By Staff Reporter |
Questions are being raised after records revealed Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes paid out nearly $250,000 in a no-bid government contract to a close political ally for consulting work.
Senate President Warren Petersen (LD14), who is the Republican nominee running against Mayes, released the records. Petersen said taxpayers “deserve” to know her rationale for awarding a no-bid contract to her campaign communications strategist, Stacey Champion.
“After taking office, Mayes gave her close friend a sweetheart deal at taxpayers’ expense to help advance the same costly energy agenda she pursued on the Corporation Commission: higher rates and expensive mandates for Arizona families,” said Petersen.
Petersen also questioned why Mayes allowed Champion to use a private email address instead of a government one while conducting attorney general business.
According to the records published by the Petersen campaign, Mayes gave the contract to Champion shortly after taking office in 2023. For a minimum of 80 hours of work per month to start, Champion was awarded $10,000 per month for independent consulting services to include research, advice, and written reports.
Champion would work under this contract within the attorney general’s executive office until about two years later, in January 2025. She also received a pay bump to her contract in 2024, from $10,000 to $15,000 per month.
Email records revealed that Champion would conduct attorney general’s office business using her personal email, forwarding contact requests from Mayes’ campaign page to Mayes and attorney general staff.
And while maintaining her other role within Mayes’ campaign, Champion worked on what Petersen called “politically sensitive” issues overseen by the attorney general’s office. Records of several email exchanges indicated Champion had advance knowledge of grand jury proceedings in the 2020 fake electors case.
“A great opportunity, but I agree that the timing would just put AG in the firing line for questions about you know what,” said Champion concerning a request from PBS to interview Mayes.
Six days after that email exchange, Mayes announced grand jury indictments for the electors.
After formally ending her contract in January 2025, Mayes and Champion entered another contract in which Champion agreed to be paid on a project-by-project basis from February 26 to August 31, 2025.
One record reflects that Champion received $5,000 for event and consultation services provided from February through March 6, 2025.
In addition to Champion’s use of personal email while working for the attorney general’s office, questions have arisen regarding the timing of payments from Mayes’ campaign to Champion while Champion was still contracted with the attorney general’s office.
Mayes’ campaign paid Champion $18,000 for consulting on March 10, 2023, one month after Champion signed the contract to work with Mayes for the attorney general’s office.
The campaign then paid Champion $18,240 in April 2025 and $5,724 in July 2025, during the contract period for the project-by-project agreement. Altogether, Champion’s firm received more than $23,500 from the Mayes campaign in 2025.
Champion served as a communications consultant for Mayes during her attorney general campaign in 2022. Champion’s public relations firm, Champion PR + Consulting, created Mayes’ campaign website which included a link which directed press inquiries to Champion’s firm email.
Champion made it clear at the time that she was not a spokeswoman for the campaign.
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