Who is behind the effort to disqualify Gilbert council candidates?

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Friday will hear a case seeking to disqualify a candidate running for Gilbert Town Council.

The challenger alleges that a teenager forged signatures on the nomination papers for Noah Mundt, who is running for one of the available seats.

Two other cases, one involving mayoral candidate Natalie DiBernardo and another involving council candidate Kenny Buckland, were dismissed in court earlier in the week.

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office audited the signature forms and found all three candidates had enough valid signatures to stay on the ballot.

Former mayoral candidate Shane Krauser has ties to the campaign to get the others off the ballot. Michael Webb, who filed the election challenge, was on Krauser’s election team. Krauser took responsibility for DiBernardo’s signature challenge Tuesday evening in a statement posted on X, formally known as Twitter. Krauser denied involvement in the other two challenges.

Krauser dropped out of the mayoral race Wednesday amid raising scrutiny over the election challenges, connections with the “Gilbert Goons” and a history of financial fraud.

Here’s a look behind the scenes of who is involved:

Who is behind the Gilbert election fraud campaign?

Michael Webb is a Gilbert resident who filed the three election challenges against DiBernardo, Buckland and Mundt. Webb is a former committee precinct member of the Republican Party’s Legislative District 14. He was also part of Krauser’s election committee and donated $200 to his campaign, according to finance reports. Webb has enlisted two well-known names among Arizona’s voter fraud campaigners and election deniers to represent him in the challenges.

Tim LaSota represented Webb in his challenges against DiBernardo and is poised to appear in the challenge trial against Mundt. He was also involved in various other city election challenges across the Valley, including Glendale and Mesa. He is also representing state Sen. Wendy Rogers in a challenge against opponent David Cook. LaSota also represents former gubernatorial and now U.S. Senate Candidate Kari Lake in a defamation lawsuit against her.

Webb retained Jennifer Wright to represent him in Mundt’s challenge. Wright, who helped lead the election integrity office under Attorney General Mark Brnovich, cast doubts on Maricopa County elections procedures in 2022. Wright also criticized election officials on social media and posted support of Republican candidates before sending her demand letter.

She also joined then-Republican Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh in a legal challenge against Mayes to demand a new trial to overturn the results of one of the state’s closest elections. Following her exit from the Attorney General’s Office, she filed a $2 million claim saying statements about her departure from the office were defamatory. 

Justin Yentes is a private investigator hired by Webb to audit the petition paperwork of Buckland and Mundt. He is also the treasurer of Gilbert council candidate Aaron Accurso and the husband of former town councilmember Aimee Yentes.

Who’s pushing back?

Noah Mundt is running for one of two vacant seats on Gilbert Town Council. Mundt is the chairman of the town’s Planning Commission and has been a member since 2018. He works as an engineer at the Salt River Project.

Brett Johnson is representing Mundt in his election challenge. Johnson is a partner at Snell and Wilmer Law. Johnson was part of a group of attorneys representing Republican state lawmakers in a challenge to block an anti-dark money law.  

Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek and can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom.