The Free Agenda: Come at us, Kari
We prefer the artificially intelligent version … Fewer bills, fewer problems … And the fighter is attempting a comeback.
Kari Lake is threatening to sue us over our Deep Fake Kari Lake.
Don’t worry — we had a feeling she would.
In case you didn’t spend the weekend on Twitter, Lake sent us a cease-and-desist letter less than six hours after we published Friday’s Agenda teaching you to spot videos generated by artificial intelligence using an AI deepfake of Lake.1
We decided our response to Lake’s cease-and-desist letter is best delivered by Lake herself. So we made a video…
Did you think that was a deepfake? It wasn’t. It was a real clip.2
To read our official response to Lake’s cease-and-desist letter, and support local journalism that doesn’t take guff from the likes of Lake, click the button.
Deadlines and shenanigans: Friday was the deadline for House bills to be heard in Senate committees and vice versa, and Axios Phoenix’s Jeremy Duda has a rundown of some of the big ones that didn’t make it. That includes House Speaker Ben Toma’s HCR2060, which would have asked voters to enact what Toma calls “one of the toughest immigration laws ever written.” Meanwhile, the Republican primary in Congressional District 8 is playing out at the Capitol between Toma and Republican Sen. Anthony Kern, who both want to replace Debbie Lesko, the Republic's Mary Jo Pitzl reports. Kern killed one of Toma’s bills last week after Toma didn’t show up to testify, and accused the speaker of being an absent lawmaker. Toma accused Kern of killing a good bill over “petty politics.”
This time do a background check: Democrats in Tempe’s Legislative District 8 selected another three names to replace Democratic Rep. Jevin Hodge, after having just selected Hodge as one of their three names to replace Democratic Rep. Athena Salman in February, Pitzl reports in the Republic. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will have to pick a new lawmaker from Democrats Janeen Connolly, Kendra Flory and Deborah Nardozzi.
Speaking of appointments: If you live in Phoenix City Council District 7 and want to replace resigned councilmember Yassamin Ansari, you better start honing your pitch now. Applications are due April 8 and candidates will have five minutes to present to the council at the April 9 meeting, per the Republic’s Taylor Seely.
A bazooka with bad aim: Kari Lake’s attempted transition to electable candidate continues to catch the attention of national newspapers, including the New York Times, which covered her “struggles to find her path.”
“She’s a powerful force but kind of like a bazooka lacking aim. She’s blowing up her own garage instead of enemies in the driveway,” Arizona Tea Party President and former Lake supporter Dan Farley told the Times.
Sounds legit!: Navajo Nation Ethics and Rules Director Lewnell Harrison said there’s no conflict of interest in his receipt of a $102,001.68 security guard business contract from the controller’s office, Marley Shebala reports for the Navajo Times. The Navajo Nation’s ethics office says violations of the conflict of interest law happen when public officials use their office for economic gain. Harrison hasn’t clarified how the exchange isn’t a conflict of interest, and the controller’s office isn’t giving Shebala records of other contracts with his company.
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Rights to the river: Eight Arizona tribes are calling for the protection of their senior water rights against proposed cuts in Colorado River allocations when the current guidelines expire at the end of 2026. Tribes have had little involvement in the water management plan despite Arizona tribes holding senior rights to 40% of the river, the Republic’s Debra Utacia Krol reports. The state’s two biggest water holders — the Colorado River Indian Tribes and the Gila River Indian Community — didn’t join the other eight tribes in calling on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to preserve their water rights, but have still expressed concern about the three Lower Basin states’ plans.
Guess who’s coming back to the Capitol!
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The over-under was 1 p.m., so she beat it by about an hour.
There’s another lesson in that for you — when politicians start claiming videos are deepfakes, be very skeptical.