After a judge ruled on Saturday that Kari Lake’s attorneys did not prove she lost the Arizona Governor’s race to Katie Hobbs because election officials intentionally tampered with Maricopa County’s voting machines and the ballots’ chain of custody, Lake said immediately that she would appeal the decision to the Arizona Supreme Court.
Monday she tweeted a claim that Peter Thompson, the Republican-appointed Maricopa County Judge who issued the ruling ending Lake’s misguided quest, was being coached by Marc Elias, the democracy champion. His team beat down most of trump’s flimsy lawsuits after the 2020 election, and they assisted Maricopa County and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ office last week. Almost immediately Lake deleted that tweet (see update at end).
Lake and her attorneys, one who previously represented the inept Cyber Ninjas “audit” scammers (doing such a great job they were fined out of existence), probably had second thoughts about accusing a judge and lawyers of ethical violations, especially after those same lawyers filed another motion today, asking the judge she accused of wrongdoing to sanction Lake’s attorneys, as well as make them pay court costs for last week’s stupid stunt, which could run well into the high six figures.
Here is the 15-page motion seeking sanctions, which even we non-lawyers can understand. It’s clear, to the point, and says what we all knew: “There is no question that Plaintiff’s claims here were both ‘groundless’ and ‘not made in good faith.’” Lake didn’t have one piece of evidence to support her claims, just conspiracies from MAGA nitwits, and the two-day hearing was a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.
This Court should sanction both lawyers and client under A.R.S. § 12-349 to impart to them the seriousness of their misuse of the courts to seek to undermine Arizona elections and impugn hardworking elections workers and officials for purely political – not legal – purposes.
Lake’s same attorneys were sanctioned after they filed their first baseless lawsuit contesting the election results. The ruling Saturday dismissed her second lawsuit, with the same result—no findings to change the election outcome. Now it remains to be seen if the second case will also end in sanctions and fines.
Plaintiff and her attorneys knew—or, at least, they should have known—that they had no witness testimony or evidence that would allow them to meet the Court’s required showing, yet they refused to voluntarily dismiss this action.
Today’s motion provides a solid overview of this entire mess—from Lake’s admission before the election that she’d only accept the outcome if she wins, to her post-election lies and threats against election workers, the courts, and political figures. Katie Hobbs remained calm and dignified throughout the entire shit-show, and her legal team introduced facts, not wild-ass theories from MyPillowGuy’s “pollster.” Meanwhile, Lake’s profanity-laced tweets and speeches smeared the media, her opponents, and election officials, most of them Republicans—very professional.
Everyday it becomes more obvious that Arizonans made the right choice for Governor! I can’t say it any better than the motion’s conclusion:
Courts are established by Arizona’s Constitution and statutes to resolve actual disputes between parties. They do not exist so that candidates for political office can attempt to make political statements and fundraise. And they should not be used to harass political opponents and sow completely unfounded doubts about the integrity of elections. All of those things happened in this matter.
Enough really is enough. It is past time to end unfounded attacks on elections and unwarranted accusations against elections officials.
my bold
Kari Lake’s team has until this evening to respond. [Edit: They did tonight, arguing that their lawsuit was filed in good faith and they proved their claims.] I hope to update the diary soon with a ruling that calls for sanctions and fines. Maybe that would convince Lake to end this madness and forget her appeal. I doubt it, though; she learned to lie, play the courts, attack reporters, and continue her stolen-election grift from trump, who on his deathbed will still be whining about a rigged election.
H/T to Just Bob in the comments, here’s a screenshot of Lake’s deleted tweet:
That tweet made its way into Maricopa County’s motion today (page 8). I’m just guessing Judge Thompson won’t appreciate reading that his ruling was written by “top left-wing attorneys.” Keep digging, Lake. [Edit: In their response Lake’s lawyers said it’s a retweet, not Lake’s own accusation; they also maintain tweets should not be subject to sanctions. Heh.]
UPDATE; Judge Thompson ruled Tuesday: no sanctions but court costs. Diary here.