Deposition Exposes Maricopa County Recorder: He Vowed to 'Make Life Hell' For Kari Lake
New evidence has emerged indicating the extent to which Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer dislikes Republican Kari Lake.
Lake, a former Phoenix-area news anchor-turned-conservative firebrand, lost a hard-fought 2022 election for Arizona’s governor and is locked in a tight race for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Ruben Gallego.
Maricopa County, whose elections are overseen by the recorder’s office, is among those still counting ballots after Tuesday’s election.
After her 2022 defeat, Lake launched multiple lawsuits questioning the conduct of the election but was unsuccessful in overturning the result.
According to the Daily Mail, Richer’s animus toward Lake was revealed in the transcript of a June 21 deposition in which he was asked about a communication with a friend.
“And your response if kind of a laundry list here of bullet points: Get out of politics permanently; get out of politics temporarily; run for reelection as a Republican; run for reelection as an independent; run for mayor if no Kate; and then finally run for U.S. Sen, just to fly the flag for real conservatism and make life hell for Kari,” the lawyer questioning Richer said. “Did I read that correctly?”
“Yes,” Richer replied.
“Why would you want to make life hell for Kari Lake in March of 2023?” Richer was asked.
“I don’t remember,” Richer said. “I don’t think she’s a real conservative.”
The comments came in a defamation case Richer is filing against Lake.
He has called the case “frivolous.”
Richer was defeated Tuesday as he ran for re-election.
Subsequently, he deleted his X account, saying that after the defeat he no longer felt an obligation to answer questions publicly.
Lake’s race with Gallego is still ongoing.
As things currently stand Saturday night, Lake trails Gallego by a mere percentage point.
Gallego currently has 1.41 million votes, 49.5 percent of the total counted, while Lake sits with 1.38 million, 48.4 percent of the votes counted.
Only 84 percent of all votes have been counted thus far in the Grand Canyon State, so there is plenty of margin for the conservative firebrand to come back from behind and win.
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