Republicans censure Rachel Mitchell for daring to try to hold Kari Lake accountable

The far-right contingent that controls the Arizona Republican Party continues its steady diet of eating its own.

Now on the menu: Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.

This, for the high crime of daring to seek sanctions against Kari Lake — for trying to hold the failed gubernatorial candidate accountable for using the courts to further a false narrative that the election was stolen.

As a result, the Maricopa County Republican Committee is hoping to knock off Mitchell in next year’s election.

No, really.

Mitchell is only the latest Republican to face the wrath of the party.

I've lost count of how many GOP legislative district committees have censured some or all of the 18 Republican legislators who voted to expel now-ex Rep. Liz Harris. Harris was one of the Legislature’s most high-profile election deniers, bounced in April for her role in a crazy scheme to publicly accuse Gov. Katie Hobbs and others of working for a Mexican drug cartel.

Far-right targets one of the few electable Republicans

Now, it’s Mitchell’s turn on the hot seat, for her role in standing up to Kari Lake.

On Tuesday evening, the Maricopa County Republican Committee’s Executive Guidance Committee voted to censure Mitchell and invite “interested, motivated and qualified Republicans” to run against her next year.

Mitchell is a conservative Republican but of the increasingly rare variety that elevates fact over conspiracy theory.

In other words, she’s electable.

She won handily last year – as did several other traditional Republican candidates who ran statewide – while Lake and the rest of the Trump-endorsed MAGA squad went down to defeat, griping that the fix was in.

Mitchell's crime? Deterring frivolous lawsuits on elections

Mitchell is a law-and-order prosecutor who spent literally decades putting away sex criminals. She’s someone who spends more time looking at what the law requires rather than what the party demands.

And in this case – one in which Lake lost all 10 of her stolen election claims, having nowhere near enough evidence to prove any of them – Mitchell clearly thought accountability was in order.

That it was high time for the courts to put a stop to this year’s flurry of frivolous cases brought merely to further a political agenda.

Thus came her request last month that Lake and her legal team pay the county’s legal expenses after losing not one but two trials.

GOP curiously silent on the person deserving of sanctions

“Courts are established by Arizona’s Constitution and statutes to resolve actual disputes between parties,” she wrote in her motion seeking sanctions. “They do not exist so that candidates for political office can attempt to make political statements and fundraise. And should not be used to harass political opponents and sow completely unfounded doubts about the integrity of elections. All of those things happened in this matter.”

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson denied Mitchell’s request, saying Lake's failure to prove her claim doesn't mean it was “groundless” or "not made in good faith."

The county’s Republican committee, in voting Tuesday to censure Mitchell, noted that her sanctions request was “ultimately and completely rejected by the court”.

Curiously, the Republicans had no censure for Lake, whose entire case was ultimately and completely rejected by the court. Twice.

If the party succeeds, wave goodbye to another GOP officeholder

But in the county party’s warped view, it’s Mitchell and the county she represents who “generally persist in a wide-ranging multitude of ongoing dishonorable behaviors directly and dangerously undermining the integrity of Maricopa County public elections.”

Certainly not Lake, who failed to back up any of her 10 claims with actual evidence.

The committee, in its censure resolution, also “strongly encourages interested, motivated and qualified Republicans – who commit to honor and uphold the founding documents identified in the MCRC Objective – to run in the 2024 Primary Election for the Office of Maricopa County attorney.”

Because sure, what the Republican Party really needs to chew up and spit out one of its few winners and instead nominate yet another a MAGA candidate.

Someone who can hand over one of the nation’s largest prosecutorial agencies … to the Democrats.

Reach Roberts at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Republicans censure Rachel Mitchell for daring to go after Kari Lake