Grand Canyon Times

Arizona State Rep. Austin Smith criticized Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D-Ariz.) after Fontes said those Americans who criticize the practices of election officials like himself are “fascists.”

“You CAN question ANYTHING in this country including elections,” tweeted Smith, in response to a video of Fontes' comments. “Only actual fascists and democracy frauds like Adrian Fontes hate it. Pound sand, @Adrian_Fontes.”

Fontes' remarks came at "The Summit for American Democracy," hosted by the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR). 

The Grand Canyon Times reported last week that CEIR is run by David Becker, a lawyer who has been described as a “hard-core leftist” who “hates conservatives." 

A spokesperson for Fontes told the Grand Canyon Times that Fontes' panel at the summit "will be a discussion about opportunities for bipartisan cooperation on elections."

It was during that panel that Fontes twice used the word, "fascists."

“There are fascists active in this country. (Colorado Secretary of State) Jena (Griswold) just listed off who they are. She politely calls them election deniers,” said Fontes. “I'm supposed to call them election enthusiasts as an official position of my office, but I personally prefer just calling them what they are. They are fascists.”

While Fontes calls those who question elections “fascists”, the term “fascist” was coined by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who was first elected to power and then outlawed dissent, a free press, and elections themselves.

On May 30, 1926 the Associated Press reported, “The Fascist directorate, under the Presidency of Premier Mussolini, has decided to carry out severe revision of all daily and weekly newspapers and publications. This will be done in order to draw up a list of those authorized by the party."

“Elections were were abolished. Free speech and free association disappeared, and the Fascist government dissolved opposition parties and unions,” reports Encyclopedia Brittanica of Mussolini’s rise to power.

Time reports, "the word fascism comes from fascio, the Italian word for bundle, which in this case represents bundles of people. Its origins go back to Ancient Rome, when the fasces was a bundle of wood with an ax head, carried by leaders."

Mussolini "thought that liberty of expression and liberty of parties was a sham, and that fascism would organize people under state power," Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, told Time.

Francisco Franco, the fascist dictator who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975, also "violently repressed political dissent" reported Time. 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary says that a fascist government "allows no dissent or disagreement."

"Calling people fascists for questioning the government?" tweeted Arizona State Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-3).

Restoration for America tweeted, "In America, we used to call people who questioned government 'citizens.' Arizona's Democrat Secretary of State calls them 'fascists.'"

Fontes was one of three Arizona election officials to attend the CEIR conference. Also participating were Maricopa County Director of Elections Reynaldo "Rey" Valenzuela, and Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates. 

The attendance by Fontes and other election officials at the conference was criticized by Elon Musk, who tweeted, "Strange that election officials from pivotal regions attended a far left conference when they’re supposed to be impartial.” 

Fontes, 53, was first elected as Arizona’s Secretary of State in November 2023. He defeated Mark Finchem (R-), winning 52% to Finchem’s 47 percent. 

A Nogales, Arizona native, Fontes served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1992 to 1996 and is a 1998 graduate of Arizona State University. He received his J.D. from the University of Denver in 2000. 

Fontes was the Maricopa County Recorder from 2017 to 2021 and also worked as an attorney in the Arizona Attorney General’s office.