Arizona election denier Kari Lake falsely accused Stephen Richter, a fellow Republican and Maricopa County election official, of stealing the 2022 governor’s election from her.
Richter, whose family was threatened, sued Lake for defamation. She didn’t dispute liability (see story here), and now she’s settled with him (read story here).
The terms weren’t disclosed, but you can bet she (or more likely a campaign fund or insurance company) forked over cash. Richter didn’t go to the trouble of suing her, and pay lawyers, merely to get an “oh I’m sorry your family was threatened.”
Lake is a serial ignoramus about legal matters. She already was sanctioned by Arizona’s courts for baseless election fraud lawsuits (see posting here). She doesn’t seem to realize if you falsely accuse someone they can sue you. And she clearly doesn’t know anything about election law (see posting here).
Kari is a genuine idiot in other ways, too (see postings here and here). No wonder Arizona voters, including many Republicans, don’t trust her to run their state or represent them in the Senate, even in today’s political climate where voters abandon character tests.
Maybe it’s because she’s so untethered from reality it’s scary. She’s more like a crazy aunt than someone you’d take seriously, and that doesn’t work in the voting booth.