Wendy Rogers promises to redo Maricopa County's election − if you'd just send her cash

From the glass half full department, Maricopa County’s vote to certify the Nov. 8 election opens an entirely new grifting opportunity for the election denial industry.

And who but our own state Sen. Wendy Rogers to lead the way?

Within minutes of the (Republican-run) Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voting (unanimously) to certify the vote on Monday, Rogers had her hand out.

“I am Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers, and I will hold Maricopa County accountable for its election shenanigans,” she wrote, in her fundraising plea. “Help me get a new election for Maricopa!”

And by “help,” she means send her money.

Rogers' ideas never passed, even under GOP control

Rogers will head the newly created Senate Elections Committee in January − a job awarded her by incoming Senate President Warren Petersen, one of the architects of the Senate’s Cyber Ninjas audit.

Rogers is perhaps the looniest legislator ever elected in Arizona, an attribute that makes her uniquely qualified to chair a committee that has a roughly 0.00% chance of getting any of her “election integrity” ideas passed into law.

She’s repeatedly called for decertifying the 2020 election, an end to the state’s wildly popular early voting program, the arrest of elections officials for (non-existent) fraud and an entire laundry list of loopy ideas that have made her a national rock star on the hard right.

'Safe, secure':Maricopa County certifies election after rowdy crowd objects

And landed her millions in campaign cash from all across the land − never mind that her proposals went precisely nowhere when Republicans controlled the state.

Now, suddenly, as Democrats prepare to take over as governor and attorney general, Rogers is vowing to somehow engineer a do-over of Maricopa County’s 2022 election.

That is, if you’ll give her $35 or $60 or heck, fork over $5,300 to her campaign.

“Maricopa County is out of control and hates its own voters,” she wrote, in her latest plea for money. “I’m the new Chairman of the Senate Elections Committee. There is NO WAY I'm letting this stand.”

No, we're not going to see 'perp walks'

She then goes on to quote some of the usual conspiracy theorists from Trump central and Turning Point USA, people who routinely raise the alarm about all manner of dastardly schemes yet somehow never seem to back up their claims with actual evidence.

Fortunately, Rogers needs no proof to declare that Maricopa County’s election was corrupt (so send her money).

Or that people should go to jail (so send her money).

“It looks like a systematic attempt to disenfranchise thousands of voters by Maricopa County − whose leaders had it in for Kari Lake!” Rogers wrote in her Monday pitch for cash. “If all that wasn’t enough mischief at the polls, there was also ballot harvesting (which is now illegal in AZ) going on, and needs to be prosecuted!

“I want perp walks!”

Actually, Rogers has been calling for perp walks for two years now. She's also called for building a public gallows to hang her political enemies.

Now we know who she envisions as the first to swing.

“Katie Hobbs conspired with the Maricopa County officials to throw this election,” she wrote in Monday’s pitch for cash. “We have the proof, we have the receipts. We need to redo the 2022 elections, with strict court oversight,” she wrote.

“As a member of the State Senate and Chairman of the Elections Committee, I will not allow this to happen to us again.”

An election re-do is perfect foil for grift

Left unexplained is how Rogers plans to thwart democracy.

As chairwoman of the Senate's elections committee, she will have the power come January to decide what bills to hear.

Just as Hobbs, as Arizona’s next governor, will have the power to buy ink by the barrel for her veto pen, should by some miracle any of Rogers’ proposals actually make it to her desk.

Yet here is Rogers, to her apparently easy marks:

“Help me fix Maricopa’s flawed elections! I won’t stop pushing until it’s done.”

And here is Rogers: “This is insane. We are going to fix this.”

And just in case you didn’t get her drift, here is Rogers:

“P.S. Arizona is paying attention to how well I can raise money − and how many patriots can support me. Will you help me show them how serious we are about election integrity?”

Let the grifting begin.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Wendy Rogers, the queen of grift, wants your cash to redo the election