Margaret Downie, the presiding disciplinary judge, said although there may have been little likelihood that the Lake election lawsuit would succeed, it does not mean the lawyers Kurt Olsen and Andrew Parker should be punished for pursuing it. “A claim may lack winning merit without being sufficiently devoid of rational support to render it groundless,” Downie wrote.
What are these lawyers doing if they cannot “rationally support” their case? What is “winning merit” if it’s not “rational support”? U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi, wrote the case “amounted to a “long chain of hypothetical contingencies” — ones that never occurred in Arizona — that would have to take place for any harm to occur.” And, the State Bar filed a complaint against the lawyers with multiple accusations.
With no discipline for these lawyers, Downie and her panel cost AZ taxpayers $220k, condoned a baseless election integrity case encouraging more such cases, demotivates and possibly endangers election workers, and further damages trust in our elections.
Cindy Doklan
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
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