Arizona Republican lawmakers are calling for a real investigation into Arizona’s Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs after Attorney General Kris Mayes, a fellow Democrat, declined to bring charges for a potential pay-for-play scheme involving Hobbs and the Democratic Party.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Hobbs came under investigation in 2024, stemming from significant donations to the Democratic Party and a dark-money group used for Hobbs’ inaugural events, potentially influencing state contract decisions. Hobbs and the Democrats took $400,000 from Sunshine Residential Homes, which potentially made millions in return.
However, as expected, Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes closed her two-year-long investigation and announced last month that her office would not charge comrade Hobbs, who wouldn’t even sit for an interview with investigators.
Those who did sit for interviews with investigators told the Attorney General’s office that Sunshine Residential Homes founder Simon Kottoor attempted to coerce employees.
“Based on my experience and the information available to me at the time, I did not believe there was a justification for approving an out-of-cycle, special rate increase for Sunshine Residential in May 2023,” said former Department of Child Safety Deputy Director Shalom Jacobs. She further corroborated former director Mike Faust’s claims that he was offered a bribe to approve a rate increase for the company’s group homes.
Still, neither Faust’s nor Jacobs’ statements were included in the Attorney General’s report.
Now, Republican State lawmakers are calling for an honest investigation, free of conflicts, and for Mayes and Hobbs to support legislation to prevent the real or perceived corruption.
In the days following Mayes’ announcement, Arizona Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope demanded in a press release that Mayes publicly support legislation requiring companies seeking or holding state contracts and certain grants to disclose political donations and requiring state agencies to preserve records used to evaluate contract proposals. Hobbs previously vetoed two bills with these provisions.
“For two years, Kris Mayes had every opportunity to support meaningful pay-to-play reforms, and she chose silence,” Shope said, noting that Mayes waited two years and until the legislature adjourned for the year to admit reforms were needed. “That’s not leadership. It’s political damage control,” he added.
The press release further notes, “A separate investigation led by the Arizona Auditor General, with assistance from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, remains open, along with an independent investigation commissioned by the Arizona House.”
“Internal DCS communications reported during the controversy acknowledged Sunshine’s political connections and discussed keeping its special rate increase quiet from competitors. Hobbs nevertheless refused to sit for an interview with investigators and submitted two written statements through her attorneys,” it reads.
State Senator David Farnsworth argued during a press conference on Wednesday, “The absence of criminal charges does not answer whether taxpayer money was wasted, whether financial safeguards failed, or whether the process was fair.”
Hobbs, in a laughable statement, responded, arguing that she has been exonerated “multiple times” by public reporting and the report from Mayes, who participated in the inauguration ceremony in question and likely benefited from the alleged bribe paid to the Democratic Party.
“With just 35 days until voting starts, it’s no surprise partisan extremists are launching desperate political stunts,” Hobbs’ office said in a statement.
“As has been made abundantly clear multiple times by public reporting and the Attorney General’s report, there was no wrongdoing by Gov. Hobbs, the Governor’s Office, or the Hobbs campaign.”
Sunshine Residential Homes, the company that allegedly bribed the Arizona Democrats, also responded in a statement, writing, “We understand this is a campaign season, and we respect that reasonable people can debate state contracting policy, as they should. What we will not do is let an unproven, recently fabricated false claim overshadow the evidence-based finding of a two-year investigation.”
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