PHOENIX, Arizona – Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake spoke to a crowd of journalists following what she called “defamatory” statements attacking her for a burglary that occurred at her Democrat rival Katie Hobbs’ Phoenix campaign office.
“Katie Hobbs, sure enough, is a coward. She refuses to debate. She disrespects the people of this state by refusing to debate. She’s willing to make up complete, bogus stories. She knew I had nothing to do with that break-in, and yet she perpetuated that lie. You guys [the media] all fell for it, and she knew you’d fall for it,” Lake said.
The burglary in question occurred when Daniel Mota Dos Reis, 36, broke into Hobbs’ campaign headquarters Monday night and stole an Apple computer mouse, Apple keyboard, and a black Nikon camera allegedly worth $1,180. Reis is a repeat offender who had stolen in the past, and there is currently no evidence that this was politically motivated.
However, Hobbs took the opportunity to make the situation political, saying this was a result of Lake’s “campaign of lies and intimidation.” The Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) also made a statement saying Lake and Republicans were responsible.
“Make no mistake — this is a direct result of Kari Lake and fringe Republicans spreading lies and hate and inciting violence — and it is despicable,” tweeted the ADP.
Lake reiterated that she had nothing to do with this crime but did say that media outlets ran with the story because they wanted to avoid different news: the lead Lake has over Hobbs in the polls. The newest poll from Fox 10 shows Lake with an 11-point lead over her opponent, and Lake said this put the media in a panic.
“This was the real news yesterday that none of you [the media] wanted to cover. We’re 11 points up. You’re in a frenzied panic because your chosen candidate is not winning,” Lake said.
On fake news, The Arizona Sun Times asked Lake what younger, aspiring journalists should do to set themselves on the right path.
“Learn how to dig for evidence. Learn how to investigate but resist being an activist. Take your opinions – and we all have opinions. Not a single one of us is completely unbiased. We got it in there somewhere. Bury it deep down when you’re covering a story,” Lake said
Moreover, Lake said the real issue here is Hobbs and the rise in crimes like these that will come about if she is elected governor.
“Here’s the story. It’s Katie Hobbs’ proposals and ideas that will have more crimes like this happening. It’s not a joke when someone gets broken into,” Lake said. “Her policies to defund the police, to not support the police. She doesn’t back our police.”
On the other hand, Lake said it would be a priority for her office to fully staff police departments in the state to make sure Arizona has enough manpower to address even the smaller crimes. Lake also mentioned that she is a proponent of broken windows policing, which focuses on smaller crimes to help prevent larger crimes from occurring.
“Small crimes lead to bigger crimes. We’re going to start going after the small crimes throughout Arizona. The citizens of our cities and our state deserve a safe state,” Lake said.
Watch the whole conference here.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
