Judge Who Appointed Judge To Oversee Arizona Election Audit Hearing Has ‘Clear Conflict Of Interest’

NEW YORK (VINnews) — After the judge appointed to oversee the hearing regarding the Arizona election audit recused himself Sunday due to conflicts of interest, it has emerged that an even greater conflict of interest exists for the person who appointed the current judge due to adjudicate the hearing, according to a Gateway Pundit investigation.

Judge Christopher Coury withdrew abruptly Sunday evening, citing an ethical conflict under the Judicial Code of Conduct, since  a lawyer for the firm representing Cyber Ninjas, the audit leader, had worked as an extern in his office within the last five years.

However judge Daniel Martin, who replaced Coury, a Republican, is actually an appointment of former Democrat governer Janet Napolitano. How did Martin receive his appointment?  Apparently this is the responsibility of Judge Pamela Gates, the Civil Presiding Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona, who appoints judges to civil cases in the state.

Gateway Pundit called Judge Gate’s office, and the woman who answered the phone said that it is Judge Gates’ responsibility to appoint judges to civil cases in Arizona, except for election and related audit cases. This lady shared that for the current election audit case, it was Judge Thomason who selected Judge Martin for the case.

So a call was made to Judge Thomason’s office. The lady who answered the phone there said that for the current case Judge Thomason did not select the judge for the case. She said that the judge’s name was provided to their office and Judge Thomason released the information on who the judge was. The woman shared that for recusals it’s the Presiding Judge who appoints the judge. She then shared that it was Judge Gates who provided Judge Martin’s name.

Here is the bombshell: Judge Gates is married to Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates. Thus she has a clear and obvious conflict of interest in any case related to the county elections, which her husband among others supervised and therefore has been trying to prevent an audit from taking place.

According to the American Bar Association, a judge must avoid any impropriety or appearance of impropriety. Thus Judge Gates should immediately have recused herself from choosing Judge Martin and should never have been involved in the appointment process. Is it by coincidence that she chose the current judge?