By Staff Reporter |
The head of the Arizona Republican Party is predicting that Attorney General Kris Mayes will face an investigation of her own for her alleged lack of investigation into Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Sergio Arellano stated in an interview with the “Conservative Circus” on Monday that Arizona Democrats should be “terrified” over the continued inquiries into Mayes.
“Kris Mayes didn’t just make Sunshine Residential Homes disappear; she may have just moved the spotlight directly onto herself,” said Arellano.
The Arizona Republican Party issued a statement accusing Hobbs of leading a “culture of corruption,” and endorsing the Republican nominee for governor, Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05).
Arellano also urged Republicans to issue the transcripts from their investigation into Mayes and Hobbs.
More than two years after launching an investigation based on media reports connecting Hobbs with an unusual rate increase for one of her major donors, Mayes released a short memorandum clearing Hobbs of pay-to-play corruption.
Sunshine Residential Homes, a major group home operator in the state, and its CEO, Simon Kottoor, are among the top donors to Hobbs’ campaign, legal fund, and inaugural fund. The company received substantial rate increases in 2023 and 2024 following years of denials before Hobbs took office.
The most recent denial occurred a month after Hobbs was sworn in. Several months later, following a dinner attended by Hobbs and her campaign chief at Kottoor’s residence, Sunshine Residential Homes received the rate increase it had sought — while other group home operators were denied increases or had their contracts cut entirely.
Mayes’ seven-page memorandum clearing Hobbs was criticized across the board not only for its length but for it allegedly revealing oversights concerning apparent evidence that some corruption had occurred.
Mayes maintained that the scope of her investigation was thorough; it included more than 100,000 documents. The attorney general suggested that the legislature was to blame for the perceived pay-to-play issues, and advocated for improved transparency laws.
Earlier this summer, Hobbs vetoed the sort of legislation Mayes suggested to ensure greater transparency. Hobbs claimed that because the legislation would also bring transparency to the Sunshine Residential Homes debacle, it was a “political stunt.”
Most recently, House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-LD29) sent Mayes a letter demanding she provide answers to five questions indicating key contradictions and omissions in her investigation. Montenegro cited evidence from Department of Child Safety employee testimonies and contracting requirements as support for the scope of questioning.
“The Memorandum suggests your Office failed to pursue critical issues and reached conclusions that directly conflict with reliable evidence — including information provided by the very witnesses your Office claims to have interviewed,” said Montenegro. “Those failures raise the specter that your Memorandum was intended to influence the November election by attempting to inoculate the Governor from a perceived political vulnerability.”
Montenegro gave Mayes until Friday, September 4, to answer.
Senate President Warren Petersen (R-LD14) — who is the Republican nominee for attorney general — has also called on Mayes to release the records that informed her decision to clear Hobbs of wrongdoing. Petersen called Mayes’ memorandum a “cliffs notes report” that withheld critical information from the public.
An Arizona House special advisory team and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office are still investigating the pay-to-play allegations against Hobbs, despite an initial order from Mayes to stand down as her office conducted its investigation.
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