Arizona Republicans seem to think election tampering is OK as long as it benefits them: column

In the wake of a bombshell news report detailing former President Donald Trump twice sought to talk on the phone with the Republican leader of Arizona's most populous county last winter as he and his allies sought to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election win.

"But the leader, Clint Hickman, then the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said in an interview on Friday that he let the calls — made in late December and early January — go to voice mail and did not return them. ... At the time, Mr. Hickman was being pressed by the state Republican Party chairwoman and Mr. Trump's lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to investigate claims of fraud in the county's election, which Mr. Biden had won by about 45,000 votes," the New York Times reported on Friday.

Writing for the Arizona Republic this Monday, E.J. Montini contends that in light of these revelations, it's clear that Republicans don't really care that much about alleged election meddling, saying that Hickman "took in on the chin" from Republicans for daring to resist Trump's pressure and praise his state's election integrity.

"It looks to me as if attempted election tampering is now legal in Arizona," Montini writes. "For Republicans."

Read the full op-ed over at the Arizona Republic.