Kari Lake is lying about Katie Hobbs' 'anti-American' voting record. Again, that is

It’s one thing to misrepresent an opponent’s position because you don’t know any better — to speak from ignorance or fudge the truth or spin a situation to your own benefit.

It’s something wholly different, however, to flat out lie.

Take Kari Lake, for example.

Arizona’s Republican nominee for governor doesn’t seem to know how to read bills, so perhaps it was understandable last month when she accused Democrat Katie Hobbs of voting to block the Declaration of Independence and other of our nation’s historical documents from being displayed in Arizona’s classrooms.

Simply put, Lake, in her 3-minute video exposé – set to music, no less – was wrong.

Yet there she was on Tuesday, repeating the lie at a Moms for Kari campaign event in Scottsdale.

“My opponent, Katie Hobbs, she doesn’t want us to have the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution displayed in our classrooms,” Lake said, while campaigning with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. “She actually voted on a bill that would prevent them from, it would keep them from putting them up. The American flag. She doesn’t want to require that that be in a classroom. Or the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.”

Such a position would, of course, be outrageous.

Which is probably why it isn’t true.

Lake's bombshell blew up in her own face

Lake released her video exposé in mid-September, after a day of touting that she had “painful, hurtful” news to share about her opponent. The next day, she posted her video, entitled “Katie Hobbs Exposed: Anti-American and Un-Arizonan,” all over social media.

“The Pledge of Allegiance, our national anthem, our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,” Lake solemnly tells viewers, as music plays softly in the background and images of a fluttering American flag and the Founding Fathers flit across the screen. “I was shocked to learn that my opponent, Katie Hobbs, fought to keep these American cornerstones out of the classroom.”

She then displays Senate Bill 1289, which does none of those things.

In 2018, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill addressing various historical documents that can be read or posted in Arizona’s classrooms. State law already allowed the reading or display of the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, along with various other documents.

SB 1289 added the state motto (“Ditat Deus,” or God Enriches) to the list of allowable documents and clarified the wording of the already approved national motto (“In God We Trust”).

I know this because proposed changes to state law are written in UPPER CASE blue type while existing portions of the law – the part of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, etc. – are in regular, black type.

Hobbs and every other Democrat voted against the bill after critics objected to bringing religion into publicly funded classrooms.

After my Sept. 20 column pointing out Lake’s error in reading SB 1289, Lake immediately took to social media to insist she was right, pointing to several other bills not featured in her video — none of which had anything to do with barring the display of the nation's foundational documents.

Now Lake's not just wrong, she's pitching a lie

Yet there she was on Tuesday, repeating her claim that Hobbs has some secret anti-American agenda to keep our kids from learning that “All men are created equal.” Or that politicians have a First Amendment right to lie.

Lake’s campaign didn’t respond to a question about why she continues to misrepresent Hobbs’ record, knowing now that it’s not true.

Hobbs’ spokesman says it’s not the first time Lake has repeated the lie since being schooled on how bills are written.

“Lake has no interest nor ability to address the myriad of pressing issues facing Arizonans, such as soaring inflation and our water crisis,” Hobbs’ spokesman, Joe Wolf, told me. “Instead of taking time to learn how to read legislation, Lake spends her days spouting the only thing she does seem to understand, conspiracy theories.”

In a race that’s deadlocked, desperation sets in, I suppose.

But to flat out lie to a room full of mothers?

One wonders what else she’ll say to win a few votes ...

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake is lying about Katie Hobbs' voting record. Again, that is