Kari Lake Reminds Arizona Voters About Katie Hobbs’ Multimillion Dollar Racial Discrimination Judgment

In this Jan. 6, 2017, file photo, Arizona Senate minority leader Katie Hobbs, D-Phoenix, s
AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton

Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor in Arizona, is reminding voters about her opponent Katie Hobbs’ multimillion-dollar judgment for discriminating against one of Hobbs’ former black employees.

During a recent appearance on One America News, Lake brought up the multimillion-dollar racial discrimination verdict against Hobbs while discussing the fact that Hobbs has refused to debate her. Lake said:

Katie Hobbs is MIA. It’s just crazy. You should have to debate your opponent right? But she refuses to debate me. I guess I can’t blame her. She doesn’t have anything to run on. She knows that I’m going to hold her accountable for her horrific record,”“This woman is a monster. She has been twice convicted of being a racist. Two separate juries convicted Hobbs of racial discrimination costing the voters close to $3 million.

Lake’s comments were about a 2021 jury verdict that awarded nearly $3 million to one of Hobbs’ former staffers who alleged race and sex discrimination. The $2.75 million verdict was Arizona’s second largest civil verdict last year, Arizona Attorney Magazine reported.

Back in 2015, Talonya Adams, who worked for then-Arizona Senate minority leader Hobbs, discovered her white and male colleagues were being paid more than she. After this discovery, Adams asked to be paid as much as her fellow staffers.

Adams took an already approved family leave shortly after asking for a raise, but she would not return to her position as an Arizona Senate policy adviser. Adams was informed that the Senate would terminate her employment while she was on leave.

As a result of her termination, Adams sued Hobbs and the Arizona Senate, alleging she was fired in retaliation for highlighting her discriminatory pay. After Adams’ lawsuit, two separate federal juries ruled in her favor and awarded her $2.75 million in damages.

The first jury determined Hobbs underpaid Adams because she was a black woman. Additionally, A second jury found Adams’ termination to be retaliatory and awarded her $750,000 in mental, physical, and emotional damages and another $2 million in damages for her retaliation claim.

Despite the multimillion-dollar jury award, Arizona taxpayers were limited to paying Adams $300,000, pursuant to jury award caps in federal law.

Adams’ lawsuit against Hobbs, who is currently Arizona’s Secretary of State, was brought to the spotlight during Hobbs’ Democrat gubernatorial primary campaign. Hobbs released a three-minute video in December apologizing for her discrimination and her “short sighted, unnecessarily defensive,” reaction to the $2.75 million jury award.

Hobbs also pledged to create positions within each government agency “dedicated to collaborating with communities of color and marginalized communities” if she became Arizona’s governor.

However, Hobbs’ apology was insufficient for the black woman who was a victim of Hobbs’ discrimination. Adams blasted Hobbs for issuing a “response to a political crisis,” rather than an actual apology.

“Her response is a response to a political crisis,” Adams said at a press conference one day after Hobbs’ apology. “Her statement is not an apology, it’s designed to allow her to get over a political hurdle.”

“As a single mom of two children, I know the effects the loss of a job has on families,” Adams said while fighting back the tears.

Adams also called on Hobbs to resign from her post as Secretary of State and drop out of the gubernatorial race.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter. 

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