On Monday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake requested that Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs have an “open invitation” for a debate. Even if the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission (AZCCEC) allows an open invitation and extends their deadline, it’s unlikely Hobbs would agree to a debate.
That’s because Hobbs again rejected a traditional debate offered by the AZCCEC on Sunday, after a previous rejection last month. The AZCCEC decided during a meeting last Thursday to grant the two gubernatorial candidates another week to come to an agreement on a debate format. Hobbs’ campaign manager Nicole DeMont responded to the AZCCEC that she couldn’t agree to any debate format featuring Lake, accusing her opponent of using the debate platform inappropriately.
“Unfortunately, debating a conspiracy theorist like Kari Lake — whose entire campaign platform is to cause enormous chaos and make Arizona the subject of national ridicule — would only lead to constant interruptions, pointless distractions, and childish name-calling,” wrote DeMont.
If the AZCCEC doesn’t grant an extension and Hobbs doesn’t change her mind, then Lake will have a televised 30-minute Q&A session with Arizona Horizon host Ted Simons on October 12 instead of a debate.
In her letter petitioning the AZCCEC for an open invitation for Hobbs, Lake claimed that Hobbs had a “paralyzing fear” of debating her.
“It’s disturbing that Hobbs, who currently serves as our Secretary of State and administrator of our elections, thinks so little of the voters and the democratic process that she would rob them of their one chance for a fair and informative debate,” wrote Lake’s campaign. “Kari Lake will not protest if Hobbs agrees to show up for the debate in the 11th hour — even if it’s the day of — and it is our hope that the Commission won’t either.”
Hobbs is the first candidate to refuse a Clean Elections debate since the AZCCEC’s inception in 2002.
Rather, Hobbs carried on with her campaign activities, which included a visit to Flagstaff to meet with Mission AZ, an organization that helps elect Democratic candidates, as well as Northern Arizona University’s (NAU) chapter of the Arizona Education Association (AEA) and Young Democrats.
Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see… it’s the future Governor, my lord, slowing down to take a picture for me pic.twitter.com/Mo5NqV5M8j
On Thursday, the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission (AZCCEC) voted to give gubernatorial opponents Katie Hobbs and Kari Lake another week to agree to a debate format. Even if the debate doesn’t take place, a Q&A session will occur on the scheduled day of the debate, October 12.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hobbs rejected the traditional debate setup at the end of last month, and last Friday issued a proposal to replace the debate with two separate, consecutive town halls.
AZCECC read aloud a letter from Republican gubernatorial candidate Lake refusing to accept Hobbs’ terms. Lake also requested that one of the commissioners, Amy Chan, recuse herself because she works as general counsel to Hobbs’ office. Chan did recuse herself from the discussion and vote.
New #AZGOV: @KariLake calls on @AZCCEC to reject Katie Hobbs’ counter proposal to debate:
“We are calling on the Commission to schedule the debate as planned with two podiums on stage. Kari Lake will be there to answer any & all questions from the moderator.” pic.twitter.com/iuthNUZIxc
AZCCEC rejected Hobbs’ proposal, 3-1. Only Commissioner Steve Titla voted in favor of Hobbs’ proposal.
Chairman Damien Meyer said he weighed the purpose of AZCCEC, and what is best for Arizona voters. Meyer said voter education was the most important function of AZCCEC. Meyer said it was most beneficial for voters to have a debate.
“I don’t believe the commission should accept Secretary Hobbs’ proposal of these back-to-back 30 minute town hall interviews,” said Meyer.
However, Meyer stressed that both campaigns needed to work with AZCCEC to agree on a fair debate structure. Meyer clarified that any future debate format modifications shouldn’t include content regulation. He implied that fact-checking wasn’t the role of debate moderators.
“If someone wants to make a claim, then they’re going to have to live with that claim,” said Meyer.
Commissioner Mark Kimble said he agreed with Meyer, but “only up to a point.” Kimble said there was an issue with timing, since AZCCEC usually sends a format in August. He took issue with Hobbs’ action to send a proposal last week. Kimble argued that it was unrealistic to believe that Hobbs and Lake could come to a mutual agreement.
“It’s incumbent on us to say enough. This is the format we set up,” said Kimble.
Commissioner Galen Paton concurred. He said voters needed to see a debate between the two candidates.
