On Thursday, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell advised Rep. Matt Gress and Senator TJ Shope, that her office was contacted by the Arizona Auditor General as part of an investigation into allegations that Governor Katie Hobbs engaged in a “pay-to-play” scheme.
Mitchell wrote:
“We have received letters from each of you requesting that my office investigate whether there were violations of the law committed due to the financial and political relationship of Gov. Hobbs and Sunshine Residential Homes.
We also were contacted yesterday by the Arizona Auditor General asking that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office serve as the prosecution office that will work with them while they conduct an investigation into this matter.
My chief deputy is scheduling a meeting between the Auditor General’s staff members who will conduct the investigation and assigned staff from my office.”
little Friday night temper tantrum from @KrisMayes
is this a petty power grab? or is Mayes trying to prevent a real investigation into @KatieHobbs's pay-for-play scandal?https://t.co/xHvmjRNQDV
— Brian Anderson (@AZBrianAnderson) June 8, 2024
A criminal investigation has also reportedly been begun by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, notified Mitchell, a Republican, of her investigation which critics say appears to be an effort to keep the matter “all-in-the-family” to “sweep it under the rug.”
Nick Klingerman with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office wrote Shope a curt letter: “Thank you for your referral dated June 5, 2024, regarding Sunshine Residential Homes. The Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Office is statutorily authorized to investigate the allegations and offenses outlined in your letter. To that end, the Attorney General’s Office will be opening an investigation.”
The Arizona Republic report exposed donations from Sunshine Residential Homes, totaling approximately $400,000, going towards the Arizona Democratic Party, Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign, and her inauguration fund. Hobbs’ Department of Child Services (DCS) later approved a nearly 60% increase in the daily rate Sunshine Residential Homes charges to care for a child. Making it all the more suspicious, Sunshine Residential Homes was the only provider to receive this increase, while others were denied pay increases to home operators, and more than a dozen were terminated from the state’s system altogether.
Sunshine Residential Homes is currently under scrutiny for the 2022 death of a 9-year-old boy, after he was taken into their custody just two weeks earlier and not administered with the diabetes medication he needed. Litigation between the child’s family and the facility is currently ongoing.