More than four years before Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone used his law enforcement credibility to resist subpoenas in the Arizona Senate audit of the county's general election, he was running for the office he now holds.
Legal experts have debated the effect of a February court ruling that upheld subpoenas for the county routers involved in the election without explaining how they would be enforced.
Penzone signed a Monday letter to Senate President Karen Fann, who is leading the audit, claiming that complying with the subpoena would compromise the county's network and threaten "The security of sensitive, protected and critical data," from federal law enforcement programs to health information of county residents.
"I would expect the County would be able to identify shortlists of qualified forensic examiners who are trusted inside sensitive systems to examine the networks," Loftus said.
His "Strong suspicion" is that so-called trusted subcontractors already have access to county systems.
"I would be totally surprised if the County said only bonafide county employees have access to maintain these systems," the former professor concluded: "It is either a stall or bargaining tactic." At a press conference Monday, Penzone cast the audit as a waste of his time.
"I don't like politics, I don't like partisanship, and I absolutely despise political theater," he said, adding that the county received a subpoena to hand over data to a "Private uncertified hacking company based on a hunch." He described the audit's process as "Come up with a hunch, try to find a way to put up enough false information to make it valid, and then accuse others of being dishonest." It's not clear from the letter whether Penzone and the county would resist any subpoena for routers involved in the election or simply object to the contractors hired for the audit.
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