Governor Sanders Cleared by an Attorney General From Her Own Party Over a Contractor That Gave $100,000 to Her Inaugural and Then Got a 30% Rate Hike Few Others Received
The AG's office interviewed a dozen people, read 100,000 documents, found no crime, and did find that the company had 'outsized leverage' with the state. A second investigation by a prosecutor from the other party continues
Ink = the flip (fiction). Red = real Republican · Blue = real Democrat.
LITTLE ROCK — The state attorney general announced Friday that no criminal charges would be filed against Governor Sanders over allegations that a group-home operator received preferential treatment from her administration after giving $100,000 to her inaugural celebration, a conclusion the governor's office welcomed and the governor's critics noted was reached by a member of the governor's party.
The company, one of the state's largest providers of its kind, contributed to the inaugural fund and to the state party and later received a 30 percent increase in its per-bed payment rate, one of only two such increases granted during that contracting period. A first request had been declined; a second, some months later, was approved, raising the rate from $149 to $195 per bed, a sequence the company describes as persistence and the state's newspapers describe in charts.
The attorney general's office said it had conducted a dozen interviews and reviewed more than 100,000 documents and found no evidence of wrongdoing by Governor Sanders. It did conclude that the company's size gave it outsized leverage over the state, which is a finding that clears everyone of a crime while describing how the crime would have worked.
A county prosecutor from the other party and the state's auditor general are continuing their own investigation, a fact the governor's allies cite as proof the system works and the governor's critics cite as proof it has not finished working.
"The governor has always acted with integrity," her spokesman said, as he has said after each of the investigations to date.
The Press's inaugural desk notes that 'exonerated after a thorough review' and 'cleared by her own party' are the same press release as read by two different parties, and that which one a reader sees depends on the letter after the governor's name. At press time the inaugural cake had long since been eaten, the rate increase remained in effect, and the leverage was, by the state's own finding, still outsized.
📜 The Receipts
What actually happened: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) announced state prosecutors will not charge Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) over allegations of a pay-to-play scheme involving Sunshine Residential Homes, which gave $100,000 to Hobbs' inaugural fund and to the state Democratic Party and later received a 30% per-bed rate increase (from $149 to $195), one of only two increases granted that contracting period. Mayes' office said it conducted a dozen interviews and reviewed over 100,000 documents and found no wrongdoing, but concluded the company had 'outsized leverage' with the state. A separate investigation by Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell and the state auditor general continues.