By Staff Reporter |
Wednesday night’s debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates for Arizona attorney general grew heated, with outbursts from the incumbent and repeated accusations of lies and coverups.
Attorney General Kris Mayes, the incumbent and Democratic nominee, initially focused on presenting herself as apolitical.
Mayes emphasized her prosecutions of fraud, waste, and abuse in the state’s Medicaid and school choice programs. She explained away the disproportionate number of lawsuits she’s filed against the Trump administration as justified, claiming that the actions of the Biden administration didn’t warrant lawsuits.
“Whether it was a Republican president or a Democratic president, our criteria is the same: has the Constitution been violated? Has the state been harmed?” said Mayes. “And that has happened all too often over the past two years.”
Senate President Warren Petersen, the Republican nominee, focused on Mayes’ controversial administration of the office, and accused her of focusing office resources on political lawfare.
“Kris Mayes is the most political and partisan AG that this state has ever had,” said Petersen. “She’s got [more than] 50 lawsuits against her political opponents. She has weaponized the office.”
One of the sponsors for the debate was Riester, whose CEO Tim Riester secured an internship in Mayes’ office this summer for his son after contributing to her campaign, as reported by The California Globe on Thursday.
Most Heated Points of the Debate
Mayes interrupted Petersen multiple times during the debate.
One interruption came when Petersen brought up that Mayes hired Vanessa Daily (Hickman), her former division chief who committed felony mail theft, despite warnings from the city of Peoria, her prior employer, about allegations against Hickman of fraud, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty.
“Her office is in total disarray,” said Petersen. “Mayes was warned about a specific hire, red flags. She hired her anyway as her division chief. That hire ended up committing a felony.”
Mayes immediately jumped in with a demand that she be allowed to provide a response while Petersen still had time remaining to speak.
“Am I going to get a rebuttal for this?” said Mayes. “This is outrageous.”
Mayes again interrupted Petersen when he alluded to reports that she “is known for having meltdowns” to include “yelling, screaming, pounding her fist on the table, shouting the ‘F’ word” in office. Petersen read a statement from one witness to her behavior. Mayes accused Petersen of making false and defamatory statements.
“This is outrageous. I can’t believe you’re allowing this to be aired,” said Mayes.
Following the debate, however, Mayes admitted to a press gaggle that what Petersen said was true — she has engaged in that behavior while in office.
“If I’m passionate about something? Yeah,” said Mayes. “Do I, you know, drop an F-bomb every once in a while? I do. I’m passionate about protecting the funds that the people of Arizona deserve.”
Mayes also went over her time, shouting over moderators to blame Petersen for her unsuccessful lawsuit to stop opioid settlement funds from being taken from her office to cover budget shortfalls, something to which Gov. Katie Hobbs, a fellow Democrat, agreed. The reallocated funds were given to the Department of Corrections to assist individuals impacted by opioids.
On Supporting Law Enforcement
Mayes and Petersen each claimed that they were more supportive of law enforcement than the other. Mayes claimed to have “great relationships” with federal law enforcement agencies.
Petersen has received the endorsement of every law enforcement organization in the state, whereas Mayes has received none.
Mayes said Petersen voted against increased burial benefits for widows of fallen officers, and accused her opponent of putting forth a ballot initiative, HCR 2040, to prevent collective bargaining for first responders.
Petersen countered that HCR 2040 had “nothing to do” with first responders. The proposed constitutional amendment would have prohibited school districts from using public funds to support union operations; a court struck down the ballot proposition over the summer.
Petersen referenced Mayes’ recent remarks issued in January, when she advised Arizonans that they have a legal justification to shoot certain law enforcement officers.
“[The] law says that if you reasonably believe your life is in danger and you’re in your house or your car or on your property that you could defend yourself with lethal force,” said Mayes.
In response, Mayes’ law enforcement liaison resigned. Both the Arizona House and Senate called on Mayes to resign from office, an unprecedented action that the legislature had never taken prior to Mayes. Gov. Hobbs broke party rank and condemned Mayes for her remarks.
On Immigrant Enforcement
Mayes said she wants deportations to end and instead would like to require immigration enforcement to work on cartel cases. Mayes clarified that she doesn’t support illegal immigration.
“I think we need ICE to go back to what it normally does, which is to help state AGs go after Mexican drug cartels,” said Mayes. “Arizonans don’t believe in mass deportation, they believe in immigration enforcement.”
Petersen, whose wife immigrated legally from Mexico, said he supports legal immigration and opposes illegal immigration because it renders illegal aliens vulnerable to crime.
“We know this nation was built and strengthened by people who came here the right way,” said Petersen. “When someone enters into the country illegally, they become vulnerable to human traffickers and criminal organizations.”
Mayes claimed that Petersen supported deportations for Dreamers: illegal aliens residing in the country on deferred deportation who entered the country illegally as minors. When Petersen responded that was untrue, Mayes interrupted him to claim he had made that statement.
Petersen said that those who are here illegally in the country shouldn’t be surprised if they are deported, not that they should be deported.
Petersen said the community members should have input on the establishment and expansion of immigration detention centers, including the recent $1.2 billion expansion plans for the detention center in Florence.
Mayes reminded the public that she successfully sued to stop the Trump administration from establishing a new immigration detention center in Surprise.
On Green Energy
Petersen said his first action in office would be to allow the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC) Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) Rules to be repealed. The REST Rules require electric utilities to generate 15% of their energy from renewable resources by 2025. Mayes helped to enact those rules while on the ACC and is currently challenging the repeal.
Petersen accused Mayes of imposing green energy rules and approving rate increases under the justification that ratepayers would be willing to pay more to implement renewable energy.
Mayes claimed that her policies passed on the ACC have saved residents money, not cost them more over time.
The REST Rules resulted in more than $2.3 billion being collected via surcharges to customers.
On Data Centers
Petersen said that he supports data centers to a point, but that they need to be governed and decided on by the community.
Mayes backs a moratorium for all data centers. She said utility rate increases were caused by data centers, not renewables as Petersen claimed.
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