“If they want to do town halls they can do that somewhere else with someone else sponsoring it,” said Galen.
Titla disagreed. He said there was time for the two campaigns to work with AZCCEC to create a fair solution. Titla said he liked Hobbs’ proposal, implying that Lake didn’t meet the criteria of conducting a “fair and reasoned” debate. Titla said the “Apache way” was to give people time to speak, not to insult and speak over one another.
“There should be reasonable people talking, not speaking over each other, not insulting one another in front of people,” said Titla.
Present at the meeting were representatives of both campaigns: Nicole DeMont for Hobbs and Timothy La Sota for Lake.
DeMont said Hobbs was willing to participate in a “substantive” debate, which she said Lake wasn’t going to do. She accused Lake of wanting to create a spectacle.
“You can’t debate a conspiracy theorist,” said DeMont. “When she starts to come back to reality [then] we can have a debate.”
La Sota retorted that Hobbs’ avoidance of the debate is a “cop-out.” He said Hobbs’ proposal is merely an infomercial, not substantive. La Sota warned that AZCCEC capitulating on this debate would cause future candidates to avoid debates. La Sota added that a town hall wasn’t a debate, and therefore would undermine AZCCEC’s purpose.
Public comment heavily favored hosting a traditional debate: 13 voters desired a debate, while 3 voters said they would rather have Hobbs’ proposed town hall format or no debate at all.
Watch the entire AZCCEC meeting below:
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
This week, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs launched a campaign ad featuring a sheriff who denied the existence of the border crisis. Yet, Hobbs characterized the border situation as a crisis in her proposed plan to improve the border.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway denied that there was a border crisis last April when he rejected Arizona National Guard assistance for his county. Hathaway said that the only crisis Arizona suffered from was an economic crisis, seeming to insinuate that border restrictions prevented Mexican workers from contributing to the U.S. economy.
“We don’t have a migrant crisis on the border. We do not need to militarize our counties and have troops come to the border,” said Hathaway. “We have certain, very vocal sheriffs in this state who are trying to fan the flames on a supposed crisis.”
We need less talk and more action when it comes to securing the border. My highest priority is keeping Arizona communities safe which is why law enforcement like Sheriff Hathaway and Sheriff Nanos are backing my campaign. Watch here👇 pic.twitter.com/4IpFuUJgND
In the video, Hathaway said he was “tired of the talk” of other politicians and declared that Hobbs was the candidate who would take action.
Hobbs’ campaign video also featured Sheriff Chris Nanos. His remarks alluded to Hathaway’s past sentiments: that characterizations of the border as a crisis were overblown.
“She’s not here to politicize our border,” said Nanos.
Sheriff David Hathaway giving Governor candidate Katie Hobbs a tour of the beautiful ranchlands of Santa Cruz County. pic.twitter.com/LVBPpmxck4
— Sheriff David Hathaway, Santa Cruz County, AZ (@JamesDavidHath1) August 30, 2022
Hobbs’ views on the border have resulted in mixed messaging. In May, Hobbs said it was “ridiculous” that the border was a core issue for the governor’s race. In the preceding months, Hobbs flipped on her support for ending Title 42. Hobbs initially supported an immediate end to Title 42 before adopting her current perspective that Title 42’s demise would be a “rash decision” and a “disaster.”
Hobbs’ border plan pledged a “tough but fair immigration process” that would disincentivize illegal entry. She promised increased funding for border sheriffs and law enforcement, increased funding for border community centers and hospitals, increased funding for ports of entry, an increase and reallocation of work visas to address the labor shortage, a short-term plan to phase out Title 42, and citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients.
By comparison, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s border plan issued a lengthier plan. Lake proposed the establishment of an interstate compact in which a commission would oversee border operations. States in the compact would declare an invasion; create a border security force that would arrest, detain, and deport illegal immigrants; and buck federal restrictions and regulations from federal border enforcement agencies.
