Katie Hobbs/Twitter
After publicly expressing “grave concerns” over Arizona’s audit of the 2020 election results, and after her continual bashing of the Senate “fraudit” of Maricopa County ballots, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) was “stripped” of her ability to “defend election lawsuits” by the state’s Republican-led House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
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The responsibility was transferred “exclusively” to Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) through the end of the 2023 fiscal year.
Katie Hobbs has conscientiously supervised elections in Arizona. Republicans there just stripped her of some powers — including her ability to litigate election lawsuits. They gave control of that process to the state AG, a Republican.
This is how democracy gets dismantled. https://t.co/VamVgXfxgR
— Tim O’Brien (@TimOBrien) May 25, 2021
Arizona’s ABC 15 reported the news on Tuesday night.
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After publicly expressing “grave concerns” over Arizona’s audit of the 2020 election results, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) was “stripped” of her ability to “defend election lawsuits” by the state’s Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, reported Arizona’s ABC 15 on Tuesday. The duty was transferred “exclusively” to Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) through the end of the 2023 fiscal year.
Democrats say the move is retaliation against Hobbs’ defense of Arizona voters in “lawsuits filed by the State Republican Party and others challenging Arizona’s election results,” per ABC 15. “It can’t be just a coincidence” that Republicans are blocking a “vocal critic of the audit,” writes Elvia Díaz for azcentral.com. Democratic State Rep. Randy Friese reportedly called the move “troubling,” “disturbing,” and “quite nefarious.”
Furthermore, the Appropriations Committee removed Hobb’s “oversight of the Capitol Museum,” ABC 15 reports, after Hobbs angered state lawmakers when she “flew a gay pride flag from the building’s balcony” in 2019.
