Governor Katie Hobbs has been accused of stonewalling lawyers and legislators who simply want to know what she has done with the over $1 million in private funds she raised through government resources for her inaugural celebrations.
And now, according to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. David Livingston, a recent disclosure by Hobbs revealed that the State Inaugural Fund lacked sufficient funds to pay outstanding invoices.
As previously reported by the Arizona Daily Independent, The Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund, registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission on Dec. 13 by Hobbs’ campaign manager Nicole DeMont as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organization, spent less than $210,000 on the event.
No one has been more dogged about getting the details of the governor’s highly questionable fund-raising scheme than Livingston.
On Wednesday, Livingston announced that he has sent a supplemental request to Hobbs after documents that she recently disclosed prompted new concerns and questions regarding her administration’s solicitation of inaugural funds.
Livingston says he is still reviewing records produced in response to his February 13 letters to Hobbs and DeMont.
According to Livingston, Hobbs has refused to transfer money leftover in her “Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund” to the State’s Protocol Fund (as past governors have done), despite requests from Speaker Toma and President Petersen, and Chairman Livingston.
Hobbs and her team used state resources to solicit money for her inauguration events and directed donors to contact a member of her campaign team. Livingston has sought a complete and accurate accounting of all those funds, as well as any documents and other records associated with their solicitation.
This week, she vowed to raise $500,000 to defeat Republicans in the 2023 election cycle:
Where does this $500k come from?
Will Democrat @KatieHobbs be using the "dark money" inauguration funds that she illegally raised using government resources?https://t.co/BAt1p4A95A
— Brian Anderson (@AZBrianAnderson) February 21, 2023
Livingston hopes the information gathered will assist lawmakers in their consideration of SB 1299, which would “require the governor’s office to publish on its website, within 15 days after the inauguration ceremony, information detailing each organization that organized, supported or funded the ceremony.”
As Rep. Livingston states in his letter, “it is unfortunate the Legislature must consider codifying basic principles of integrity and accountability to regulate inaugural funds” because of Governor Hobbs’ unprecedented actions.