The Arizona Court of Appeals dismissed Kari Lake’s appeal of her election lawsuit on Thursday, stating that voters were not disenfranchised. Lake said she intends to appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court, as her opponents and Maricopa County officials praised the dismissal.
In the past, Maricopa County election officials have frequently criticized Lake, causing some to doubt their impartiality. The Maricopa County Supervisors oversee elections on Election Day, while Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has oversight of early balloting.
“It’s no surprise that the election officials who ran an Anti-Kari Lake Super-PAC during the election continue to smear her after the election,” the Kari Lake campaign told The Arizona Sun Times. Their bias is just as inappropriate now as it was during the election, and they have sealed their place in history as liars, thieves and cheats.”
The spokesperson continued, “Kari’s movement has captured the hearts and minds of folks across America and their attacks do nothing but strengthen her resolve to fight for safe and secure elections.”
Clint Hickman, chair of the Maricopa County Supervisors, issued a statement on Thursday referring to Lake’s legal arguments as “questionable mathematics.”
He said, “When a candidate for office asks a court to throw out valid votes, you have to wonder how committed to election integrity they really are.” He said Lake has been rejected “at the polls, when Arizona voters rejected her bid to be governor…”
Hickman said, “Lake and her legal team continue to find success getting their disproven theories of election malfeasance parroted by friendly media sources and some elected officials.”
Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, who served as chair of the Maricopa County Supervisors during the midterm election, and Richer have been the most outspoken in county leadership attacking Lake.
Gates said last August that “some of these candidates are sending around this misinformation, these conspiracy theories…”
He said he didn’t want to deal “with people who are saying that the last election was stolen.” Gates said Lake was “irresponsible” and the “height of irresponsibility” for expressing concern there could be voter fraud, “to continue to push these lies.”
During a radio interview with KTAR in August, Gates said, “I fear that if we continue to nominate people who deny the truth, then what may have to happen is that we lose elections.”
He added, “[W]e have folks who are likely to be our nominees who are not supporting our democracy.” Gates said those candidates were “dredging up conspiracy theories.”
On November 11, 2022, three days after the midterm election, when Lake complained that the results still weren’t in yet, Gates criticized her.
“Quite frankly it’s offensive for Kari Lake to say that these people behind me are slow rolling this when they’re working 14 to 18 hours,” he said. “So I really hope this is the end of that now. We can be patient and respect the results when they come out.”
Richer retweeted 12 News host Brahm Resnik on February 17, “Consumer alert: @KariLake fund-raising off her 3rd consecutive defeat. Before you give, read the ruling. It’s not a close call. http://bit.ly/3I1jlfg #RuleOfLaw.”
Consumer alert: @KariLake fund-raising off her 3rd consecutive defeat. Before you give, read the ruling. It's not a close call. https://t.co/NlfApT9eep #RuleOfLaw pic.twitter.com/tcgJZz5JRw
— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) February 17, 2023
Richer responded to someone who tweeted they couldn’t “believe people actually fall for this” with, “What was it PT Barnum said? ‘There’s a sucker born every minute.’” Similarly, he responded to an Arizona Republic reporter about Lake, “Here comes the fundraising pitch!”
In response to someone concerned about voter disenfranchisement, Richer responded by derisively referring to “stolen election garbage.”
Richer responded to KTAR talk show host Barry Markson’s tweet stating that “Kari Lake does NOT have ‘truth on her side.’” Richer tweeted, “Don Quixote also was pretty sure he had the truth on his side.”
Richer also tweeted, “Please don’t fall for: WE CAN ONLY APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT (where we lose because duh)… … IF YOU DONATE $50 NOW!”
Please don’t fall for:
WE CAN ONLY APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT (where we lose because duh)…
…
IF YOU DONATE $50 NOW!
— Stephen Richer—MaricopaCountyRecorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) February 17, 2023
While Richer tweets from his self-described “personal account,” the law generally treats personal accounts of elected officials similar to their official accounts. The distinction arises when an elected official uses an official account for something campaign-related; they can get in trouble for that commingling. When former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter, it was his personal account.
Gates and Richer also “Liked” tweets skeptical of voter disenfranchisement. Gates “Liked” a tweet from the executive director of the left-leaning Center for Election Innovation and Research, who asserted that Trump’s 2020 campaign commissioned a study to show voter disenfranchisement in that election but didn’t publicize it since there wasn’t any.
Richer “Liked” a tweet by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, who said, “So lets be real: a *lot* of powerful voices who have spread & amplified election misinformation these last few years have knowingly & intentionally done so.”
Both Gates and Richer are licensed attorneys in Arizona. The Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys state that it is professional misconduct for an attorney to “engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation” or “engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.”
The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) censured Gates and Richer at the annual meeting in January over election integrity. Last August, the MCRC censured Richer and Republicans in Arizona’s largest legislative district, LD3, censured Gates. Calls emerged after the midterm election for Gates and Richer to resign or be recalled. Richer started a PAC in 2021 for GOP election fraud deniers, causing some, including Lake, to question his impartiality.
– – –
Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kari Lake” by The Kari Lake. Background Photo “Maricopa County Courthouse” by Zeb Micelli.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include remarks from the Kari Lake campaign.
