by Staff Reporter | Sep 27, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes secured an internship for the son of one of her campaign donors who was also behind Wednesday’s debate, new records revealed.
Mayes’ campaign aide arranged for the son of Tim Riester, a donor, to receive an internship this past summer following a request from Riester, according to records reported by The California Globe.
Riester is the founder and CEO of RIESTER, an advertising and public relations firm with operations in Los Angeles, California and Park City, Utah in addition to Arizona.
Riester donated nearly $1,400 over two installments to the Mayes campaign. Riester asked Grace Forster, a campaign aide, about an internship for his son, Jim Riester, allegedly promised to him by Mayes herself the day after he made his second donation.
“When I was with Kris at her event on November 18th, she met my son Finn who is in law school and offered him an internship with the AG’s office this summer,” wrote Riester in an email to Forster.
Forster forwarded Riester’s email to several undisclosed recipients, then followed up days later on the internship request in an email to Mayes and multiple members of Mayes’ office: Bill Mundell, chief deputy attorney general; Emily McConnico, executive assistant; and Delaney Corcoran, who was Mayes’ deputy communications manager at the time and is now her campaign manager.
Mundell responded to Forster with a promise that an officer member would contact Riester. His son interned with Mayes’ Tobacco Enforcement Unit over the summer.
Riester was one of the principal partners behind Wednesday’s debate between Mayes and her Republican opponent, Senate President Warren Petersen.
Riester took over as a contractor for Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) candidate debates in January 2024 alongside the Arizona Media Association after CCEC parted ways with Arizona PBS.
During the pandemic, Riester achieved significant public attention as one of the principal creative minds behind Arizona’s COVID-19 campaign advising masks under the direction of former Gov. Doug Ducey in 2020, according to reporting from the Arizona Mirror. The state spent somewhere around $3 million on the campaign. Riester gave $10,000 to Ducey’s reelection campaign in 2018, though a vast majority of his thousands in donations to state-level and federal-level candidates in recent years have gone to Democrats.
Last year, Riester and his wife, Mirja, also donated $11,000 to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, the Democratic incumbent, and $1,000 to Nick Mansour, Democratic candidate for Arizona State Treasurer.
The pair also donated $10,800 to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ reelection campaign in October 2024. Mirja donated $10,000 to ActBlue Arizona and $10,000 to the Arizona Democratic Party in December 2022.
Last June, KJZZ interviewed Riester on President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Riester dismissed the “Made in America” movement as rooted in white prejudice, not patriotism.
“The first documented usage was in [1800s] San Francisco, in the cigar industry, and Americans were concerned because of the mass immigration of Chinese residents who were moving to the United States. And they were afraid they were going to be able to make the products much more quickly and inexpensively,” said Riester. “So they created a label that, really, was about prejudice. It was a white label, and it meant that the cigars were made by white people instead of by Chinese people. And that evolved into the Made in America brand that over the years we’ve seen used periodically.”
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by Staff Reporter | Feb 4, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Attorney General Kris Mayes wants to hire the federal prosecutors behind former President Joe Biden’s January 6 investigations.
On Sunday, Mayes put out an offer to hire those prosecutors, as well as any other federal agents that may be terminated in the Trump administration’s newly-launched review of all involved in January 6 investigations.
“My message to all FBI agents and federal prosecutors who are being wrongfully fired by Trump: come see me about a job,” said Mayes. “We are hiring at the AZ Attorney General’s office and we actually support law enforcement.”
Last Friday, Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership sent a memo ordering the immediate firing of all federal prosecutors who oversaw the January 6 cases.
Emil Bove — the acting deputy attorney general — also ordered acting FBI director Brian Driscoll to hand over the names of all FBI employees involved in the January 6 cases.
“I do not believe that the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully,” explained Bove in his correspondence.
However, Driscoll refused per The Washington Times. Driscoll said the request pertained to himself and “thousands” of other employees within the agency. Driscoll’s refusal occurred over the weekend as FBI agents involved in the case against Trump over the Mar-a-Lago classified documents were removed from field offices in New York, Miami, and Washington, D.C.
