Kari Lake, like her idol Donald Trump, loves the spotlight. 

But the crowds behind the spotlight are increasingly not loving Kari Lake. 

Still, sheeee’s back, and holding the headlines hostage again. 

This time after a leaked tape that she recorded—an alleged suspiciously edited one— revealed a conversation between her and the former (and recently resigned) Arizona GOP Party Chairman Jeff DeWit amid claims that DeWit was trying to compel Lake not to run for Senate. 

Lake called it bribe. Others don’t quite see it that way. 

At a north Phoenix GOP convention Saturday, Lake was met with prolonged boo’s and was heckled on stage and it continued as she nominated another right-wing MAGA sister, Gina Swoboda, who has remained  front and center promoting false claims of election fraud. 

Swoboda was Trump endorsed in 2020 as his campaign’s state Election Day Director and has reportedly continued to spread false claims about the integrity of the election system. She also heads up a nonprofit organization called, Voter Reference Foundation. 

The 2020 Trump election director’s nomination is seen as another full scale MAGA attempt to all but cement a GOP shift toward the far-right extremist control of a Republican party that was once embodied by the late Senator John McCain, Goldwater and a strong and successful Arizona conservative party. 

After Trump chimed in with his endorsement of Swoboda —Lake took it from there.

Former Republican Party Chairman DeWit dramatically resigned last week after the audio recording of what he believed was a private conversation between himself and his “friend” Lake was leaked. Lake denies leaking the tape but she has enthusiastically discussed its contents and has criticized De Wit as the recording has made its way across right-wing media platforms. 

DeWit for his part has reportedly accused Lake of editing their conversation and that it was indeed Lake who “leaked” the recording  that effectively “set him up” in order to gain control of the Arizona Republican Party—claims to which Lake has reportedly not responded. 

The Arizona Republican Party is a mess. 

But it’s not just an Arizona disaster it’s across the nation as moderate, conservative Republicans are stepping up their cage fighting skills to cope with their party’s MAGA extremists. 

DeWit, as Arizona Party Chairman, was hoping to strike a balance by steering a more centrist GOP ship in order to win back Republicans and more importantly, win elections again. 

New questions about Lake’s motives surrounding the tape recording and its release

Kari Lake loves to point to her “journalistic” background and her stand on ethics—but now she is facing an onslaught of questions surrounding her own moral principles after a new possible motive surfaced with regard to her infamous taped conversation with DeWit and the timing of its subsequent release. 

Why did she wait almost a year to discuss the recording? Why was it edited? And what about the timing of its release especially with regard to recent questions (some say— maneuvering) surrounding Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman Jim O’Connor’s desire to simultaneously chair the Arizona Republican Party while remaining Chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission—a revelation made public through a Jan. 8 letter.  

Apparently Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman O’Connor wants his cake and eat it too…according to a recent letter that was secured by ABC 15 and posted in a Tweet (X) suggests a possible backdoor wrangling in order to propel another Trumpy faithful to not one—but two, very powerful state positions and in order to steer the Arizona Republican Party into even deeper MAGA waters. 

This new revelation may have actually been in place and known by the MAGA crew for quite a while—and it happened to fabulously align with the leaked Lake recording responsible for DeWit’s stepping down as GOP party chairman. 

There are few if any coincidences in the MAGA machinery. 

An Arizona Republic opinion piece by Laurie Roberts raised some of these compelling questions on Friday, namely—is the almost broke Arizona Republican Party looking to secure funding via a new GOP party chairman who also happens to head up the Arizona Corporation Commission? 

Could a rate hike (listen up APS customers) go a long way to shore up GOP donations and the Arizona Republican Party’s financial health? 

“APS is a heavyweight in political circles, tossing sizable contributions to both Democrats and Republicans (but mostly Republicans) and wielding a considerable amount of influence in return. The Corporation Commission that O’Connor chairs regulates utilities and soon will decide whether APS customers should be hit with an average of an 11% increase in their monthly utility bills.

Can you imagine the money that’ll flow to the once-Grand Old Party if O’Connor’s commission delivers that 11% rate hike,” asked Roberts. 

The timing of the released tape also raised the question that perhaps a bit of a coup was already in place to unravel DeWit’s leadership—all well before the Jan. 8 response letter to O’Connor.  

O’Connor is also an election denier and a “My Pillow Guy” meet-up attendee who recently sought legal advice about whether he could serve as both Corporation Commission Chairman and the chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. 

“He’s a radical to the hilt,” the Arizona Republic opinion reported, “One state committee member told me, it’s now apparent that this has been an orchestrated plan to take over both MCRC (Maricopa County Republican Committee) and the GOP. God help us.”

O’Connor received a legal opinion from the corporation commission’s attorney, Wesley Van Cleve in the letter dated Jan. 8. 

“It is my understanding that you have been asked to serve as the Chair of the Republican Party,” Van Cleve wrote. 

Van Cleve’s opinion stated that he (O’Connor) can, (hold both offices)—that there are no legal or ethical roadblocks.

Van Cleve may have determined that there are no issues, but at least one legal scholar who shared their view with Northeast Valley News claims that the dual chairman roles desired by O’Connor are at the very least highly unethical and may in fact be illegal.

Two lifelong Arizona Republicans close to the party politics have spoken with Northeast Valley News anonymously due to threats and reprisal (one individual shared with Northeast Valley News that they formerly held a house seat in Arizona Republican Party) and all suggested that the Lake recording, along with O’Connor’s push to sit at the helm of both the Corporation Commission and the Arizona Republican Party is the real scandal and is nothing less than a takeover bent on securing an extreme right-wing MAGA platform at both the Arizona Republican Party and the Maricopa County Republican Party.

In the Arizona Republic’s opinion piece, Roberts wrote that one Republican Party official’s friend was told to stop criticizing Kari Lake or “they’d ruin her business.”