JUST IN: AZ Gov. Katie Hobbs Is Under Criminal Investigation Over Alleged ‘Pay-For-Play’ Scheme

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office is launching a criminal investigation into political donations made by a state contractor with ties to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who narrowly defeated GOP challenger Kari Lake in 2022.

According to a report from Arizona Central, a home operator that works with the Arizona Department of Child Safety has received a massive boost in state funding while pay increases to other providers have been denied. Over the course of the past year, the Arizona Department of Child Safety has approved what amounts to a 60 percent increase in the rate that Sunshine Residential Homes Inc. charges to care for a child for a day.

According to the report from Arizona Central, this amounts to “potentially millions of dollars more going to the company at taxpayers’ expense.” The company’s CEO, Simon Kottoor, was on Hobbs’ inaugural committee, while Hobbs praised the company while campaigning for governor.

As the Arizona DCS was redoing its contracts with home providers, Hobbs and her husband attended a private event at the mansion of the Sunset Residential Homes CEO.

On Thursday, AG Mayes’ office announced that it will be opening a criminal probe into the company. The investigation comes at the behest of Republican State Senator T.J. Shope, who asked Mayes to investigate a potential “pay for play” scheme.

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“The Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Office is statutorily authorized to investigate the allegations and offenses outlined in your letter,” Mayes’ office wrote in a letter to Shope. “To that end, the Attorney General’s Office will be opening an investigation.”

In a letter signed by Mayes’ criminal division chief, Nick Klingerman, he thanked Shope for the referral, though he did not mention Governor Hobbs or the Arizona Department of Safety directly.

Details of the investigation’s goals or targets remain sparse as of this report.

“I hope that they will do a fine job and actually go through fairly, through the entire process, and completely thoroughly as well,” Shope said in response to the news.

Shope and other Republicans have also asked Shope had also asked Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a Republican, to open her own investigation.