This wouldn’t be the first instance of Mayes’ office scouting of those ousted for their work in the Biden administration. Their offices are also considering law school graduates whose offers of employment from the Biden administration were rescinded by the Trump administration.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Daniel Barr announced Mayes’ interest in hiring those sought out by the prior Democrat-led administration on LinkedIn last week.
“Plenty of opportunities at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for recent law school graduates whose job offers were recently rescinded by the Department of Justice,” said Barr. “We do vital and interesting work in protecting, and pursuing justice for, the state of Arizona and its people.”
Another key player caught up by the Democratic Party’s unsuccessful bid for a consecutive presidential term has already found a soft landing within Mayes’ office.
The attorney general’s office recently hired the Arizona communications director for Kamala Harris’ campaign, Delaney Corcoran; she is now serving in a similar deputy communications position.
Although Mayes has indicated an eagerness to hire those ousted by the Trump administration, she is also fighting to keep them within the federal government.
On Monday, Mayes joined 11 other Democratic attorneys general in urging the two million-plus federal employees tapped by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for a “deferred resignation program” to contact their unions for guidance.
The deferred resignation program would enable the tapped employees to receive their regular pay and benefits through the end of September — but only if they enter by voluntarily resigning ahead of the Thursday deadline. Otherwise, OPM warned, they may be part of the next administration purge and not be eligible for the extended pay and benefits period.
Mayes called the program “completely unreliable” and possibly “unenforceable” in a press release.
“My office will do everything in our power to protect Arizona workers and we urge you to follow your union’s guidance,” said Mayes. “This so-called buyout offer is yet another attack that will cripple the critical federal services Arizonans rely on.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Aug 11, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Senator Jake Hoffman recently responded to the launch of an Arizona chapter of “Republicans For Harris” with a blistering comment.
In his scorching post to X, Hoffman quipped “Strange… I thought prostitution was illegal in Arizona.” He advised his fellow Republicans to “Ignore these whores,” and asserted confidently, “Donald J. Trump will win Arizona.”
In the image shared by Delaney Corcoran, Communications Director for the Harris campaign, Mesa Mayor John Giles is shown headlining the rally. “Our party used to stand for the belief that every Arizonan, no matter their background or circumstances, should have the freedom, opportunity and security to live out their American Dream,” he wrote, in his endorsement of Harris according to The Hill.
“But since Donald Trump refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, Republicans have yet to course correct,” Giles claimed. “The Republican Party with Trump at its helm continues down the path of political extremism, away from focusing on our fundamental freedoms.”
Expressing a similar sentiment, former Maricopa County GOP Chair Tyler Bowyer wrote, “For those not aware— John Giles is not a real Republican. He sold out in exchange for switching his party later to run for Congress next term to replace Democrat Greg Stanton in CD4. This is simple backroom politicking. He is supporting the most radical leftist ticket ever.”
In the aftermath of his initial comment, Hoffman addressed concerns over his choice of words from one commenter Kenny Jacobs, writing, “This commie is crying because I used textbook definitions to describe fake Republicans who’ve decided their virtue signaling and future pay day is more important than your future[.] Sorry losers Pimp yourself out to the Left at the expense of hardworking Americans… you’re a whore.”
He cited The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 5th Edition definition of “Prostitute” which reads, “A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.
Hoffman is currently one of several defendants in an ongoing organized lawfare campaign by Arizona’s Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes. He is being prosecuted for his 2020 role on the GOP slate of alternate electors who prepared documentation to be presented to Congress in the event that the slate favoring President Joe Biden was rejected.
In a more recent post, he has also revealed a letter from an Instagram whistleblower with nearly 150k followers, “exposing a sophisticated Astroturfing effort underway by the Harris-Walz campaign. Social media users are being PAID to post pro Harris-Walz content on Instagram.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
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