By Mary Jo Pitzl || The Arizona Republic
Three Republicans, including secretary of state nominee and state Rep. Mark Finchem and U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, must pay $75,000 in attorney fees after losing a defamation case against a former state lawmaker.
Finchem, Gosar and then-state Rep. Anthony Kern of Glendale sued Charlene Fernandez, the former Democratic leader of the Arizona House after she and all other House Democrats wrote a letter complaining about the trio’s presence at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
They lost their defamation suit in April. On Monday, Yuma County Superior Court Judge Levi Gunderson awarded Fernandez $75,616 in attorney fees in an order that slammed the three for filing a frivolous suit that he found was “filed against a political opponent primarily for purposes of harassment.”
Gunderson noted that the lawsuit appeared to be written for an audience other than the judge, given its references to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and open borders.
The thee Republicans took issue with the letter from Fernandez and others, which asked federal authorities to investigate the three for their role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Finchem and Gosar were part of the crowd that marched to the Capitol from a Trump rally and were photographed outside the building. They say they did not enter the building.
Gosar was inside the Capitol, participating in the certification of the presidential election. Ali Alexander, who helped organize the “Stop the Steal” rally, has credited Gosar as one of the forces behind the movement. Gosar later claimed credit for starting the “revolution” when he spoke to an audience in his western Arizona district.
Finchem, Kern and Gosar did not respond to messages seeking comment.
