According to a new report from the Arizona Mirror, members of Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s campaign “attempted to infiltrate planning meetings for an anti-sexual assault protest,” but were exposed after they mocked trans-inclusive pronouns, made critical comments about China, and awkwardly created signs that read, “Hey, students for Kari, you’re not welcome here.”
Much like Kari Lake’s actual campaign, it was “really unclear what they were trying to do, because they didn’t do it super well.”
This latest failed publicity stunt by Lake comes after the frontrunner dropped seven points since November – signaling that there is a limit to her appeal. Smelling blood in the water, Lake’s primary opponents have highlighted that her campaign has no real substantive policy proposals. Her plan to put cameras in classrooms was nearly universally criticized, including by experts on privacy and child safety, while her effort to spread Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” has eroded trust in Arizona’s elections.
After failing time and time again to show she has the capacity to govern, Lake’s campaign has turned to unproven and erratic tactics that further prove she is dangerous for Arizona.
Arizona Mirror: Leftist ASU student groups allege infiltration by Kari Lake campaign staffers
By: Jeremy Duda | February 15, 2022
Key Points:
- “Five members of Kari Lake’s campaign team attempted to infiltrate planning meetings for an anti-sexual assault protest organized by a coalition of leftist student groups at Arizona State University, the groups alleged.”
- “Members of the student groups became suspicious after the purported Lake campaign members made statements espousing conservative talking points and unsuccessfully tried to mimic progressive ideals. They also aroused suspicion by making out-of-place comments critical of Lake and supportive of Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Katie Hobbs.”
- “Students for Socialism ASU tweeted its allegations on Friday, saying the organizations involved in the protest planning had compared photos of the supposed infiltrators, who joined the coalition using fake names, to photos of Lake campaign team members from social media.”
- “Daniel Lopez, an officer with Students for Socialism, said the five Lake campaign members attended multiple meetings without drawing attention to themselves, initially hanging out at the back of the meetings and saying little. New people attend these kinds of events all the time, Lopez said, so nothing seemed amiss.”
- “It wasn’t until a Feb. 7 event where they gathered to make signs for the upcoming protest that organizers became suspicious.”
- “One of the five told people that her pronouns were ‘she’ and ‘it,’ appearing to mock people who specify their pronouns in order to be trans-inclusive.”
- “And they began talking about how they were big fans of Hobbs and how much they disliked Lake, though the gubernatorial race hadn’t been a topic of discussion and had nothing to do with the anti-sexual assault message the organizations were trying to promote with their protest. One created a sign with the message, ‘Hey, students for Kari, you’re not welcome here.’”
- “‘It’s really unclear what they were trying to do, because they didn’t do it super well,’ Lopez said.”
Read the full report here.
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Published: Feb 15, 2022 | Last Modified: Feb 22, 2022