Additionally, Lake promised to veto any budget that didn’t fully fund border wall completion, derive border construction funds from seized cartel assets, request border construction reimbursement from the federal government, expand the Arizona Rangers, destroy smuggler and cartel tunnels using Israeli military expertise, shoot down Mexican drones in Arizona airspace, increase the National Guards’ border presence and grant detainment authority, put a carveout in HB2810 to allow for civil asset forfeiture of cartel and trafficking assets, allow law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants under trespassing laws, create a special “border court” within the superior court to adjudicate illegal immigrant trespassing crimes, allow the Arizona Guard and National Guard to deport illegal immigrants, expand Governor Doug Ducey’s Border Strike Force Bureau, creation of a border task force for the tribal communities, institute a “Refuse and Lose” law that divests state funding from counties or municipalities that employ sanctuary policies, creation of a publicly-available illegal alien database, lobby Congress to remove Arizona from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals jurisdiction, have cartels designated as terrorist organizations, and require stricter screening for illegal immigrant minor placement.
The Republican Accountability Project (RAP) is using $2 million from Democrat billionaires to take down Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
RAP is relying on funds raised through their new political action committee (PAC), the Republican Accountability PAC, established in February. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance reports, the PAC has well over $5.1 million in funding from just 21 donors. Only 8 gave donations of $1,000 or less.
The majority of the PAC’s funds came from the following billionaires bankrolling the Democratic Party, none of which are from Arizona:
$1 million, Kathryn Murdoch: daughter-in-law of News Corporation co-founder and Fox Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch. Co-founder and president of Quadrivium Foundation, which endorsed and heavily funded the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and recently committed $250 million to BlackRock for “green energy infrastructure.” Former strategy and communications director for the Clinton Foundation (2007-2011). Member of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) board of trustees.
$1 million, Sue Mandel: wife to hedge fund billionaire Stephen Mandel. Director of the ZOOM Foundation, a social justice activism organization. Co-founder of Moms Clean Air Force, which fights climate change and air pollution. Member of Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors. Member of EDF board of trustees.
$1 million, John Pritzker: member of Pritzker dynasty, son of Jay Pritzker and related to Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Finances left-leaning causes through his foundation. Issued a $25 million grant to an environmental justice project. His relative, Rachel Pritzker Duarte, also gave $100,000.
$500,000, Seth Klarman: founder and chief executive of the Baupost Group, a private investment partnership. Donates heavily through his Klarman Family Foundation, which has backed George Soros’ organizations, the NAACP, the Brennan Center for Justice, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and the ADL.
$500,000, Sam Rawlings Walton: grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Former EDF board of trustees member.
$500,000, Gordon Gund: heir to Ohio’s Gund dynasty. Affiliated with the George Gund Foundation, which funds social justice initiatives across the board, including climate justice, abortion, transgenderism, and racial equity.
$200,000, Jeff and Erica Lawson: co-founder and CEO of Twilio, a cloud communications services firm. Major financier of a dark money favorite for Silicon Valley liberals, Future Forward (FF) PAC, initially funded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
Republican Accountability PAC has just launched a new $2 million campaign targeting the MAGA extremists running for office in Arizona.
Kari Lake is the first candidate being targeted. The campaign will feature real Republicans voters like Tom and Sue who refuse to support Lake. pic.twitter.com/2XFsTLKMec
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) August 16, 2022
RAP is an initiative of the Democratic, “Never Trump” dark money group, Defending Democracy Together (DDT). DDT was one of the top-spending dark money groups in the 2020 election, spending over $15 million to either oppose former President Donald Trump or support President Joe Biden.
One of the RAP promotional videos announcing their PAC campaign features a “Republican voter” and “Arizona conservative” named Tom, who AZ Free News discovered is actually registered Democrat Tom Rawles. The timing of Rawles’ feature is noteworthy, considering that his wife, Linda Rawles, penned an Arizona Republic opinion piece shared far and wide by Democrats and self-described Republicans like Bill Kristol earlier this week.
"I’m a lifelong Republican, but I can’t even recognize the state GOP…Instead of nominating distinguished leaders, the party has elevated unhinged and anti-democratic candidates. It pains me to say this of my own party: The Arizona GOP is beyond repair." https://t.co/9GCtpsGlVM
Rawles served on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) from 1993 to 1996, then on the Mesa City Council from 2004 to 2008. As a councilman in early 2007, he gained notoriety nationwide for remaining seated and silent during the Pledge of Allegiance at a council meeting, in protest of the Iraq War. In 2012, Rawles failed in a run for District 1 of the Arizona State Senate.
