The Fountain Hills Town Council selected election integrity attorney Jennifer Wright earlier this month as their town attorney on contract.
The town’s previous legal representation resigned after accusations arose regarding their billing practices. Wright previously served as the civil attorney for the Arizona Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit, and afterwards represented both Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh in their election challenges.
Fountain Hills Council Member Gayle Earle reviewed the town’s finances after assuming office this year, where he discovered the town may have unnecessarily overpaid $321,154 to Pierce Coleman PLLC by not doing their “due diligence.”
Aaron Arnson, with the Pierce Coleman law firm, quit after Earle brought up the alleged improprieties. Earle discovered that despite the law requiring annual reviews of Pierce Coleman’s contract, it had not been reviewed in 65 months. When she asked Arnson for documentation of those years, he stopped cooperating, she told The Arizona Sun Times.
Pierce Coleman also represents other cities and towns in Arizona, raising concerns that the same billing practices may be occurring elsewhere.
Pierce Coleman billed the town $19,500 per month, whereas Wright’s proposal will charge the town $18,000 per month.
Wright (pictured above) will be working the contract through the law firm of Tim LaSota, who has also represented candidates and the Republican Party in election-related lawsuits. LaSota recently represented Council Member Allen Skillicorn in a lawsuit against the town for alleged violations of his civil rights. The previous town council disciplined him for expressing concerns that council members were voting on issues regarding developers who had contributed to their campaigns, and for confronting a town employee whom he caught stealing one of his signs.
Until this year, the town had a progressive mayor and multiple progressives on the council. The new council voted 5-2 to approve Wright’s appointment, splitting down ideological lines.
Wright beat out four other attorneys who had applied for the spot. She was encouraged to submit a proposal a few months ago.
Wright and America First Legal filed a lawsuit last year against all 15 of Arizona’s counties for not removing noncitizens from voter rolls. They forced a settlement in April that requires the counties to start removing them. She also assisted with a successful effort that required Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to turn over information on 218,000 voters who lacked proof of citizenship.
While at the attorney general’s office, Wright demanded four times that Maricopa County officials turn over documents and equipment for inspection in the office’s investigation of election wrongdoing in the 2020 election. Her letters were mostly ignored. She sent a letter to officials in 2022 warning them of the problems with signature verification on ballot affidavits.
The two council members who voted against Wright preferred the Dickinson Wright law firm. However, Skillicorn pointed out during the meeting that the firm’s website is “full of DEI propaganda.”
He said, “It seems like they would be more interested in their ESG (environmental, social, and governance) score than representing the people of Fountain Hills. This has just got to be a nonstarter for a community like ours.”
Dickinson Wright has a lengthy section about diversity on its website. The firm boasts of a “32-point Diversity Plan.” It links to recent articles on the site about diversity, with multiple articles issued this year.
In June 2020, Dickinson Wright, along with other major firms in Detroit, where it is headquartered, issued a statement condemning police brutality. The firms said, “The appalling deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, among many others, have conjured up all of these emotions, once again. Their deaths, along with police brutality and unequal access to opportunity suffered by many African American people and other people of color, must be a catalyst for change in our communities.”
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to .
Photo “Jennifer Wright” by Jennifer Wright. Background Photo “Fountain Hills, Arizona” by Bernard Gagnon. CC BY-SA 3.0.
The post Town of Fountain Hills Selects Election Integrity Champion as Town Attorney first appeared on The Arizona Sun Times.