censoring more speech.<\/p>\n<p>The June 27, 2022 email from the &ldquo;special assistant&rdquo; indicated Richer was traveling at the time of the briefing and may or may not have attended the call, but wanted his staff to &ldquo;go ahead&rdquo; and attend either way.<\/p>\n<p>Asked how long the Maricopa County Recorder&rsquo;s Office has collaborated with States United and ISD and whether they are currently working with those groups, a representative from Richer&rsquo;s office told The Federalist the recorder has &ldquo;worked with numerous entities&rdquo; over &ldquo;the last several years.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have received information from States United Democracy Center regarding election worker safety and, as we do with all new information, taken it into consideration,&rdquo; the representative said, before listing ways the office has made itself &ldquo;widely available to the public.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Attempt to Cancel a Professor for Retweeting Election Post<\/h2>\n<p>Just the next month, Richer emailed Arizona State University officials to suggest they fire Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Associate <a href=\"https:\/\/search.asu.edu\/profile\/3381169\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Aaron Ludwig<\/a> for his online speech. Richer was upset because Ludwig had retweeted election concerns.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He is a regular purveyor of election disinformation and misinformation,&rdquo; Richer wrote on July 31, linking to Ludwig&rsquo;s account on Twitter (now X). &ldquo;I ask that you assess if he is fit to be part of the ASU faculty.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Richer claimed Ludwig was &ldquo;promoting messages that encourage harassment of and violence toward&rdquo; two Maricopa County Elections Department employees. The recorder included several screenshots of tweets Ludwig reposted, including one that accused the employees of improperly using a security badge and deleting election files and another that was critical of Richer himself.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;The allegations are, of course, errant nonsense that only imbecilic troglodytes could possibly believe after five minutes of research,&rdquo; Richer spewed in the email, referencing the retweet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>An ASU dean, <a href=\"https:\/\/search.asu.edu\/profile\/302644\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cynthia Lietz<\/a>, sent an email to Richer the same day with the subject line &ldquo;RE: Aaron Ludwig.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Thank you for this important information, we will look into this,&rdquo; she wrote. <\/p>\n<p>Dul, the States United operative, also emailed Richer and his staff the next day with the subject line &ldquo;Re: Aaron Ludwig.&rdquo; The entire body of the email was redacted when released to The Federalist.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Months passed, but Richer wouldn&rsquo;t let Ludwig&rsquo;s speech go. He followed up with Lietz on Feb. 6, 2023, in the same email thread.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Did anything ever come of this?&rdquo; he asked.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Yes, we did address this,&rdquo; Lietz wrote in an email the next day.<\/p>\n<p>Ludwig told The Federalist his supervisors never discussed the matter with him, but he first heard about the situation in April when acquaintances found the interchange in a public records request. He said he thinks Richer&rsquo;s actions violate the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The government should not be allowed, and I believe, is not allowed pursuant to the First Amendment, to censor free speech unless it is those few things that can&rdquo; constitutionally be regulated, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ludwig was chief of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/counterracketeer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">racketeering and asset forfeiture<\/a> section at the Arizona Attorney General&rsquo;s Office from 2011 to 2014, and a special prosecutor for the office until 2015, according to his LinkedIn.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I led Arizona&rsquo;s charge against organized crime and the southern border, the transnational criminal organizations including all the drug cartels,&rdquo; he told The Federalist. &ldquo;For somebody to attack my background and credentials and professionalism and integrity, and accuse me of being some filthy liar or anything is so offensive. It&rsquo;s destructive to my reputation. I believe it&rsquo;s defamatory per se.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Called Free Speech a &lsquo;Thorn in the Side of My Office&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Richer recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/31\/primary-voters-in-arizonas-largest-county-oust-leftist-backed-elections-chief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lost<\/a> the Republican primary for county recorder. He initially campaigned on election integrity, but once in office, he used &ldquo;his perch as an opportunity to regularly defend the Democrat-run 2020 election in Maricopa County, write op-eds at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/09\/22\/opinions\/trusting-election-health-school-experts-richer\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CNN<\/a>&nbsp;against the type of election audits he conducted to gain power, draft lengthy screeds&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/05\/19\/opinions\/speaking-out-after-trumps-arizona-election-claims-stephen-richer\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lambasting<\/a>&nbsp;Republican leaders and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/f\/?id=0000017b-6062-d290-a57b-ee62cfa80000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voters<\/a>&nbsp;for their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/az-judge-sides-with-senate-gop-over-audit-of-millions-of-ballots-election-equipment\/\" title=\"AZ: Judge Sides With Senate GOP Over Audit Of Millions Of Ballots, Election Equipment\">election integrity concerns<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/az-election-official-stephen-richer-ran-on-election-integrity-now-hes-accused-of-law-breaking-and-politicking\/\" title=\"AZ Election Official Stephen Richer Ran On Election Integrity, Now He\u2019s Accused Of Law-Breaking And Politicking\">push ranked-choice voting<\/a> and other efforts critics say are&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/arizonadailyindependent.com\/2022\/09\/18\/ranked-choice-voting-is-a-hot-topic-but-voters-need-to-know-its-downsides\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disastrous for voter confidence<\/a>&nbsp;in elections,&rdquo; as the Federalist&rsquo;s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/20\/az-election-official-stephen-richer-ran-on-election-integrity-now-hes-accused-of-law-breaking-and-politicking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Constitution today is in some ways a thorn in the side of my office. Specifically the First Amendment,&rdquo; the recorder allegedly wrote in a draft speech, <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/politics-policy\/elections\/ariz-sos-maricopa-county-censor-election-misinfo-view-first-amendment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to Just the News. The outlet also obtained a <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/2024-04\/How%20to%20Ban%20Someone%20From%20Social%20Media_Social%20Media%20Tracker.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">document<\/a> with instructions on &ldquo;banning a user on social media,&rdquo; which the county reportedly told Just the News was &ldquo;a draft document of ideas that were brought up in a meeting but never implemented.&rdquo; Richer has also <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/politics-policy\/elections\/maricopa-county-recorder-briefed-dhs-agency-march-combating-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">worked<\/a> with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency &mdash; the federal government&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/09\/30\/these-house-republicans-voted-to-fund-cisas-criminal-censorship-and-election-interference\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">censorship<\/a> &ldquo;nerve center&rdquo; &mdash; in his war on unapproved speech.<\/p>\n<p>Richer, who has become a corporate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/voter-fraud-threats-maricopa-county-arizona-60-minutes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">media<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7017480\/stephen-richer-democracy-defenders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">darling<\/a> for criticizing the election integrity concerns of his former supporters, has also attracted the attention of Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman. During Richer&rsquo;s unsuccessful primary bid, Hoffman helped <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/30\/will-arizona-primary-voters-boot-gop-maricopa-elections-chief-linked-to-dem-megadonor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fund<\/a> mailers backing the recorder, as The Federalist previously reported.<\/p>\n<p><em>For more election news and updates, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electionbriefing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electionbriefing.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Logan Washburn is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuit-clark-county-keeps-commercial-addresses-on-voter-rolls\/\" title=\"Lawsuit: Clark County Keeps Commercial Addresses On Voter Rolls\">staff writer covering election integrity<\/a>. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo&#8217;s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maricopa County Recorder Steven Richer sought help from the left-leaning States United Democracy Center to target disapproved election speech, as revealed in emails<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":2354620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stephen_Richer_53319762468.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4472,6371,32311,32402,4213],"class_list":["post-2354619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arizona","tag-censorship","tag-free-speech","tag-international-relations","tag-training"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Stephen_Richer_53319762468.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2354619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2354620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2354619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2354619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2354619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}