Kari Lake takes the stage at former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 15, 2022, rally in Florence. /Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
Kari Lake takes the stage at former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 15, 2022, rally in Florence. Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
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.
The alleged Lake campaign team members attended several meetings organized by Students for Socialism, Sun Devils Against Sexual Assault, MECHA de ASU, Students for Justice in Palestine, Young Democratic Socialists of America and El Concilio. The groups were planning a Feb. 17 protest against what they say is ASU’s inadequate efforts to prevent or respond to sexual assault on campus.
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.
“Until someone opens their mouth, it’s really difficult to tell the difference between someone who’s supposed to be there and someone who’s not,” Lopez told the Arizona Mirror.
