Fraud claim brings in notable lawyers in Gilbert election challenge
Election challenges against two Gilbert candidates have been dismissed, but a third candidate faces a new claim of signature collection fraud.
The challenges were brought by attorneys that have been active in voter fraud allegations at the state and county level in past election cycles.
Michael Webb, a Gilbert resident and part of mayoral candidate Shane Krauser’s election committee, filed three challenges targeting mayoral candidate Natalie DiBernardo and two Town Council candidates.
An audit of the nomination signatures by the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office found all three — DiBernardo and council candidates Kenny Buckland and Noah Mundt — had enough valid signatures to stay on the ballot.
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Webb filed a notice of dismissal Monday with Maricopa County Superior Court on challenges against DiBernardo and Buckland.
DiBernardo told The Arizona Republic she had been confident the review would have come back in her favor and that the challenges felt “very targeted.”
“It doesn’t feel like it’s about election integrity. It feels like manipulating the laws to stack the race in the favor of the select few,” she said.
Making the connection that Webb is seen in several photos of Krauser’s election team, DiBernardo said it’s hard not to conclude who would benefit most from her challenge. She said Krauser has not taken responsibility for the challenges, nor has she heard from him.
Tuesday evening Krauser took responsibility for DiBernardo's signature challenge in a statement posted on X, formally known as Twitter, writing he pulled the nomination paperwork for her and Gilbert Vice Mayor Scott Anderson, who is also running for mayor.
"It was, indeed, established that (DiBernardo) qualified and I honor that decision," he wrote. Krauser denied involvement in the other two challenges.
"They do not pertain to my race, and my campaign will not allocate any resources to engage in that process," Krauser wrote. He did not respond to the Republic's request for comment.
Krauser, who has made addressing the "Gilbert Goons" controversy a cornerstone of his campaign, earlier confirmed his son was in a video with known Goons. While employed as a prosecutor in 2007, Krauser used his position to snare victims in an investment fraud scheme, according to state securities regulators.
Buckland, who was out of the country on vacation, said in a text message to the Republic he was grateful the challenge was over and voters still had a choice in their council candidates.
“I’m also hoping to help change the political scene in Gilbert because I think the majority of voters are tired of divisive, hateful politics, and politicians trying to control the elections before they begin, trying to take it out of the hands of the voters and litigate your only choices being their candidates,” he wrote.
The challenge against Mundt was amended to include claims an 18-year-old high school student forged signatures on the petition sheets and asks the court to nullify all the signatures collected by the teenager.
Webb hired Jennifer Wright to represent him in Mundt’s challenge. Wright, who helped lead the election integrity office under former Attorney General Mark Brnovich, cast doubts on Maricopa County elections procedures in 2022. She also joined a legal challenge to try to overturn Mayes' razor-thin win in the 2022 attorney general's race.
Webb did not respond to the Republic's requests for comment.
Lawyers demand candidates step down voluntarily
Webb made similar claims to both Buckland and Mundt that the 18-year-old signature collector forged a number of signatures.
Buckland provided the Republic with a direct email from Webb on April 21 asking him to withdraw from the race by the end of the day in exchange for Webb filing a voluntary dismissal of his case. If not, he would present the evidence at the trial, Webb wrote.
“This evidence will not only be embarrassing for you” but also put the 18-year-old at “risk of criminal prosecution,” the email reads.
Webb did not present the evidence at Monday’s election challenge trial and instead filed the notice of dismissal with the court.
Mundt received a similar letter from Webb’s attorney Wright, whom he retained after the first status hearing, to demand his voluntary withdrawal from the race.
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Claims of signature fraud involve high school student
Webb initially challenged 503 of the 1,302 filed signatures for duplications, unregistered signers and voter registration address irregularities among other claims.
The county recorder’s office review found 278 signatures were invalid, leaving Mundt with 1,024 valid signatures. That left enough signatures to have his name printed on the ballot.
At the pretrial hearing, Webb asked Judge John Hannah to allow an amended complaint to add the fraud claims. Hannah allowed the complaint to be entered and moved the scheduled trial to 1 p.m. Friday.
The amended complaint states the 18-year-old high school student admitted to “private investigator Justin C. (Yentes), hired by Plaintiff Webb to investigate the apparent mismatched signatures, that (the teenager) would put signatures on petition sheets if he noticed the person 'forgot' to sign the petition.”
An affidavit of Yentes included in the amended complaint states the teen was hired by Arizona Grassroots, an organization focused on helping Republican candidates’ campaigns, to gather signatures and was paid per signature.
Yentes went to the teenager’s home on the evening of April 18 to inquire about his experience collecting signatures, specifically for Buckland’s claim. There, Yentes found the 18-year-old also had collected signatures for Mundt.
Yentes later was asked by Webb to review Mundt’s petitions.
Yentes is also the campaign treasurer for Gilbert council candidate Aaron Accurso and the husband of former town Councilmember Aimee Yentes.
Signatures collected by the teen were found invalid by the recorder’s office. Wright and Webb are asking the court to invalidate the remaining signatures collected by the high school student.
That would leave Mundt 20 signatures short of the threshold to be on the ballot.
Wright told The Republic she was retained by Webb over the weekend after “the fraud was discovered” and after attorney Tim LaSota asked her for assistance in this case.
“My preference was not to put an 18-year-old kid in the crosshairs of this ... I think it’s really important that our election systems be fair and that we ensure there’s integrity in the way these petitions are obtained and turned in,” Wright said.
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Webb will not be represented by Wright at Friday’s hearing because of a prior scheduled commitment. LaSota will serve as legal counsel.
LaSota also represented Webb in his challenge against DiBernardo and was involved in various other election challenges across the Valley, including one in Glendale. He also represents Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake in a defamation lawsuit against her.
Mundt argued at the status hearing the amended complaint shouldn’t be accepted because it was filed after the 10-day deadline indicated in state law for election challenges.
Mundt told the judge that Yentes’ behavior to “shake down” the teenager was “morally reprehensible.”
‘There are clear indications that the people making this have a significant benefit from my removal from this election,” he told the judge.
He told the Republic the 18-year-old was served at his high school and would be called to testify at Friday’s trial.
Mundt, who was previously representing himself, has hired attorney Brett Johnson. Johnson was part of a group of attorneys representing Republican state lawmakers in a challenge to block an anti-dark money law.
“I’m confident that we’ll prevail and show this was just a tactic to remove me off the ballot to make it so that certain people didn’t have to deal with any competition on the ballot this year,” Mundt said.
Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek and can be reached at [email protected] or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gilbert election challenges: Fraud claim brings in notable lawyers