By Ryan Randazzo | Arizona Republic
Cyber Ninjas will get a new judge in a public records case after complaining that a previous judge who ordered the company to turn over documents was reading “inflammatory” media coverage of the case involving the controversial 2020 election review.
The case was assigned to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Brad Astrowsky. The Arizona Republic and American Oversight asked the court to pick yet another judge after their consolidated case was assigned to Astrowsky, but those requests were denied.
Astrowsky most recently made headlines when he ruled against a Tempe music venue called Shady Park that was sued by nearby residents over noise complaints.
The Republic and American Oversight, a left-leaning watchdog group, both filed lawsuits last year seeking emails, texts and other communications from the Arizona Senate’s review of the 2020 election conducted by Cyber Ninjas. Judges in each case ordered the records to be turned over prior to the consolidation of cases.
Cyber Ninjas’ attorney, Jack Wilenchik, who months ago was ordered to keep working on the case even though his client was not paying him, filed a request for a new judge May 4.
That request came after an April hearing during which Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp was curt with Cyber Ninjas’ owner Doug Logan, who participated via video.
“He needs to turn over everything. Every email. Every text. Everything,” Kemp said during that hearing. “The issue of public records has been clearly resolved. These are public records. There is no more dispute over that. That is the law of the case. Period.”
Kemp said during that hearing that he read in the newspaper that Logan was “confused” by previous orders from Kemp and another judge to turn over documents.
