An attorney representing a conservative election denial group in an ongoing legal battle with Maricopa County over public records may not have been licensed to practice law during an hourslong trial last week.

County attorneys said in court documents that lawyer Bryan Blehm was suspended by the Arizona State Bar for several days because of a “fees-related issue.” That time period includes June 12, when he appeared before Judge Scott Blaney in Maricopa County Superior Court for a lengthy and emotional evidentiary hearing and trial.

The attorneys said Blehm was still suspended on June 14, when they filed a notice with Blaney on the matter. The attorneys said they had “an ethical duty” to inform the court of what they had learned.

Blehm was listed as active when The Arizona Republic checked the state bar’s website on Wednesday.

He did not respond to a request for comment on the issue. However, he submitted a notice to the court on Wednesday afternoon indicating he had been reinstated by the state bar. An attached letter from the association said his reinstatement was effective as of June 17.

It is the latest legal trouble for Blehm, who was recently issued a 60-day suspension by the state bar for lying while representing Republican Kari Lake in a lawsuit that sought to overturn the results of the 2022 election. He will be temporarily barred from practicing law starting July 7.

His suspension is also a new twist in the case, which challenges the county’s policy of redacting names of election workers while responding to public records requests.

County election officials say the measure aims to protect low-level employees from threats in an increasingly volatile political environment and is justified under an exemption to public records law known as “best interest of the state.”

“Once these names go out there and are placed into the public sphere … it entices bad actors to quote-on-quote hold these people accountable,” said Jack O’Connor of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. “It is foreseeable.”

But We The People Arizona Alliance, an organization that has long spread voting conspiracies, says the policy interferes with its ability to verify elections are being administered properly and investigate perceived abnormalities.

“There’s evidence on both sides that people are somewhat out of control in their tone,” Blehm said, adding that the group works toward election integrity “so that a lot of this nonsense going on in society, which they have nothing to do with, stops.”

An emotional hearing

Four people took the stand in court: We The People Arizona Alliance Chairwoman Shelby Busch, Recorder Stephen Richer, Elections Director Scott Jarrett and former Elections Department employee Kristi Passarelli. All of them said they’d received harassing messages and threats.

Richer said a temporary worker came into his office distraught after someone took a photo of her in her vehicle and threatened to post it on social media. The worker told Richer that the man had accused her of stealing the election.

“I have had people walk out in tears and never come back,” Richer said. “I have had long-term employees quit.”

Threats toward election officials tend to spike amid elections, Richer said. But they also can be spurred by other events. He said election officials received a number of nasty messages and threats when former President Donald Trump came to Arizona in early June for a political rally.

“Bad actors are obsessed with elections right now,” Richer said.

Arizona politics: Kari Lake’s lawyer sanctioned for 60 days for lying in effort to overturn ’22 election

Jarrett said many people who apply to become poll workers, help with signature verification or perform other temporary election work ask whether their names will be made public. He said the county began redacting low-level employee names in 2022 because threats were escalating.

“All these staff members were getting very concerned about their safety,” he said.

Passarelli said she began receiving threats the day before the state primary election in August 2022. The people behind the social media messages, emails and voicemails accused her of helping to steal the 2020 election.

She quickly locked down her social media accounts and created an email filter. She recalled being escorted to her vehicle to ensure nobody tried to harm her as she entered and exited the county’s election headquarters. As she left work, she often worried that someone might try to follow her home.

The threats were so concerning that Passarelli asked her parents and two sons to take basic safety precautions, fearing someone might try to harm them if they couldn’t get to her.

“It was one of the most difficult things I had to do,” she said. “To tell them that people were targeting their mom, to be careful about having their last names on social media.”

Busch said she also receives death threats “on a regular basis.” She told The Republic that her contact information had been released on social media days before the court hearing and she was still receiving harassing messages from it.

“I believe it’s fair to say it exists across the aisle in our political parties,” she said, adding that she knows of several high-profile conservative state lawmakers who have also received threats.

But she said she believes redacting county employees’ names restricts transparency and only heightens societal unease around election administration. She wishes to track down election workers using county records and talk with them about their experiences with signature verification and other processes.

Busch said she doesn’t condone threats against county employees. But Passarelli noted her face and name still appear in videos on We The People Arizona Alliance’s website.

Passarelli said she received a new message days before the court hearing. The sender said she should be in jail.

“This is the first time I’m talking about it in a really long time,” Passarelli said. “I don’t want anyone else to have to go through what I went through.”

What now?

Blaney took the case under advisement last week. That means a ruling should be coming soon.

“There’s so many different state agencies that I deal with in my courtroom that would love to have their employees shielded,” he told county attorneys, adding that he would need time to weigh the “broad” disclosures included in state public records law against their arguments that election workers could be harmed if their identities were publicly exposed.

But Blehm’s suspension could impact what happens next. Blaney has yet to respond to the county’s letter notifying the court of the issue.

Tom Liddy, civil division chief for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, said he’s never encountered a similar situation.

“I don’t know what the judge will do,” he said.

Tim Tait, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Superior Court, said Blaney could formally address the issue, but that it will most likely be resolved through the state bar.

Spokespeople for the association did not respond to a request for comment. Bar proceedings begin with a “charge” against an attorney. The state bar reviews allegations to determine if there is enough information to dismiss a case or proceed with a recommendation of discipline.

The bar’s recommendation then goes to the Arizona Supreme Court’s Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee for review. The committee can take a number of actions, including dismissing a case, ordering the state bar to investigate further or imposing a range of discipline.

An attorney can appeal the committee’s decision to the presiding disciplinary judge. The judge heads a three-member panel that adjudicates discipline. The state bar or the attorney facing discipline can also appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.

The bar does not make charges public until after review by the Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee.

Republic reporter Fernando Cervantes Jr. contributed to this article.

Sasha Hupka covers county government and election administration for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suspended Arizona attorney participates in election court hearing