Rawles’ wife, Linda, also has a political history. Linda launched multiple, unsuccessful campaigns in the 1980s in Indiana before coming to Arizona. Then she ran and lost as a Republican for an Arizona congressional seat in 1994.
The Republican Accountability PAC treasurer Sarah Longwell is an avowed “Never Trumper” who claims to be a Republican. Longwell was the first female national board chair for the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ acceptance within the GOP and criticized for promulgating a “big tent” GOP and being “Republicans In Name Only,” or “RINOs.”
"Inclusion wins, which makes the Texas Republican Party leadership’s decision to exclude the Texas Log Cabin Republicans from their convention not just narrow-minded, but politically short-sighted." pic.twitter.com/vp1UAZJZtn
— Log Cabin Republicans (@LogCabinGOP) June 17, 2022
Longwell resigned from LCR’s board after the organization endorsed Trump’s re-election. She became the publisher of a neoconservative news and commentary site, The Bulwark, with the support of Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes.
RAP received the endorsement of Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Supervisor Bill Gates. The pair appeared in a RAP promotional video last September. At the time, Richer told AZ Free News that he appeared in the RAP video because January 6 reminded him of the French Revolution, and he felt it was important to support DDT.
Richer added that his support would make great minds like Edmund Burke, a predecessor to modern conservatism, as well as law and order supporters, proud.
Neither Richer or Gates received compensation for their video appearance.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Sunday, Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs announced that she booked the drag queen who’s spoken out against her opponent, Kari Lake, over their past friendship.
Social media posts by the drag queen, Richard Stevens, went viral in June for showcasing his past friendship with Lake as well as her support and enthusiasm for the drag queen lifestyle.
Stevens spoke out in mid-June after Lake criticized the normalization of drag queens publicly. He called her a hypocrite, claiming that he did a drag queen performance for her birthday with children present years ago, and that she attended his performances at various Phoenix bars.
They kicked God out of schools and welcomed the Drag Queens.
They took down our Flag and replaced it with a rainbow.
They seek to disarm Americans and militarize our Enemies.
As proof, Stevens posted photos of Lake standing alongside two drag queens, one of them being him. In one of the photos, Lake was dressed as Elvis Presley and posing alongside Seville dressed as a blonde female with a sugar skull face. It’s unclear whether whether Lake intended to dress as a “drag king,” which is cross-dressing for a woman, or merely intended to wear a costume for a themed party.
“Now that @karilake has waded into the war on drag queens, know she is a complete hypocrite,” wrote Stevens. “Kari was a friend of mine, and I stood by her when she turned to the right. I reached out (and she responded repeatedly) when she took a public drubbing.”
Lake served Stevens a cease-and-desist letter. Incidentally, Stevens was preparing to perform for a “family-friendly” drag show brunch when he received the letter.
In response, Stevens’ lawyer Thomas Ryan called Lake a “bully” and threatened to provide evidence that Lake hired Stevens to perform for a news anchor friend’s baby shower.
“Now Kari is a bully, and the reservoir of goodwill she had built up over the years as a cherished news anchor — well, that’s been drained to the point where we might as well just refer to her now as Kari Puddles,” wrote Ryan.
@tomryanlaw has notified @KariLake I will not cease or desist telling the truth about my relationship with her.
The Arizona Senate Republican caucus pledged in June to introduce legislation banning child attendance at drag shows. The leaders said that drag shows sexualized and groomed children. They noted that they were working with several other states to draft the legislation.
“If men want to dress as women, and if adults want to participate in watching these hyper-sexualized performances, they have the freedom to do so. It crosses the line when kids are subjected to these drag shows,” wrote the caucus. “We will be damned if we won’t fight like hell to protect the most innocent from these horrifying and disturbing trends that are spreading across the nation now that extremist Democrats are currently in control of our federal government.”
JOINT STATEMENT BY THE ARIZONA STATE SENATE MAJORITY TEAM: Senate Republicans Fight Back Against the Sexual Perversion Children Are Being Exposed To
Their announcement followed a series of reports on the controversies following drag shows across the state. In May, a Tucson high school counselor who organized a drag show for students was arrested for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. In June, a Phoenix museum hosted a drag show open to children.
Studies have linked youth exposure to sexually explicit material with risky sexual behaviors, intimacy disorders, sexual violence and misconduct, and sexual deviancy.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
