Kari Lake Would 'Look Into' Divesting Funds From Arizona PBS After Interview Debacle

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Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said she would “look into” divesting funds from the partially publicly funded television station.

Lake was scheduled to participate in an interview on Arizona PBS on Wednesday, which would be done in partnership with the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission. It was originally going to be a formal debate, but Democrat Katie Hobbs declined.

This morning, it became public that the station booked a separate interview with Hobbs next Tuesday that would not be with the CEC. As the CEC felt snubbed, they pulled their partnership from Wednesday’s Lake event and said it would be postponed to a later date.

The commission said they were “surprised” and called the decision by Arizona PBS “disappointing.” The government group said that the new interview with Lake would be with a different “venue” and “partner.”

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— AZ Clean Elections (@AZCCEC) October 12, 2022

Arizona PBS is technically a department of Arizona State University, and they receive millions in funds from memberships and subscriptions. However, they do get funds from the university as well, which translates to public dollars, according to their 2021 fiscal year statement. It’s unclear how the network would exactly get funds diverted away from it, but it would likely require some sort of action by the state legislature and or by the state Board of Regents.

I asked Lake if she would push for that if she gets elected governor (which appears at the 2-minute mark in the video below):

“Well seeing as how they appear to be an arm of the Democrat Party, I think we need to look at it. This is not bipartisan. This is biased. This is absolutely biased,” Lake said.

“Katie Hobbs and her refusal to appear on the debate stage with me pretty much should’ve shut down her ability to even make it on the air at this station. But yet, they are so obviously in the tank for her that they’re giving her an opportunity to appear on this stage. That’s wrong. And we should look at that, we really should,” the Republican continued.

Catch @RedState‘s @cameron_arcand in this video – he’s doing great on-the-ground reporting in Arizona!

— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) October 13, 2022