Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County sought sanctions against Republican Kari Lake on Monday, less than 48 hours after a judge rejected Lake’s bid to be declared the winner of Arizona’s governor race.
Hobbs and the county sought sanctions against Lake and her legal team after an Arizona judge denied Lake’s request to overturn the November election results in a two-day trial. Lake, a prominent election denier and Trump supporter, was granted permission to go to trial last week on two of her ten claims, alleging misconduct with ballot printers and problems with the ballot chain of custody.
Lake’s post-trial challenge was denied by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson in a 10-page ruling on Saturday. He claimed that the court found no clear and convincing evidence of misconduct that would have changed the outcome of the election. Thompson also stated that the defendants had stated their intent to seek sanctions against Lake and directed them to file a motion for sanctions by Monday morning.
Attorneys for Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state for four years, joined the county in a filing Monday seeking $25,050 from Lake, which includes Hobbs’ and the state’s most populous county’s attorney fees. Lake’s remarks before the election indicating she would not accept the results unless she won, as well as her “groundless” and “frivolous” laws, were criticized by the county.
“Before a single vote was counted in the 2022 general election, Kari Lake publicly stated that she would accept the results of the gubernatorial election only if she were the winning candidate,” said the county in the filing.
“But she has not simply failed to publicly acknowledge the election results. Instead, she filed a groundless, seventy-page election contest lawsuit against the Governor-Elect, the Secretary of State, and Maricopa County and several of its elected officials and employees (but no other county or its employees), thereby dragging them and this Court into this frivolous pursuit.”
The county added that the courts “should not be used to harass political opponents and sow completely unfounded doubts about the integrity of elections.”
“Enough really is enough,” the county said. “It is past time to end unfounded attacks on elections and unwarranted accusations against elections officials. This matter was brought without any legitimate justification, let alone a substantial one.”
