The former recorder for Maricopa County, Stephen Richer, now sits on a board of State Democracy Defenders Fund, an organization formed last year and overseen by Democratic heavyweights to thwart Republican policies and initiatives impacting elections.
State Democracy Defenders Fund is allied with the longtime top lawyer for the Democratic Party, Marc Elias, through his coalition, Civil Service Strong. This coalition is files lawsuits to prevent implementation of Trump administration initiatives.
Others within the coalition are the American Federation of Government Employees; American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington; Democracy Forward; Government Accountability Project; National Federation of Federal Employees; and Project on Government Oversight.
State Democracy Defenders Fund has filed several lawsuits against the Trump administration. The organization is representing the government employees suing Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, the government employees unions suing several government agencies and DOGE, activist organizations against Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, the FBI agents suing to block the release of employees names, the activist organizations suing to prevent Musk and DOGE access to Treasury data, and activist organizations suing to cease DOGE actions.
State Democracy Defenders Fund’s founder, Norm Eisen, worked within the Obama administration, then served as special counsel in impeachment proceedings and engaged in legal campaigns against President Donald Trump in his first term. With State Democracy Defenders Fund and Civil Service Strong, Eisen has continued his legal campaign against Trump in this second term.
Eisen also founded one of the other organizations within the Civil Service Strong coalition, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Weeks before suing over DOGE and in the days leading up to Trump’s inauguration, Eisen attempted to be installed in the advisory body for the purpose of addressing “conflict of interest concerns.” Eisen sought an invitation to DOGE alongside Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Like Eisen, Canter hailed from the Obama administration; Canter also served in the Clinton administration.
In addition to his membership on State Democracy Defenders Fund’s board, Richer is a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and CEO of Republic Affairs, a crisis consulting agency for “pro-democratic entities and individuals.”
The board consists of few other middle-of-the-road Republicans (or former Republicans, as Richer’s case): Bill Kristol, “The Bulwark” editor who worked in both the Bush and Reagan administrations; and Joe Walsh, former Republican congressman and 2020 presidential candidate.
Others within leadership all hail from Democratic backgrounds: Susan Corke, formerly with the Southern Poverty Law Center, German Marshall Fund of the U.S., and Freedom House, as well as having worked with the Bush administration; Brian Frosh, former attorney general for Maryland and lawmaker; Lavora Barnes, former chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party; Nancy Gertner, former U.S. District Court judge for Massachusetts; Rahna Epting, executive director of the progressive organization MoveOn; and Spencer Boyer, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Policy within the Biden administration and a member of the Obama administration.
