Arizona attorney and State Representative Alex Kolodin filed a bar complaint Monday against Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre, urging the State Bar to investigate a potential breach of his attorney-client privilege with the politically persecuted Cochise County Board of Supervisors.
As The Gateway Pundit recently reported, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) announced last month that a grand jury indicted Republican Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd on felony charges of Interference with an Election Officer and Conspiracy. This is all because they wanted to ensure accuracy with a hand count audit of the stolen 2022 election before officially certifying.
Before this, they faced backlash and a lawsuit from leftist organizations and former Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) over their vote to delay certification of the election until an audit proved accuracy and integrity. Hobbs also threatened Arizona county officials with FELONY CHARGES if they refused to certify her fraudulent election for governor.
This was all after former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich advised the Supervisors that an expanded hand count is in accordance with Arizona law. “Cochise County has discretion to perform an expanded hand count audit of all ballots cast in person at 100% of the precincts or voting centers located in Cochise County, along with 100% of early ballots cast in Cochise County, so long as the expanded hand count audit of statewide and federal races is limited to five contested statewide and federal races appearing on the 2022 General Election ballot,” writes Brnovich in an informal opinion on October 28, 2022.
ARS 16-622(A) gives Arizona County Supervisors discretion over canvassing election results, and ARS 16-602(B) requires County Supervisors to conduct a hand count audit of “at least two percent of the precincts in that county.” There is no limit written in the statute on the number of ballots a county may hand count.
The indictment of Crosby and Judd is just one of the latest acts of lawfare against conservative officials and attorneys to stop them from fighting for honest elections.
The Gateway Pundit reported yesterday that the Arizona State Bar Association sentenced Kolodin to 18 months of probation for representing conservatives and filing election lawsuits. “He is a courageous attorney and an honest lawmaker who is being persecuted for standing up and taking on election cases,” said Kari Lake.
He seemingly predicted this type of action against himself and other conservatives, telling The Gateway Pundit in January 2023, “It’s going to be pretty soon where you’re gonna be watching your back every time you open your mouth” regarding questioning election results. Kolodin told us on Sunday, “Their idea is when they do this, they’re going to be able to prosecute you with impunity, they’re going to be able to break the law with impunity. And there is going to be nobody standing between you and them to stop them.”
“It’s time to start fighting back,” he said on Sunday before filing a complaint against County Attorney Brian McIntyre.
The complaint alleges that McIntyre went into a public meeting and publicly revealed privileged advice that was privately given to his clients in executive session. Later, while in active litigation, McIntyre sent a letter to adverse counsel outlining several potential actions that, in his opinion, violated the law.
In the public meeting, McIntyre openly told the Board of Supervisors, “Because I have advised you that there is no legal basis for this, I cannot ethically defend you against any claims over this action. The Board will pay its own attorney’s fees, and when opposing parties prevail in their claims, the Board will pay those parties’ attorneys fees …. I implore you, do not attempt to order this separate hand count.” Here, he clearly revealed privileged advice.
Ironically, while making this apparent legal and ethical violation, McIntyre claimed he “cannot ethically defend” the Board. Kolodin says he does not believe this is true “for a lot of reasons,” citing former Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s opinion, which just came days after and advised the County a 100% hand count is a lawful election integrity measure, and a trial court’s opinion that an “expanded hand count” is permitted.
Still, “if he didn’t feel like he could ethically defend them, then he didn’t have to, but he also can’t reveal the advice that he’s given to his clients,” says Kolodin.
The complaint further cites a November 10, 2022, letter from McIntyre, which “outline[d] a list of laws that he believed his clients might be violating.”
“While ER 1.6(c) permits a lawyer to break privilege to prevent wrongdoing under certain circumstances, this revelation was not a necessary preventative for many reasons, not the least of which was that the permissibility of the Board’s proposed action was already in litigation,” it continues. “The media also, upon information and belief, gained access to the letter to the Board’s detriment.”
This was already in the hands of the court to interpret the law, and McIntyre appears to have made false or unfounded allegations against his own clients while disclosing privileged advice.
When asked if McIntyre was complicit with the threats by leftwing former Secretary of State Katie Hobbs over the Board’s actions to ensure election integrity, Kolodin said, “I wouldn’t care to speculate about his motives, and I hope that’s something that when the bar opens an investigation, they get to the bottom of.”
“The people of Arizona expect the bar to apply the law in a fair and neutral manner, and I believe they will,” Kolodin concluded.
Read the full Bar complaint below:
McIntyre Bar Complaint FINAL With Exhibits by Jordan Conradson on Scribd
The post BREAKING: After Cochise County Supervisors Indicted for Fighting to Secure Elections, AZ State Rep Alex Kolodin Files Bar Complaint Against County Attorney for Violating Attorney-Client Privilege – COMPLAINT INCLUDED appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.